This post brought to you by Chuck E. Cheese’s. The content and opinions expressed below are that of The Suburban Mom.
I have not been to a Chuck E Cheese’s birthday party since I was a kid — until last week. So. Much. Fun! The pure joy on my daughters’ faces made me giddy from the time we walked in. Everyone had such a great time — yes, even the adults. We cannot wait for an excuse to do it again, I can assure you that we won’t wait another 25+ years.
For our visit we were asked to host a birthday party. Since neither of our daughters have birthdays this time of year, we hosted a mock birthday and told everyone it was to celebrate their straight As. We invited six friends to the party, and everyone was excited to have something fun to do on the first day of winter break. But to the staff, it was just your average Chuck E. Cheese’s birthday party — with two special birthday girls.
How To Throw The Best Chuck E Cheese’s Birthday Party
Best Way To Book – Not only is online booking stress-free and easy, but when you book your party online instead of over the phone or visiting in person your party gets 20 bonus tokens. The online calendar instantly shows you all available party times, plus booking online has to be easier than the other options because you can take your time and check out the options. (Don’t forget to add a cake to your Chuck E Cheese’s birthday party.)
Best Time To Book – Hands down the best decision I made was to book our party on Saturday at 10 am. When booking online I noticed a special offer for
100 bonus tokens when booking a Friday or Saturday morning party. That was enough reason for me to book Saturday morning, but early Saturday has the added benefit of being very slow. For the first hour of our two-hour party, there was no one else at Chuck E Cheese’s so the kids had the place to themselves. Not sure how busy Chuck E Cheese’s is on a Friday, but I would think these bonus times are slow times. In any event, I recommend Saturday at 10 am.
Two Parties In One – Since ours was a mock party I listed two birthday girls, and it was perfect. If you have kids with close birthdays, knock out two parties in one by making them both the star of the party! For $4.99 per additional birthday star each kid gets the birthday celebration superhero cape and mask, princess cape and tiara, or Chuck E. T-Shirt and a trip to the ticket blaster.
Feed The Parents – A minimum of eight party guests are required for a Chuck E Cheese’s birthday party, not including adults. While kids each get a drink and two slices of pizza, parents who stick around to help supervise might find themselves hungry. Add-on food items including pizza, subs, veggies and more are available at the time of your reservations and might be a good idea to keep parents happy. It is also a nice idea to share some of the bonus tokens with parents who can’t resist a game of skee-ball.
Pick The Right Package – There are three package choices for a birthday party, which come with an increasing number of tokens and goodies. After some debate, I choose the “star” package (base level), and it worked out perfect for our party. The eight kids ranged in age from 2-7 and they had plenty of tokens to use (with the bonus 120 tokens noted above). But the older children defiantly went through tokens faster than the littles, so the older the crowd the more important tokens become. The 1,000 ticket voucher for the birthday star and goodie bags are nice, but if you don’t have it in the budget the base level is still fun.
After all of the tokens had been spent and the tickets cashed in we headed home, thankful there was no clean up.
Chuck E. Cheese’s are located all over, look for one near you.
Our birthday stars and guests were all smiles at Chuck E Cheese’s, and at the end of the day that’s all mom can ask for from a Chuck E Cheese’s birthday party.
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My 7 and 5 year old have birthdays 2 months apart. We did a joint birthday party this year, and after seeing your post / learning about the additional birthday kid “perk”, I’d definitely consider a “friend party” next year. I’m nervous about friend parties….but in Kindergarten and 2nd grade that’s what they want!
My daughter has been asking for a Chuck E Cheese bday party since she was 5. I know at some point I’m going to have to cave in and do it! It looks like it was really awesome!
We take the children to Chuck E Cheese on their 5th birthday, however, we have never done a party. There are some great tips here though. And yes, I am one who loves Skee Ball.
Kids birthday parties done right are indeed just as fun for the adults as well as the kids. Going to places like this are my favorite thing to do as well, because there are so many unique and entertaining activities, like the arcade and such. I need to start planning some parties like this for my daughter for when she get’s older.