Bithday Party - Lakeland,FL

I agree with everyone as far as a party at the park. You do not, however, have to feed everyone. I do my son's birthday parties at the park every year for many reasons: 1. more room to run for the boys! 2. Clean-up is way easier! 3. When families bring their syblings (which you can't seem to stop these days) there is plenty of space for them. I use my funds to buy themed stuff at the dollar store, cake, ice cream in the little cups, and then play some games. My son's favorite is putting shaving cream in a whiffle ball and then playing baseball! I keep filling it and the boys love hitting it and getting it everywhere. It is easy clean-up, doesn't stain clothes, and dries before they go home with parents! My son loves these parties and so do all of his friends. Good Luck!

My friends rent out the gym at our local school and the kids have a BLAST just running around and playing. It costs under $50. The mom's have the party @ 2pm and a make it a cake and icecream only party. Saves money on food, too.
Or if you have a local YMCA you could rent a party room and/or have a simming party in the pool? Hope this helps :)

Local park - do races, some other outdoor activity, cake and ice cream. You can do a plate of veggie sticks - pretty cheap.

Well, when it comes to parties you either do the work yourself or pay someone else to do it for you, right? No getting around that, LOL!
I suppose if you don't want to have people in your home you could always do it at a park. But to me that seems like even MORE work, bringing everything there and then cleaning up and taking everything back.

Something we've done a couple of times is rent a shelter at a park and have it there - gives the kids playground time, and you can have organized "outdoor" games since they are older. Bring plastic/paper plates, forks, tablecloth - cleanup is easy. The only tricky part is you have to think ahead a little - bring scissors, tape, anything else you might grab for at home. And you have to get everything to the park. We used a wagon and it worked out great. You have to have a back up plan in case of rain - one year it rained and I ended up with a house full of 8 year olds. It was pure chaos. They really had fun though :>

You can't deal with the clean up? Tell him to limit it to 5-8 friends. How much will you really have to clean up? Seriously -party plates and napkins -disposable and you'll need to vacuum and clean the kitchen and bathroom beforehand. Set out snacks, have a birthday cake and ice cream and let them play, watch a DVD, etc. There's really not that much to do. I just ordered my oldest's birthday stuff off of birthdaymania.com -they're having a sale and free shipping. It was SUPER cheap! If you don't want to have it at home, you're going to have to pay some place to have it there.

I usually just rent a pavilion at a park for my daughter. The kids can play on the playground. I can bring my own food and decorations. It's your cheapest bet if you don't want to do it at home.

Park nearby
Hot dogs
Chips
Cupcakes
Drinks (include water in case of no water fountains)
Water balloons?
Look into borrowing a water slide from someone
Plan on a few games
Bring some stuff for them to play with: 4 plastic bats, 8 light weight plastic
baseballs, kick ball, basket ball
Water guns (the big kind)
streamers, balloons, signs to decorate
Voila instant party. Have fun!

I just rented a big bounce house for my 8-year-old's birthday party and I asked the place to give me a discount. I told them that I have two kids and they both have lots of friends, so if he gives me a discount, I'll be sure to recommend his company to everybody. So, he did. If you still can't afford renting a water slide, try a water balloon and water gun fight in the park? As far as cleanup, its all about the same, you would have to clean up after yourself no matter where you have it, unless you do it at chuck-e-cheese or somewhere like that, but THAT's expensive!!!

go to the store, and get a few bags of water balloons, a few pkgs of hot dogs and buns, and some chips, and a cake mix. Have your son help you get the water balloons ready for his party. Make cupcakes. That would all cost probably less than $20. Invite his friends over, but before you do the water balloon thing, make sure you have some trash bags, or walmart sacks, and tell all the kids, that when the water balloons are done, everyone has to help pick up. Then let them run the hose on each other, or borrow a water sprinkler. . Have some hot dogs and cupcakes, and everything stays outside. 2 hours probably. Your son will have a great time. We did this for our boys a few times, and it was a big hit.

Have him pick just a few close friends and go mini golfing.

Treat them to the movies with friends as another option.

Go for ice cream.

Go to a local pizza parlor and just have pizza and cake there rather than the whole venue thing.

Or the park idea is fine - last party I attended was at a park and it was just a handful of kids, and the mom only brought some bagged chips/crackers, juice boxes and store bought cupcakes. If you really want to be cheap, just bake your own cupcakes. Easy enough.

Another idea is a local splash fountain free and open to the public - just have it there.

How many kids does he want to attend, does he have to invite the entire class? My son's last party we only had 6 kids total, close friends. 4 to 6 is ideal at this age anyways. Some years we have skipped the party and he has opted to go to Disney as a family instead for his birthday.

Many of my friends are doing this as well, having family vacations or buying a pricier present for their kids rather than spending a ton of money on the big lavish parties. Honestly what are they going to do with 15 or 20 presents. A lot of the toys don't get played with, not something they really like or will use, etc.

It's a tough cycle to break though if every single parent in class is having the parties and you want to conform to that. I totally understand. But if you don't have a lot of money, I would relay that fact to your son to see if you can narrow down the guest list. I always feel with friends it's not the quantity, it's the quality that matters... ;-)

What about a park? You could grill hot dogs and hamburgers and have a party there. Weather should be ok in FL.

have a bbq with hotdogs at a local park. Plan some fun activity games such as relays, races, etc. Water balloon wars, etc.

& as others have posted, what clean-up? It's really not that much!