7 Yro Birthday Party on a Budget

We have had them at Chuck E. Cheese. Not my favorite place, but the kids had a ball. Also, if you have a local park, see if you can reserve a picnic area that is covered.

A park with either a pavilion or covered tables. Or (less convenient), set a rain date. If you pick a time that is after lunch, you can provide snacks (a tray of veggies and a bowl of fruit salad) that are pretty inexpensive and then just a cake or cupcakes. If you skipped the party favors, I bet most parents would applaud you.

Chucky cheeses maybe:) You could look up places and call to ask too:)

Cheap restaurant.
Chuck E. Cheese
Skating rink
McDonald's can be a last resort. ((They have a playland.
You can get Happy Meals and Ice cream sundays afterwards.))
Ice Cream Parlour (spelling?)

do you have a ymca, community college, or other community center with a pool? You could rent the swimming pool for a couple hours. Very inexpensive and noone would be expecting a meal. Just let everybody, grownups included, swim for an hour. Then out for presents and cake or cupcakes.

What about a public park, water baloons, limbo and beanbag toss or cornhole? FREE! (pratically) Add a big sandwich ring, chips and cupcakes from Sams.

We've done parks, but find out if you need to rent the pavillion. If you can borrow a couple of pop up tents for shade, you can put those over the table instead. You could also set up a scavenger hunt in the backyard for entertainment. We've done parties at places similar to Chuck E Cheese and for a big party, it's kind of pricey.

Have you considered a bowling alley or roller rink party?

We have a bunch of those- bounce house places around here, also Rec centers usually have a party area

The best and cheapest party I had for my daughter..she was 5..was at a local community center that has one of the big play places with the slides and tubes and climby things indoors. The highest slides were like 3 stories up? I call it a gerbil cage for kids!

We had asked a parent to stay (a dad who was now divorced and I knew it was his "weekend" so knew he would hang out anyways)...my FIL/MIL...my adult niece and her pal, plus me and hubby...then we had maybe 12 kids? The drinking fountain and bathroom were in the enclosed area and there were only 2 ways in/out. We planted sets of people by the doors on benches and the other 2 of us (we rotated in and out..it just worked out), helped with head counts, making sure others were playing fair and any bathroom issues.

We did have a few other parents stay for the party but most felt good leaving.

We rented one of their party rooms beforehand for a cheap fee...had presents/cupcakes and those little ice cream cups with the wooden spoon things.. SIMPLE goodybags (including fun and silly socks for all since it was required to be in there..and it was August and I knew some would forget and come in sandals!). We brought in 2 wagons to haul everything from one end of the place to another.

It was the easiest and cheapest party ever for us!

Homestead Park in Hilliard has shelters you can rent, and you can bring your own grill (We went there for a couple hours on Mem. Day, and there were tons of families there who'd brought their own grills and had blankets thrown down for picnicking). They have a water area with water guns & such, so swimsuits & such would be good. They also have a great play area. I don't know what the cost is to rent a shelter, but if you brought all the rest of the food in coolers, that would help keep the cost down. You could enlist family to chip in a dish to pass, maybe. Here is their website: http://www.wtwp.com/parks-and-recreation/facilities/the-h....