Why did children's parties evolve from being held at home most of the time to being held outside the home?

Convenience.
You don’t have to clean before or after, you don’t have to do much (if anything) for set up, and many times you don’t even have to bring food or cake.

I always prefer a party at home, though.

Cleanup is the big reason.
Getting the baking or food done is the second.

We had our sons 3rd birthday at a bounce house. We lived in a small townhouse, in a complex..so we couldn’t even have a half outdoor since we had no grill nothing to easily make lots of food.
We decided to have just kids at the bounce house, which our son loved. For us, it was easier since we didn’t have a place to hold it. Otherwise, he had his first two parties at my parents house (they didn’t want to do it for the 3rd because they had a 4th of July party and his birthday is the 5th of July.)

Our baby’s first birthday is on Sunday (!!!!!) and we’re having a party at my parents house, close to 30 people…there will be cake, lots of food, toys for the kids to play with. Nothing insane.
I think people just do what they think their children will like. I see birthday parties offered EVERYWHERE…like hair salons, at Michaels!, at museums, the zoo. I think it’s fun but it’s actually more expensive.

(this question came as I’m watching Outrageous Kids Parties, now those people are crazy!)

I think it might have something to do with parents thinking that kids need more stimulation than pin-the-tail on the donkey and a pinata these days. I would like to believe that kids would still enjoy a home party but the amusement centers offer humongous stimulus packages and then all the kids want what the other kids had.

The best birthday party I ever went to as a kid, we caught frogs and pushed each other in a pond. No giant rat mascot necessary.

I’m amazed at the amount of money that goes into these parties too. My niece, who has no money, manages to rent a gymboree, a pool or a bowling alley for each kids’ birthday party. I understand about the ease of clean up, but I know she spent a hundred dollars on renting the gymboree and that didn’t include cake, goody bags, etc.

Convenience. I was a kid like you, parties at houses which involved cleaning up after kids, chancing things getting broken… or stolen. Maybe the idea now is old fashioned party activities are cheesey to modern kids, they are used to so much more stimulous and pre arranged things.

Economic growth. After Sep. 2008, many parents then moved the parties back into the home, same as not going out on weekends or eating out and inventing the “staycation”. People live as decadently as is possible at the time.

Good question @jca . I’ve wondered this myself. I have a granddaughter under 2 years old. Her first birthday was an elaborate affair. I love her more than all God made, but it just seemed a little silly and wasteful to me. The same went with her mother’s baby shower, bridal shower and those of her friends her age (early 30s) too.

Her girlfriend spent hundreds on a baby shower for her and she directed it with hormones raging. I even asked everyone what happened to the day of having a baby/bridal shower at home with punch, mints, peanuts and a cake? I wasn’t kidding and they acted like I had grown an extra head. To each their own I suppose.

My kids, born in the late ‘90s, shifted to parties outside the home at about age 4. It was just plain easier and a lot less stress to have it all provided and managed, and after the pizza and cake were served, it ended up being not that much more cost.

It also has to do with the “invite the class” rules. When I was a kid it was usually three or four best friends for a party; with my kids it was the whole class or all the boys. But we couldn’t handle the crowd at our house.

For us, it’s strictly a matter of timing. My son’s birthday is in February and we’ve always lived in areas where it is cold and possibly snowing around his birthday. He use to have his parties at home, but he wants to be able to run around more now and that’s just not possible in the house or outside in the weather, so we have it at other places.

My birthday is in the summer and I always had BBQ/pool parties at home or at my grandparents house growing up. I loved them. I think I had one at a skating rink one year because I begged my mom to let me have it there.

Where I live it’s all about the more money you spend, bigger is better. It’s also about convenience, less stress. Myself though I feel like it’s less about family and more about trying to survive now, I mean just to live decent you have to hold 15 jobs or be born into a family owned successful business. I’m trying to think of a sweet 16 for my girl, ugh with as little money as possible.

@meego look at taking her and maybe one or two of her friends on a cruise. It will probably end up being cheaper than a party and the crew on the cruise can do most of the chaperoning and work for you.

It’s a lot easier to pay the staff to clean up after you than it is to clean up after yourself.

