For fans of gaming, try a party in your driveway in a Rolling Video Games trailer. The climate-controlled coach has Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 stations for up to 16 gamers to play together or separately on four 55-inch LCD widescreen TVs.For his ninth birthday, Evan Padgett and friends had the run of Pin Strikes entertainment center. Two hours filled with the clatter of bowling pins, the jolting wallop of bumper-car bashing and the pew-pew-pew of laser-tag ambushes — everything kids love in one convenient location.
“They offered various things for all the children and even had a lounge area for the adults. It was an all-inclusive birthday deal,” said his mom, Autumn Burke.
Savvy families looking for the most bang for their buck are increasingly turning to these all-inclusive parties. They are one-stop party shops that take the stress of setup to cleanup off parents, freeing them up to enjoy their child’s event.
Even in a weak economy, the cost of children’s birthday parties hasn’t declined — a trend perhaps fueled by television shows such as TLC’s “Outrageous Kid Parties” or photo layouts of lavish birthday parties thrown for celebrities’ kids. (One such example: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes spent $100,000 on a butterfly-themed party when daughter Suri turned 2.)
A national survey of 2,200 readers by Parents magazine found that 49 percent said they expected to spend up to $200 on their child’s party, with 19 percent admitting to more than that. A survey of 20 local party venues revealed $200 is the starting average for a birthday package.