Planning a laser tag birthday party

Posted by Valerie at 6/18/2009 9:30 AM
Categories: Children's birthday party
It's time for us to plan another child's birthday party. With renovations in our home, it's not a good time to be hosting something here. We've chosen to have our 9 year old son's birthday party at a laser tag park.

Using the Top 10 Questions, this is how we've decided to host the party at the laser tag park:

1.  Who is the party for?
This is a party for my soon-to-be 9 year old son.

2.  What is the party celebrating?
This party celebrates his 9th birthday.

3.  Is the party for adults, children, teens, or a combination?
This party is primarily for children, but there will be adults and teens there, too.

4.   How many people do you ideally want to be at the party?
We would like to keep the guests around 10 people.

5.   Is it important to have an exact count of the number of guests?
Not really. The venue would like an approximate number, and the party room holds approximately 25.

6.   Do you want a formal timed affair, or do you want people to come and go at their leisure?
There is a set time for this party, as is dictated by the venue.

7.   Will the party be held indoors or outdoors? At your home or a public or rented venue?
The party is actually held in a cave!  Most of it is indoors, but it feels outdoors.

8.   Do you want to serve a meal or provide finger foods?
There is no meal provided, just cake and ice cream.

9.   Will alcohol be served?
NO

10. What non alcoholic drinks should be provided?
We are providing juice boxes

Our search

This was the easy part. We've been to a number of events at the laser tag park, and we know the parties are safe, fun, and well supervised. This park is located about 15 minutes from our house, so the location is perfect. My older son has had two of his parties at this location, so we are familiar with the party room, procedure, and costs. This is a relatively low cost party. The price for 3 games of laser ta and, a party room is well under $100. We typically invite parents and siblings to enjoy a game or two of tag, as well.

The decision

We offered to have Mikey's party at either the skating rink, bowling alley, or laser tag arena. He's been looking forward to being old enough to play laser tag for several years, so his decision was easy.

Invitations

We are going to Party America for the invitations. Since we're not in school, we're going to mail the invitations to his friends. He is inviting 10 friends as well as cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles.  We will enclose map and directions to the site, as well as the permission disclaimer to sign prior to the party.

Food and drink

The kids always order a special cake from Grandma Shirley. She decorates it to the child's desire. Mikey says he wants a Sponge Bob chocolate cake. We will provide paperware, table cloth, and juice boxes, too.

The activities

This is a fun one. The kids watch a safety movie about how to play laser tag. They are then taken into a room where they divide into teams, and wear special laser tag vests, and carry laser tag wands. They go into the cave, where they are shown their home base and recharging station. The arena has several obstacles, hideaways and poles to hide behind, as well as a bridge where they can hopefully overlook the arena and find their targets. When announcer starts the game, they find opponents and aim for their vests. When they hit the intended target, that person must return to the home base to recharge.  It's a lot of fun and the kids are usually worn out by the time the game is over. They play three different rounds. Gifts and cake and ice cream take the rest of the time.  The party will take about 2 1/2 hours from start to finish. The arena has the guardians sign a waiver before the child can play.

Pros

No cleanup
Lots of activities in a safe and fun environment
Somebody else plans the party!

Cons

The party is just like everyone else's. There is no room for individuality.
The drive is farther than it would be at our house.
We may have to share the party room with another party, but there is a divider between the parties

I will post pictures as soon as the party is over.

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