Most cost effective ideas for a first birthday party for 60-80 people (especially menu)?

Trying to get ideas for DD's first birthday in terms of food and location. We really don't want to go into hock, but we are also faced with having a large "must invite" list. we are looking at at least 62 people. We want it to be as cost effective as possible without looking like we are cutting corners big time. Here are some considerations:

- We cannot fit all guests in our place at once.

- Having it at someone else's place is not an option.

- We could rent the clubhouse in our Townhouse complex, but children would be left with little to nothing to do outdoors at the end of July.

Any ideas/suggestions for hosting a large group of people in the most cost effective way are greatly appreciated (especially menu ideas.)

Needless to say this is already getting me a tad bit nervous

Message edited 2/17/2010 9:02:01 AM.

Re: Most cost effective ideas for a first birthday party for 60-80 people?

If you rent your clubhouse is it free?? if so why not go on craigs list and hire an entertainer or magician - Craigslist is usually cheaper them the vendors that have been posted here....

or you can go to oriental trading and get activitied for the kids to do, like sand art and finger painting and either ask a friend to help monitor the kids or hire like a babysitter person to help.....

you can cook your food yourself which is cheaper, do simple decorations, get a costco or bj's cake...

you can def. do it and cut corners but still have a great party.....

How many kids will be there.... Sometimes if there are alot the $200 or so on professional entertainment could be worth it....

GOOD LUCK

Re: Most cost effective ideas for a first birthday party for 60-80 people (especially menu)?

Re: Most cost effective ideas for a first birthday party for 60-80 people (especially menu)?

i would rent the club house, get pizza or a heroes, and hire a child's entertainer, i.e. Music Together.

I think if you are doing a party for that many people-- you have to plan to spend at least $500 to $600 because of food and child entertainment.

If you don't have too many kids-- bring a bunch of toys down to the club house and make sure you have fun music for the kids to "dance" to.

Re: Most cost effective ideas for a first birthday party for 60-80 people (especially menu)?

what area are you looking?

Re: Most cost effective ideas for a first birthday party for 60-80 people (especially menu)?

Not sure what the clubhouse costs to rent but some towns have pavillions that you can rent for free if you wanted to do a beach thing. The Clubhouse is more relaxing because it's a contained area.

If it were me, I'd go Clubhouse with making some food & a few other things catered in. I do know that brunches tend to be less expensive.

I wouldn't worry about the kids if there is enough space for them to dance. If you really need something to do, head to Star Tracks & pick up some craft things & make a crafts table for all the kids. My girlfriend had a slew of 1 year olds at her son's party. We all got bibs that said "Jake's Best Friend" on it. I thought that was a cute idea.

For decorations, it may be worth it to see if someone wants to split the things that are reusable.

Re: Most cost effective ideas for a first birthday party for 60-80 people (especially menu)?

The way I cut costs for my DD's b-day was by getting fill-in invites (though they can be as pricey as printed ones) and since it was the day after Christmas, I had pretty light fare. Instead of heroes, I got two trays of wraps, a pan of Eggplant Rollatini, a pan of Ziti and a half tray of mini-quiche. I put out pitchers of water on the table and had a few bottles of soda, which nobody really drank. I also find that if you are providing beer, go to one of those beverage outlets and buy mini-beers. people tend to drink a few sips of a beer, leave it on the table, forget about it and then get another one. You don't have to do hard liquor either. I just did beer and wine for DD's b-day (but we are HUGE drinkers, so I had to have SOME alcohol--you can actually go alcohol free if you want...) I also put out bowls of mini-hershey bars and some chips on the tables, but nothing too crazy. At my parties, it's usually all about the booze.

On the other hand, I went CRAZY with DD's cake. I also hired a photographer--just her time and the hi-res discs. I got a face painter and caricaturist, which were fun, but the kids love to just run around and around in circles.

Balloons are a really cheap way to decorate. For 100 bucks I got 10 clusters of 12 pearlized latex balloons w/ 1 mylar balloon in each one.

ETA: For music, i just had my ipod--it was just fine.

ETA Again: I know of a few nice places in Brooklyn that you can rent for 200 bucks for 4 hours. I don't know anything about LI.

Message edited 2/18/2010 10:31:20 AM.

Re: Most cost effective ideas for a first birthday party for 60-80 people (especially menu)?

Posted by Snickers

The way I cut costs for my DD's b-day was by getting fill-in invites (though they can be as pricey as printed ones) and since it was the day after Christmas, I had pretty light fare. Instead of heroes, I got two trays of wraps, a pan of Eggplant Rollatini, a pan of Ziti and a half tray of mini-quiche. I put out pitchers of water on the table and had a few bottles of soda, which nobody really drank. I also find that if you are providing beer, go to one of those beverage outlets and buy mini-beers. people tend to drink a few sips of a beer, leave it on the table, forget about it and then get another one. You don't have to do hard liquor either. I just did beer and wine for DD's b-day (but we are HUGE drinkers, so I had to have SOME alcohol--you can actually go alcohol free if you want...) I also put out bowls of mini-hershey bars and some chips on the tables, but nothing too crazy. At my parties, it's usually all about the booze.

On the other hand, I went CRAZY with DD's cake. I also hired a photographer--just her time and the hi-res discs. I got a face painter and caricaturist, which were fun, but the kids love to just run around and around in circles.

Balloons are a really cheap way to decorate. For 100 bucks I got 10 clusters of 12 pearlized latex balloons w/ 1 mylar balloon in each one.

ETA: For music, i just had my ipod--it was just fine.

ETA Again: I know of a few nice places in Brooklyn that you can rent for 200 bucks for 4 hours. I don't know anything about LI.

Re: Most cost effective ideas for a first birthday party for 60-80 people (especially menu)?

I would rent the clubhouse and cater with platters/heros from Costco/BJS including the sheet cake and hire a clown from Twinkletown.

Message edited 2/18/2010 10:42:10 AM.

Re: Most cost effective ideas for a first birthday party for 60-80 people (especially menu)?

Just some images of kids having fun with plain 'ol balloons...

Re: Most cost effective ideas for a first birthday party for 60-80 people (especially menu)?

As far as food goes, for my DS's 4th birthday we decided to do pizza's but instead of all plain pies, we did a variety of specialty pies ( Chicvken Marsala pie, Chix Francaise pie, Eggplant Rollatine pie, Salad Pizza etc etc......) It was a big hit, served lots of people in a very cost effective way, easy clean-up, got delivered free of charge and we had no need for a waitress service which was a big bonus ! I made up classy little signs and put them in front of each pie to label what they were ....Most kids love pizza too.....Then on the side you can just do a nice big salad

Re: Most cost effective ideas for a first birthday party for 60-80 people (especially menu)?

Honestly the clubhouse would be a great idea. Put on some music. You can set up a craft table. Kids love playing with just balloons or beach balls.

Kids keep themselves busy especially in an open space!

ETA: I think some towns even have parks where you can rent a pavillion or space and is super cheap.

I think hero's and maybe a couple of trays of ziti, salad, meatballs, sausage and peppers (all of which you can really do yourself) is great! If you do the park thing alot of times you can BBQ and do hot dogs, hamburgers, some salads.

What town are you located in?

Message edited 2/18/2010 11:09:58 AM.