Seeking Ideas for a 5-Year-olds Birthday Party.

If it's end of April, you could plan a party at a park. The YMCA also has nice birthday parties that aren't too expensive.

Hi Lisa,

Last year I took my then 5-year-old daughter and a friend to Build-a-Bear and Dairy Queen for her birthday.

This year for her sixth birthday (also in April!), we've planned a party at Pelican Harbor. 15 kids allowed + my daughter, pizza, pop and a splash ball for every kid. I think it's $150 for Bolingbrook residents, slightly more for non-residents. www.bolingbrookparks.org.

Have fun planning!

M.

I was also going to suggest the All Aboard Diner in Woodridge/Downers Grove(not exactly sure where the town line is there). It's on 75th Street East of 355 in the complex where Toys R Us is. We just went there for lunch yesterday and my boys loved it. It's all train themed. You sit at the counter and a train brings your food. They have a separate room for bday parties too. The fee is 50.00 for the space plus 10.00/child. The 10.00 included food, balloons and a conductors hat for each child. You get an hour at the counter and then an hour in the room for cake and presents.

Check out Cosley Zoo, which I believe is in Wheaton. My daughter loves to go there, and I noticed on the website that they have birthday parties there. I'm planning to look into it for her next birthday. Have fun!

Check out your park district. They often have themed parties. You might options i.e., who provides the cake, etc. Happy birthday--fuss & muss free!

Hi - Fitness Fun On Wheels in a great activity. It comes to your house and the kids play/structured activities on the bus. Then just serve cake, etc and that is all you need to do. There is one in Naperville and the girl who owns/operates it is wonderful! My kids had a lot of fun!

Also, a lot of gymanstics center will do parties. Good luck!!

The only idea that I can think of is maybe roller skating.

My sister did a Build-A-Bear Workshop party and they had a blast. It seems like it'd be expensive at $10 a kid but you save $ on food (they don't allow any) and goodie bags (the bear is the take home!). After everyone made their bears, my sister took the whole crew down to the ice cream shop in the mall which served as the cake. Worked out perfectly!

Another suggestion is the DuPage Children's Museum. The only problem here is keeping tabs on all of the kids. You get the party room for an hour and a half where you can serve pizza, sandwiches, etc. plus have cake, and then the kids have free reign over the museum. Obviously you need more than just you and your husband to keep tabs on the kiddos.

Hope that helps. Have fun!

DuPage Children's Museum.

Hi Lisa,
This is just a suggestion, but my nephew just had his 5th birthday party yesterday and my sister did a bowling party. It turned out nice. The bowling alley had a private room for the cake, food, etc. Then all the children got to bowl one game and they put the bumpers up so that none of the children or adults got a bumper!
She did it in Joliet, but if you live in Naperville I am sure that ther is one close to you where you live.
Good luck!
C.

Hi Lisa - I live in the Aurora area and have two girls (10 and 7). One of the places that we go to for parties is Odyessy Fun World in Naperville, off of Route 59. I don't know what you're budget is allowing... but they have different party options. The one thing that is nice is that they have an "Exploration Area," which is a huge room with tubes and things for the kids to climb in. There are also video games and a couple of rides. My girls always loved it; along with all of the other kids. Just a thought.

Good Luck - T.

Hi! I live in Warrenville, so know the area very well. There are a lot of options. You could go to the Children's Museum - they host birthday parties that are really cool. However, I'd choose a local park - and yes I know it's still chilly in April - then take all the kids outside. Have them choose an adventure party like a "Pirate" theme. Then you can give them a map to find buried treasure or give them all pretend swords and have them pretend the playground equipment is the ship. You could watch Peter Pan if you bring a movie screen and projector. Just a few ideas. You could also have a football party if they like football and have a big flag football game for all their friends and a "tailgating" party with all the parents cars. It'd be fun.

Anyway - good luck! S.

Hi-

My daughter turned 5 in November. We had her party at Beggar's Pizza in Plainfield and had the FUN BUS come there. I'm not sure if you ever heard of it, but it's an actual school bus that is converted into a little gym. It's very cute and the kids had a blast. The website is www.funbuses.com. Deanna owns it. She is wonderful with the kids. The bus will go to where ever you'd like. If there is a place for it to park, it'll meet you. If you didn't want to do the pizza place and Fun Bus, you could just have the bus come to your house. I believe it's $200.00/hour. I'm not sure if that is the price range you were inquiring about, but it was different and a lot of fun for the kids:)....

