Birthday Party venues and services

[Motiv8dMom]

I'm trying to find new and fun ideas to celebrate my daughters' birthdays (both girls are under the age of 5). Of course, it would be nice if the venues/services aren't too costly...but I'm game on learning about anything that might be fun to try. Any suggestions for somewhere in the Omaha area?

[MomAC]

We have done birthdays at several places around town. One of our favorites is Premier gymnastics--the kids have time in a jumpy castle; then they play in the preschool tumbling/gymnastics room with beams, bars, and trampolines; and then it's time to open presents and have cake/drinks in the birthday room. The birthday girl even gets to put her handprint on the wall. Both of my kids celebrated their fourth birthdays here (three years apart). Other gyms do parties too--like Kids' Body Shop in Papillion--we've just never been.

Another favorite of ours is PE 101. We have been to MANY parties here and my son's third birthday party was there. Similar stuff to Premier--trampoline, foam pit, zip line, etc. The staff is good about serving and cleaning up. The older the child, the more games and activities they do--for a three-year-old, the kids pretty much just run! There is also My Gym which does, I think, a more organized party--but you also pay more.

My daughter is a horse fanatic so we've had pony rides at our house (cheaper than you'd think!) and we have gone to a stable to ride horses. Her most recent party was at BounceU--she had a blast but I thought it was ridiculously expensive.

As for parties my kids have been invited to, my daughter's favorite was an indoor swimming party at Mockingbird Pool (Montclair does them too). A place better suited for younger kids is Swimtastic but they can be expensive. Another favorite was going to Mahoney State Park's indoor play area--the host parents drove two minivans there. She also had a lot of fun at a dress-up party at Ponytails and Buzzcuts--a hair salon for kids near 180th and Center. Another favorite was a teddy bear picnic (bring any stuffed animal) at a friend's house (yes, it can be done!;) ).

Other ideas I have heard about but have never been to: I have heard great things about the Tumble Bus (296-2772), a bus outfited for gymnastics-type fun--and it comes to you! Gymboree does tumbling/singing or art parties--or a combination of the two. It's Your's Pottery--the kids get to paint on a tile or other selected items. Ballerina parties at dance studios--many do them on Sunday afternoons.

And don't forget you can always have the party at your house--more work but loads cheaper. I had both of my kids' 2nd birthdays at home and just had fun with it. They are too young at that age for games or crafts (or to remember any of the whole event) so we just played and had cake. I'm a believer in waiting to open gifts after the kids leave so as to avoid tears or boredom. For my daughter, her favorite color was yellow so her whole party was yellow--the cake, goody bag items, and the decorations. My son was into dinosaurs at the time--he wore a dinosaur t-shirt and we gave everyone a dinosaur book from the $1 store. I made cupcakes and cut them enough to put toy dinosaurs sticking out like eggs were hatching.

Good Luck! And Have Fun!

[3timesBlessed]

Don't forget to check out the Just for Kids section on this site. Click on "Just for Kids" and then Birthday Party Places. It tells you a brief description of what they have to offer, a phone number and sometimes takes you directly to their website. Some experiences I know about are my friend who had her daughter's 3rd birthday and Bounce U. It can be expensive but it wasn't for her because she just had the party on an open bounce time so no private session needed and talked to the manager and was able to use the room for like an hour for $50 and that included the admission of six kids. It is $6.00 a kid for 1 hour and 15 minutes of fun (trust me that is all you need.. my kids get tired after about 45 minutes). She then used the good size party room for cake and opening presents. She just brought in her own decorations and cake and drinks. It was a nice party.
I just had my daughter's 3rd birthday this past June and checked into the dress up places. It was a little pricy if you didn't have the right number of kids participating-because there is a minimum charge even if you have less kids then say what your charge will cover. For example I think one place was for 8 kids and I only had 5 so didn't want to pay extra. The places offer basically a chancet to dress up, have nails done, get picture taken and use a party room. We ended up just having the dress up party at my house. We had five kids total and so they just dressed up in their princess dresses. We had pizza delivered and ate and then had the kids change into their dresses. We played Princess games "Kiss the Frog" (at Nobbies for like under $2.00), Princess Walk ( Like the Cake Walk only I took different princesses and put their picture on each square of cardboard and whoever stepped on the winning princess got to pick a prize out of Ariel's treasure chest). I played Princess songs from the different movies for the music. We also had the Princess Lip Gloss Grab Bag. Each little princess got to pick a lip gloss out of the bag. Found them at Marshall's. We had "Princess" Cake of course. The craft was making wands with inexpensive supplies from Michaels. My daughter had so much fun and it really was a nice time. Good luck with your plans!