Build a Bear Party! Any Tips, Tricks or Suggestions?

[ChelMomto5]

DD is having her 5th Birthday at Build a Bear in a couple of weeks. Are there any suggestions to making it go smoothly? Keeping it as budget friendly as possible? Etc.

It does worry me about kids keeping within their $15 spending limit. I can't imagine how that will work and how some child wont be demanding a $20 animal.

Any tips or reassuring words? If you have had a party, I'd love to hear how it went or if you would do it again!

TIA

 

[mom2val]

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[ChelMomto5]

DD has never had a Build A Bear party but we have gone to at least 6 of them. The party host provided by Build A Bear always did an excellent job of showing the kids exactly what they could get. For $15 they can choose from 2 maybe 3 animals plus get a tee shirt for the animal. Most parties dd went to she got to spend $20. The party host also tells the parents they can of course buy anything extra they want. I never have been to a party where the parents did not stay (our Build a Bear is located in a busy mall). Any child that wanted something else was asking their parents for it.

Thats what I wanted to know. Maybe I should up the spending limit to $20. I'm trying to keep it budget friendly but I might consider taking it to the $20 level so they have more choices. Thanks.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Thats what I wanted to know. Maybe I should up the spending limit to $20. I'm trying to keep it budget friendly but I might consider taking it to the $20 level so they have more choices. Thanks.

I would upgrade to the $20 if you could afford it. Though many disagree on here because this subject has been brought up on here before but I think most kids like their bear to have an outfit too.

At $20 the kids can get a $10 bear and a $10 outfit or a $15 bear and just a $5 shirt if they choose. I hate taking my child to a BaB party and there isn't an allowance for some sort of clothes and I end up spending another $10 on an outfit before we leave the store.

Yea I know my kid should be happy with the bear and I could tell them ahead of time they might not get an outfit blah blah blah but when it comes down to it at least around here most parents spend $20 to give the kids lots more options and to prevent the parent of having to spend money at the store for an outfit.

My daughter loves these parties . She is actually invited to one in 2 weeks.

 

[ChelMomto5]

I would upgrade to the $20 if you could afford it. Though many disagree on here because this subject has been brought up on here before but I think most kids like their bear to have an outfit too.

At $20 the kids can get a $10 bear and a $10 outfit or a $15 bear and just a $5 shirt if they choose. I hate taking my child to a BaB party and there isn't an allowance for some sort of clothes and I end up spending another $10 on an outfit before we leave the store.

Yea I know my kid should be happy with the bear and I could tell them ahead of time they might not get an outfit blah blah blah but when it comes down to it at least around here most parents spend $20 to give the kids lots more options and to prevent the parent of having to spend money at the store for an outfit.

My daughter loves these parties . She is actually invited to one in 2 weeks.

On the grand scheme of things, what's another $5 per kid is my thought. If it helps make the party go more smoothly, could be worth it. I have never had any of my kids invited to a party before so I don't know what to expect. Thanks for the input. By the way roliepolieoliefan I'm from the Pittsburgh area. Could be we'll run into each other at Build a Bear in a couple of Weeks!

 

[neodymm]

My daughter had her last b'day party there. I also recommend going up to the $20 if it's in your budget. The children all had a great time picking out their furry friends and an outfit. They were all so cute afterwards. I was very pleased with the party and the BaB associates. It was great fun and better than I expected! Happy b'day to your DD!

 

[Poohforyou]

A lot of time BAB runs specials where they'll give you something extra if you'll upgrade. My DD has done several parties there and one time when I had a $20 limit they told me if I upgraded to $25 one of the animals would be free. With the number of kids there giving each one an extra $5 only cost me $5 more because of the free animal.

It's worth asking the store about that when you get there. Also if you set a limit of $15 they'll show the kids the animals they can pick from and then bring out the shirts they can pick. I think $15 is good for very young kids but if you can stretch to $20 it does give them more options.

The nice thing about a BAB party is there's no need for a goody bag if you've done those for other parties.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I will say when DD went to a BaB party, the hostess was very good saying "these are your options". It actually went alot smoother than I expected. (They were all in kindergarten.)

One thing I will throw out- nature of the party, you've got kids running all over the store. I stayed, but many parents did not. Station an adult who either knows the kids (or give them all something to ID them- party hat, plastic lei, something.) We had one girl who thought she saw her mom walk by in the mall and was heading out the door. (I stopped her.)

 

[pyrxtc]

I didn't realize people still went to BaB. if you can afford $20 per child then I would go that route so they can pick out an outfit too.

Do any of you think that people buy old Bears ? My kids haven't touched theirs in year and we have a garbage bag full of accessories and all the bears are retired I think. I wish we hadn't spent so much money on them. We have at least 20 of them.

 

[dramaticmissy]

We had one in march, and made it a St.Jude party. We had 6 girls go, myself and one other mom went, I spent $140.00, but had a coupon for $10.00 off any purchase, after all was said and done my daughter ended up with 20.00 in GC for the next visit. and the girls had a blast!

 

[redlawyer]

Our local Build A Bear does not have a room for all the kids to gather and have birthday cake. So we took all the kids up to the food court for pizza and birthday cake after they made their bears.

 

[ChelMomto5]

I really appreciate the feedback! I think I will upgrade to $20 per child and give them more options. All the parents are planning on staying so keeping them rounded up shouldn't be a problem but I like the idea of having some way to identify the party kids! I'll give that some thought!

 

[ceecee]

I had DD's party there years ago and it was smooth and very fun! I gave them a limit and the girl who did the party told them what they could or couldn't choose for their limit (one more expensive animal or a cheaper animal w/a tee shirt). I didn't really do anything except take pictures, it was one of our favorite parties! We did cupcakes and juice boxes and gifts in the food court! No goody bags necessary. Each girl got a $5 coupon in the cub condo and a lot of them went back and used that with their parents. DD got a $10 coupon and a CD and some stickers.