Chuck E. Cheese - Making Birthday Parties Fun and EASY @chuckecheese

In the five years I've been planning kid parties, this was the EASIEST and MOST FUN we've had yet... and I even made the cake! I even had party guests comment about how fun it was and they were REALLY interested in having parties just like ours.

Our eldest son turned 5 on Christmas Eve, so we always work really hard to keep his birthday special and separate from Christmas. It was so easy to do with Chuck E. Cheese, and they were open all day on Christmas Eve.

The fun and games to be had at Chuck E. Cheese!  

I started by reserving my party time online.  I chose an early time, and got 100 bonus tickets for choosing an off-time.  Once my reservation was finalized (I paid a $30 deposit), I received a call from the Chuck E. Cheese party planner/coordinator at our location.  She was so helpful and thoughtful!  We talked through the party and figured out exactly what I needed to do in order to be ready.  She also called again the day prior to the party.

In most cases, you won't have to really do anything except decide what you want at your party (food, party favors, balloons, etc).  In my case, I wanted to make the cake myself and bring ice cream and a few extras to add to the party favors.

The Candyland Brownie Cake I made for Logan's 5th Birthday!

To see how I made the Candyland Brownie Cake (and the wonderful recipe) click here (coming shortly)

The staff at Chuck E. Cheese made this the easiest party I've ever thrown.  They helped me carry things to the table and set up, then helped keep the party on track, and coordinated bringing out and serving the food and the birthday celebration (Chuck E. coming to our table, singing, cake, etc).  They even made sure everything was going great the whole time we were there, then they took care of the cleanup!

I think my all-time favorite part of this party was that my normally EXTREMELY shy son was so at ease with the staff and Chuck E. that he got up with Chuck E. Cheese (normally he will hide behind me, so this was an unknown territory for us) and even danced with him and did the Ticket Blaster all by himself!  People were AMAZED!  It just goes to show how much fun he had!

As a bonus, Christmas Eve was quieter than normal weekend days at Chuck E. Cheese and we got to stay at our table until we left as there were no parties scheduled after ours that needed the space.

Their website also has great activities and printables, as well as a great coupon page!  We will certainly be doing more events and celebrations (as well as just having some plain old fun lunches/dinners and play) at Chuck E. Cheese!

One other huge plus in my eyes are the security measures Chuck E. Cheese has taken to ensure kids safety: Kid Check.  As you arrive, your hand is stamped with a number that matches the kids you enter with (so make sure you are the one who will be leaving with your kids!).  They will NOT let you leave with a child whose stamp does not match your own.  There is someone at the entrance at all times.

Have you had fun at Chuck E. Cheese?  I hope you'll leave a comment and tell me about it - feel free to leave a link too if you've posted about it!

~ Wendi


*Disclosure: I received some guest passes to help facilitate our birthday party in exchange for sharing our experience with you.  My thoughts and opinions are 100% mine. :)

Planning A Perfect Christmas Eve Birthday Party At Chuck E Cheese (Fun, Easy, and Affordable) @chuckecheese

Every year I face the challenge of finding a way to make our older son's Christmas Eve birthday special, and keeping it separate from Christmas. This year I am so excited... I am planning a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party - and YES - They are open on Christmas Eve!

We've got to figure out his presents (we always put them on the table after he's gone to bed and sort them into Birthday and Christmas), and I promised to make his cake - he wants the Candyland Cake that was featured in a Taste of Home magazine, made with a brownies.  Anyone have a suggestion for the filling?  I'm going to make two large pans of brownies, and stack them...

I love that Chuck E. Cheese will let us bring the cake and ice cream for the party, while they provide everything else!

The best part about having a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party is that they always have great deals on food and tokens, and I don't have to do extra work at home to get ready for the party or to clean up!!

Right now, for every $25 gift card purchased at a Chuck E. Cheese location, you will get 20 tokens for free. I'm planning to go in ahead of time to purchase a bunch of gift cards to pay for the party - that way, I'll have extra tokens, plus, I reserved the party online which gives you 20 bonus tokens!

It is so easy to reserve a party - I went online and reserved a Christmas Eve party at one of the locations near me, estimated the number of people coming and selected the food/party favors that I wanted.  The online reservation even gave me an estimated cost for my party - it is so great!

Not only are there fun games for the kids to play, there are fun picture opportunities, a great birthday show, yummy food and great party bags.

Chuck E. Cheese also has some really great online features, like their Activities page which has some great printable activities for the kids and to help with the holidays:  Paper Chain Decoration, Holiday Gift List, Gift Tags, a Matching Game and a Babysitter Checklist.

Plus, under the Chuck E. Games section, you can find some fun online games (you can even earn bonus tickets for use at a location by playing the Skee Ball Game), printable coloring pages, music and so much more - come check it out!

Logan can't wait to have his birthday at Chuck E. Cheese - I don't know what he is looking forward to more.. the games, the Ticket Blaster Experience, or the pizza...  :)