10th Birthday Ideas

I am planning my DS's 10th birthday party which will take place on May 13th. I am in need of some really frugal ideas for this party which I am inviting 36 people. The thing I have to keep in mind though is that my DS is autistic and doesn't enjoy a lot of activities that non-autistic kids enjoy. I'm not sure what price range I should shoot for with this and need some advice. Any help is greatly appreciated! :)

Melissa from WV

Answers:

10th Birthday Ideas

I am an OT who works with kids. My first question is do you really need to have such a large group? Is this for family or other kids? Is he comfortable with the family, or with having so many people around? Would you do better to have a pot luck for family, with a small (4 or 5 kids) party another day for kids?

I think I would keep everything as simple as possible; and keep the time frame short. I would also designate one area or room as his "quiet"; spot, to escape to if the festivities become too much for him.

What does he like to do? What are his interests? There are a lot of simple, inexpensive games. Think back to our own parties when we were kids: trying to drop clothespins into a milk bottle, balloon races, pin the tail on the donkey, bean bag toss, etc. There are many websites with simple crafts, if your son likes projects. The mainstream craft stores will often put the white painter caps on sale for 2/$1, and they can be decorated with permanent markers.

Can your son verbalize what he wants? If so, ask him! He may have some ideas about what he wants to do. (Read: Preconceived Notions! He might be thinking pizza and videos.)

I am still intimidated by the number of guests you're thinking of, though. You can also ask his teacher and OT at school what suggestions they might have.

Let us know what kind of things he likes, and we can help with more suggestions.

(04/17/2006)

By Jill