Hellobee Boards

My six year old’s tolerance for apple picking is roughly five minutes - I’m not sure it would work for a party. He does enjoy bowling, though.

Are you thinking about something outdoors/free? What about a splash pad?

We always do a park birthday party. 9-10am on a weekend…less crowded and less hot. I get bagels, a fruit tray, and a platter of chicken minis from Chick-fil-A. I bring bubbles and chalk. A cooler of drinks. And cake or cupcakes. And that’s it! And it’s always a hit! We do this for both our kids. Parks are great because the kids can just play however they want for however long they want. Plus it’s outdoors and free. I see the splash pad suggestion above which is also a great idea! Here they usually aren’t open as early as I prefer to do the party though, and people do flock to them in the summer so if you don’t want crowded then a splash pad is maybe not a good bet unless you go RIGHT when it opens.

We do trips for our kids. When our 5 year old turned 6, we did a trip to a state park over a weekend. The cabin was very cheap ($60ish/night) and we took the kids hiking, swimming, fishing, etc. and let him pick where we had dinner.

My older LO turns 10 soon and we are taking him to a kids science museum and staying overnight in a hotel with a pool. He’ll get to pick the restaurant for his birthday dinner too.

This has been commensurate with the costs of a birthday party but without all the hassle. The kids seem to love it and have started to come up with trip ideas for future birthdays!

Did your son request a birthday party? why not ask him what he likes. As much as I would like to think you need to invite the whole classroom, it's not very good that way: most kids don't play with all the kids in the classroom. Boys play usually with only the boys... girls with the girls. The only time my son asked me for a birthday party, we did it at the bowling alley. (he was 5 at the time). All the parents had to help ( and we only invited total 16 kids, because we didn't want to have too many lanes) ... and all 4 lanes play in parallel... Not very fun socially. I personally got pissed... because they didn't care about the bowling... they just wanted to go to the super expensive arcade attached to it.
We also went to an orchard (but close to halloween, for apple picking). Was a wet day. This really depends on how much entertainment they provided and how good is the host. We had a hayride. They picked apples for 10 min... and jumped in bounce house. I vote for park/playground. Max of fun. Get a pinata and a cake and there's also no limit on how many people can show up.