10 year old's birthday party

[TheVBs]

Hi guys! My oldest DD is going to be 10 this summer! I can hardly believe it.

Usually we have the standard birthday party, cake, food, activities and games. But, more recently I've been hearing about parties at special locations, like a waterpark.

How does this work? I'm assuming you buy some sort of package to cover the kids' admission. Do the other parents drop off or come along? I'm not thrilled with the idea of being responsible for several kids in an unfamiliar place. If the other parents aren't coming, do you transport them or do their parents? If the location is about 45 minutes away, is that too far?

Any help would be most appreciated!! We're a bit out of the social loop here. My DD was very ill for several years and is just now getting back into the swing of everything.

[deedeebee]

My youngest DD will be 12 in June. She and her friends have been through about everything they can think of! We have built bears, been to the spa, movies, bowling, pool parties a carnival in our back yard, you name it. When we go some where for a party, many times they have a party rate, some don't but they have always worked with us and figured it out. We usually e-mail each other and find out who needs help or not, some don't require lots of help, some do. This year it's Kalahari. We have been, some have not. It should be fun, happy planning:thumbsup:

[TheVBs]

I was thinking of doing a birthday party at the zoo, because she just loves animals. But, it is about 45 minutes away and I wasn't sure if people would travel. Plus, we couldn't really transport other kids unless we rented a van or something, which would be too expensive.

It would also mean that we would probably have to do a seperate family party. Is there a point where you stop doing that and just do a friends party?

[Dulcee]

I work at an aquarium where we do serveral birthday parties a day. I will forwarn you the problem I see on a daily basis with package parties out at places...

Find out if parents are included in your package prices or if they are free. And if parents are not free and need to be paid for as additional guests make it very clear that this party is a "DROP OFF/PICK UP" party if you aren't ready to pay for those additional guests.

We suggests to parents that they write this right on the invitation.

We've seen many a birthday party turn sour when unplanned for parents, chaperones, younger siblings are suddenly tagging along for a party and a $250 party escelates into a $500 party.

[princessgirls]

A waterpark party sounds like a lot of fun!! I think it could work, if you are willing to enlist maybe 3 of your family members/fellow mothers to help you at the park, and scatter them around the park so that they could be at different areas to supervise. That's what I would do.

Clearly put on the invitation they the girls need to know the basics of swimming, and that you would have other helpers at the party.

My daughter is going to be 10 in October, and I think it's a great idea for a party!
Julie:mickey:

[TheVBs]

Thanks for the replies! Dulcee, I'm so glad you mentioned that because I definitely hadn't thought of it.

A waterpark would be fun, but DD is so animal crazy I was hoping for the zoo, especially if we could get someone to bring in some animals for the kids to see and talk about them.

But, just don't know if people would travel 45 minutes for their kids to attend, if they'd want to stay or go, etc.