McDonald's Birthday Parties
We just celebrated our son’s fourth birthday. In the past, I have made the food and we have had the party at our house. It has been fun (for everyone else!), but we still ended up spending a lot of money on food, cake, party favors, etc… We only invited a few friends, but our family continues to grow and now our immediate family alone is about thirteen people. This year, I decided to let someone else host the party…But what is a frugal momma to do when most parties cost so much money?
Have no fear! The McDonald’s Birthday party is the way to go! Each McDonald’s offers a different price, but the prices are usually in the same neighborhood and all of them usually offer the same types of activities.
For $59.99, we could have ten children attend his birthday party. The cost included ten Happy Meals (everyone got their own choice in entrees & sides), party favors, games, cake (chocolate or white), and ice cream. The party times, at our McDonald’s, were two or four, which meant that no one was there eating and we had the whole place to ourselves.
We chose a nice McDonald’s, in our area, and they cleaned up and closed off the play area just for our party. It was, honestly, the best party we have ever had. The kids had a blast in the play area and played for three hours, while the parents sat around and visited. The host did all of the work for us, entertaining the children, taking orders, bringing food…and the ultimate part? All of the cleaning up!
In short, have a McDonald’s birthday party- it is the way to go!
Labels: Birthday Party, Frugal
15Comments:
"Thanks for the advice, I was thinking of giving my sone a mcdonalds birthday party!"
"Thank you for the advice, we have been trying to find an inexpensive yet fun birthday party for our Daughter! It's been hard to find out info online about McDonald's!"
"This is the only positive comment that I found about parties at Mcdonalds. Most of the negative comments was that they assigned a party coordinator who is unexperienced and unprepared. I have been trying to find out what I can do on my son's coming bday. I don't mind doing it in our house but my husband has a lot of projects and tools that are all scattered around, I'm leary that kids might get hurt. I wonder if they provide a costumed mascot or a clown besides the host. Would they allow me to bring along a balloon maker (w/o his clown costume)? How about the parents or chaperone's food? I've only been here in US for a year. Back home, were slightly kinda different. Mcdonald's party counts includes the parents but with adult's meal. Should I just be counting the kids? I would appreciate any suggestion.
kobesluvnmom"
"I just had my daughter's 2nd birthday at McDonalds and it was great! The party coordinator was awesome and the kids had a blast playing. I do know that each McDonalds does things a bit differently in terms of price, etc. For $25 (which was our initial deposit when booking the party) we received the party space, balloons, goody bags, McDonalds crowns, cake and ice cream. Then we paid for a meal for each person. Our only fee today was the food we bought for each party guess. We pulled it in fairly inexpensively and it ran very smoothly.
I would definitely recommend a McDonalds birthday party!"
"I am also in the process of trying to decide where to have my sons bday party at. I have thought about McD's, and having worked there when I was a teenager, I would like to offer some advice. Check with parents around your community. Not all McD's will be the same. Some are GREAT with parties, some consider it an annoyance. The one I worked at would fall under the latter. They did not have a play place, so essentially, the kids didn't have anywhere to play. The area they blocked off for the party was right next to the restrooms, so all the other patrons were through there to go to the restroom. If the one in your area is this way, it might pay to look at adjoining counties to see if one offers better arrangements...."
"McDonaalds is a great way to go!!!It cost use less then doing one at home...the kids had a blast..there was no stress and the hostess was GREAT."
"thanks for the advice
i am thinking about a mcdonalds party for my 5 year old daughter"
"Hi Thanks for your advice...I am planning to have a party in MC donalds I feel encouraged To have taken the decision.
I Hope my 5 year old son will enjoy with his friends."
"Hi,
I had commented earlier...
"Hi Thanks for your advice...I am planning to have a party in MC donalds I feel encouraged To have taken the decision.
I Hope my 5 year old son will enjoy with his friends."
Just to give my feed back:
So true,Its just wonderful and so easy to have a party in Mc Donald.Its enjoyable not expensive with all those Happy meal choice,Cake inclusive,ice cream for kids with a play area weather permiting and a goody bag for each kid all cost $ 6 per kid.
Kids know the area they are familiar with food they are happy and do have a lot of fun.
the hostess was bit slow but its okay in the rush its a way to go.
No one was bothered about that ,as the food was all the same they picked it up.
Its really a mess free place.But I bought my own goody bags to satisfy.
They gave Mc Donalds stickers,straw,stencils,crayons and a small booklet.You do get Happy meal toy in that.With 13 kids and one parent each soda or ice cream,My cost came 158 plus tips."
"what about meals for parents...am I oblicated to supply? Help!!!!!"
"I've just reserved a mcdonalds party for 10 kids for 75 dollars but happy meals arent included. I have the party scheduled for 4pm with cake, ice cream, goody bags etc...do I need to by happy meals for the kids as well seeing as how its between meals?? The kids will have fun either way but I'm not sure if they will be expecting happy meals as well which would tack on an additional 60 bucks or so..yikes"
"this is such a great idea! I have been looking on the internet trying to find an indoor play area to have my son's 3rd birthday-so I am going to start calling around seeing if any of them host parties. I would just like a play room with tunnels blocked off and I would buy the happy meals. Sounds like a fun time!!! My second choice will be a YMCA-which is also pretty reasonable on pricing."
"the mcdonald's in my town (kalamazoo, MI) don't do birthday parties. :-("
peggy
"That depends on the mcdonalds I just had my daughters 6th birthday and to start it off some kid came in the room as the party was just starting and stole my wallet, Then you get 1 hour 1/2 in the room well party started over 45 minutes ago and still after going to the register twice to let them know we were ready to order our food we finally got some young girl to take our order, she says we dont know where the guy is who is suppose to be in here.. So 10 minutes pass we see 3 of the meals sitting up on the garbage can. Then my sister goes and gets the remaining ones. Now if I wasnt so upset about my wallet I wouldve complained when I paid but considering I had to figure out where to get money for my 3 hour drive home I wasnt worried about that. So now thinking about it Im realizing I paid 50' dollars for one plate and 8 happy meals, The kids who were suppose to be in the room taking our orders and helping out the only time I seen then were while they sat on the other side chatting with each other, even as we all were hunting for my wallet they looked at us like well thats your problem. Some of these mcdonals are ran by all kids that dont do nothing when the head honcho's arent around. Yes Im irritated by this and it takes me alot but If I knew it wouldve been like that I couldve paid straight out for 8 happy meals."
"Good for you!
I unfortunatly did not have the same experience. They made us wait, the kids hardly had time to play. When I got there, they didn't even know I had a party booked. I paid $75.00!!!!!! They should have remembered. The host then srambled to put things together. I was mad. It was not a "Happy Meal"!"