Good luck-
K.-Plainfield

I don't have any idea about the price, but you've got that great DuPage children's museum right there, and I'm sure they do some kind of bday thing. We also just won tickets to the Chicago Wolves at our library, and I noticed on their website they have a bday special--pricier, but it looks cool. And one of the moms I know just gave me info about an indoor water park in Bolingbrook that looks cool--Pelican Harbor, I think?

Hi Lisa,
I have a few ideas - You might try Blackberry Farm in Aurora. It is west of Orchard Rd. off of Galena. It includes a 19th century settlement with historical buildings, as well as a Carousel, pony rides, a train that circles the park, a petting zoo, and other attractions. It has a picnic area that you can reserve for parties. I think it's about $10/child (maybe less). My son loves it there.

You could also try Bounce Town in Oswego. It has a room to reserve for cake, pizza and opening presents, plus two huge rooms filled with various inflatable bouncers and moonwalks. I had my son's 3rd birthday party there, and kids of all ages had a blast. It's about $250 to reserve the place for 2 1/2 hours, and they do all the work. They charge extra for pizza.

Of course, there is also Odyssey Fun World off of Rt. 59, which is probably pretty close for you. I've been to a party there also. The DuPage Children's Museum in Naperville also does parties, and the Aurora Science Museum is also fun, and appropriate for a broad range of ages.

T.

Hope that helps.

Hi there...

I am a Mom in Plainfield who had a GREAT 5th Bday party for my son at Aunt Ninas Sweets and Treats in Shorewood. The kids loved it...they play games, decorate a cookie to take home,etc. Lots of goodies for the kids and the birthday boy:) The phone number is ###-###-####.

We also had a bday party for our other son at Oberweis(not sure of spelling here) Ice Cream. That was fun too....

I know you said a party outside of the home...but this so much fun I have to mention it. We had the "Critter Guy" come to our house one year for our 6 year old sons bday party. He is wonderful. His real name is Jim Nesci -he is a conservationist, has been on tv,etc. Brings reptiles, some big, some small...to your home, kids get to pet them, hold them, take pics with them and learn all about them. It was a great party..but again, we did it at our home and it was a little bit costly.

There is also the Plainfield Art Factory...where kids can paint/decorate their own pottery pieces. They do have age appropriate pieces for 5year olds. My boys love to do this..

There is also the bowling party. The kids love these. Kind of loud and crazy, but fun:)

Hope these ideas help.Have fun at whatever you do..

B.

There's the All Aboard Cafe in Woodridge that does parties. It's a train themed restaurant with manipulatives.

There's also Children's Museum.

Bolingbrook Park District does indoor pool parties in their zero depth pool and also parties in the indoor playland.

Wow , you recieved alot of great ideas . I can suggest if your son skates having a ice skating party at your local ice arena . I know you can rent one out here for about 225 for 2 1/2 hrs .

Have fun .

Hi. My sister had the same issue last year and she ended up going to Cosley Zoo in Wheaton. They have a bunch of options and it's fairly inexpensive. It's a small zoo and they do some educational things. My niece had a great time. If you go to www.cosleyzoo.org you can find more info. Good luck...

Lisa, what kind of things is your son into? That would help me suggest a few things...I have a 5 year old son too ;)

Have you considered the Dupage Children's Museum? He's the perfect age for it. We just had our son's party there last month. If you are a member it's a better deal. Living in Naperville if you don't have a membership, I'd say it's worth it!

Hi Lisa.

I know it's not close to your home but we recently had a birthday party for our 2 oldest sons at Space Golf in Orland. We did the medium plan which included pizza and pop, unlimited golf and arcade games. We had 30 kids total and it cost around $400. Space Golf is an indoor glow-in-the dark mini golf course. It was very cool, something new and different and all the kids had an awesome time!

Have you considered the DuPage Children's Museum? I can't recommend it more highly as a place to visit and I know they do offer parties.
J.