The vast majority of my 23 birthday parties were held in the home. One was at the pool, one at Discovery Zone, one at the park (so it might not count), one at the San Jose Discovery Museum cut brutally short by the arrival of one Al Gore and his security entourage. And one at an amusement park, though that was just family.

@WestRiverrat Wow did I really come off that bad :/
I was also thinking about spending as little $$ as possible lol. She’s been all over the country I’ve been nowhere, if anyone’s goin on a cruise it’ll be the 3 of us..Me,myself & I..we’ve never been anywhere ;)

@Meego Can you take her out for a nice dinner, just the nuclear family?

@Meego I have been there, just a suggestion. It is what we did for my nephews high school graduation. He got a full ride scholarship to college, so his parents rewarded him by spending some of his college fund on the cruise.

@MyNewtBoobs that’s a great idea, thanks!

@WestRiverrat I would love to do the cruise but she has traveled all over, (actually she is going to the White house for a march break trip) I bet your nephew had fun, that sounds like an awesome grad.

I, personally, don’t get how a big to-do is actually more fun for the guest of honor than a slumber party with close friends, tons of junk food, and so-bad-it’s-great movies. Hell, add in some booze, and that’s what I do now on my weekends…

For us, what we do depends on the age of the child, what the child asks for, and what’s most feasible. We had almost all of the kids’ parties at home up until they started school. At that point they know more kids and it is considered kind of rude not to invite the whole class. The schools here have small class sizes, which is probably why inviting everyone is not a big deal. Two of my kids have winter birthdays, so planning an outdoor party is not an option. It’s really only been the last two or three years that we haven’t had their parties at home. The home parties always involved games, a pinata, pizza, and cake. One year my in-laws rented a bounce house, and one year we hired a magician. Another time we hired a science themed presenter who did some really cool things with the kids, but honestly we got a big discount for those parties because I worked in a daycare and knew the people who ran those companies. :)

Our middle child has an early Sept. birthday, so his parties have been in the backyard, at the beach, at a local park, and at a nature center. Only the nature center had a fee.

I used to think parents were kind of crazy to pay to have the party somewhere else. Then, one of the kids really had his heart set on a party at a gymnastics place. The cost ended up being about the same as if we’d decorated our house, gotten supplies to for party games, balloons, and all that nonsense. The ease of the party as well as how much fun all of the kids have (although I’m still mad they wouldn’t let the parents try out the rope swing into the pit of foam blocks, stupid insurance regulations), converted me. There are some places around here that charge too much for a party and I’d never go there unless the child in question also agreed to give up presents from Mom and Dad. I’m happy to have the party at certain local places or at home, within reason, according to what the birthday kid requests.

It doesn’t seem to last long though. My daughter is turning 12 soon and hasn’t had a big party since she turned nine. She had three friends over for a slumber party when she turned 10, went to a movie and for pizza with three friends when she turned 11, and this year wants to repeat the movie and pizza night. I guess we have a few more years of parties for the boys before they outgrow them and prefer to do something with just their best friends.

I think in most cases, it’s just the ease and comfort of “take out parties”. They’re less stressful and generally (unless you go nucking futs) don’t cost much more than a home party.

We’ve had some of our daughters’ parties at home, and some in other locations. When my oldest had her 7th birthday, she had a “Ballerina Party”, where we rented out the local community center and “Ballerina Donna” came to throw one of the coolest girlie birthday parties I’ve ever seen! My youngest had her last birthday party at ASI gymnastics. What I loved about both those places, is they set everything up and take everything down. All we had to do was show up with cake and punch.

My oldest just had her 10th birthday and this year she wanted a slumber party. I refuse to invite an entire class, because I’m not a masochist, so we invited 6 girls to our house. That was one of the easiest parties we’ve done. I ordered pizza, had all kinds of snack foods ready and the kids pretty much entertained themselves.

My youngest is almost 5, and this year she actually wants a “family party”, so that’s cool! We’ll get the fam over here again for a “normal” kid birthday party. And yes, we plan to have “Pin the Tail on the Donkey” and a pinata. lol