My younger kid just turned 7 and we were preparing everything for his birthday party. By doing so we always have two ways, buying everything or preparing the food ourselves. Obviously the later is a lot of work, but ends up being cheaper. Do you give yourself the work or do you buy all the food for the parties?
I usually buy all the food for the party to give somr time to myself to get the decorations ready and not be too in a hurry. What helps is gettting a mini buffet package that comes with food and snacks most kids like. Since it's a package there is a discount, so I do save a lot this way and time of course.
I'd prefer we cook the food ourselves. I know this may require a lot of work and time taking, I believe with good planning it'll go smoothly. I may just need to hire a few hands to join in the preparation if we are looking to a mega birthday party for him.
I would rather buy the food and spend the free time with my child instead. I'm sure a kid doesn't enjoy waiting for everything to be ready while he's somewhere playing alone. It's best to order it online or from a store and have them bring it at a certain time. You can then spend time decorating with the kid.
We always have parlor games when we have a party at home. Kids love the prizes. As a trade off, we cook the food to save money which would fund the prizes. We are fortunate to have neighbors who help in serving the food and cleaning up the mess of the party.
We cook for parties and sometimes biy few extra stuffs too. It really depends on time in hand and how easy or difficult it would be. We manually do most decorations but when the function is large and needs experts' touch, we don't hesitate to call them in.
When we want to give our kids a party for their birthday, it is my wife who did all the planning and she did prepare everything. Out of our 6 children, we had never ever requested a third party for the momentous events or parties for our children. It is too cheap and besides my grown up children were helping their mother to make the party enjoyable and memorable.
I have baked cakes and cupcakes for birthdays. It was for small parties, though. However, it is easier to just order cakes and food if it's going to be a big party. For kids theme parties, it's best to order cakes and customize them. Kids love pizza, so ordering pizza is a great food option for a kid's birthday party. It really depends on whether you prefer to do the work yourself, or buy everything.
Children's parties are super fun and agitated, but I think "building" one from start to finish takes a lot of time, work and dedication. I'd rather pay to a buffet for them to do something special (following my orders). In the end, it's good to know that something is being done more peacefully and that will get ready in time.
The last time that we tendered a birthday party to our granddaughter of which my wife did everything. According to her, it's too tiring. We talked and discussed the outcome of the party. She had realized that it's better to have it being catered and the expenses that we may incur is little higher than what we'd spent for the recent party. I agreed with with her. She had the point. It's not too much if we avail of the catering service next time. She would be relieved from doing much work of preparing and everything. Unlike in catering, she has nothing to worry from foods, invitations, seating, utensils, and everything. The catering group or service would handle everything. We just pay the price which is not too much. This would be our plan for the next birthday party of our beloved kid who will be turning 5 next year. So far it is so good.
I do it myself. I enjoy it (mostly), and it saves a lot of money. My biggest splurge is using paper plates, so I don't have tons of dishes to wash up afterward. If you use a disposable table cloth, all you have to do is remove the items you need to keep and then just roll up the whole mess and toss it. With so many paper products made from recycled materials today, I don't feel guilty about it. So, you can do a mix of shopping for party supplies and making some. You can really do the same with food. Make some, order some. Get the best of both worlds. The cooking and decorating does take time and effort, but it's a lot more enjoyable than the clean up. I'd rather spend more on the gifts than on the food, so I save money where I can.
