Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with birthday and fun

Help me make a birthday weekend in NYC amazing!!

pearlybob — Wed, 01 May 2013 15:23:41 -0800

I'm taking my daughter to NYC for her 13th bday gift around the end of June. She is going to be so excited!! I'm trying to plan some great things for a Mom and a 13 yr old to do but I'm getting overwhelmed.... We will do a broadway show for sure...but any other suggestions? Help me decide what is really cool and worth doing and what would be just "meh". She loves the arts and creating and cooking and falls on the nerdy, quirky, funny side of life. She's perfect!! We will be there 3 nights and 4 days. Staying in SoHo but can Uber Car pretty much anywhere. I also have a very dear friend who lives there and will be with us to help navigate. He loves my daughter and will be up for anything but has no clue what 13 yr old girls of her ilk are into so he hasn't been much help....Thanks all!

Terrific, not Terrible, Twos Party

shiu mai baby — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:00:59 -0800

Help me throw a birthday party that doesn't suck for my soon-to-be-two-year-old. This was supposed to be a small party for just our close friends, but stupid me got all ambitious and invited a number of neighbors (and their kids) as well. Since many of these people have never been to our house before, I have just upped the pressure on myself. Swell! Plus, last year's party was all adults, since my kid was too young for friends, but now things have changed.

Anyway, there will probably be a dozen-ish children at this thing, ranging in ages from 1.5 to 4. I think I've got the food covered, as I plan on having a ton of juice boxes, and we're borrowing a hot dog roller from a friend, which will be fun. I'm more concerned about keeping said kids entertained for a couple of hours without losing my mind, as I will have the usual party-minding duties to contend with.

Since the party's in a couple of weeks, I was thinking about maybe setting up a station for kids to paint miniature pumpkins, but at this point I'm open to just about any idea.

Salient points:

1. I'm leery of planning on any activities that require being outdoors, because, given the mercurial weather this time of year, it could be 75 and sunny or it could be 50 and raining. Also, going out into the backyard requires going through the basement, which is currently filled with spiders and basement junk, and to get that kid-friendly would take way more work than I can give at this point.

2. The budget for this is pretty limited. We're cooking all the food, buying the cake, and ordering the favors off of Etsy. I'd thought of hiring a face painter, but a cursory search tells me that they usually start at the $100/hr range, which is too much for this particular event.

3. The party itself doesn't have any major theme, although I'm not opposed to it. Since it's still early October, it feels a little soon to do anything overtly Halloween-y, but I did just get the Oriental Trading catalog in the mail and it was filled with all sorts of neat (and insanely cheap) Halloween stuff, like fake vampire teeth and cute lollypops and stuff, which was tempting.

4. As I said above, a lot of the neighborhood moms are coming to this, so I acknowledge there's a lot of self-inflicted pressure to make it fun. I don't really socialize with these ladies a lot, but for the sake of my daughter, I want to establish friendly relations and a positive precedence for her to be included in future events. Luckily this neighborhood doesn't have a sense of one-upmanship, as far as I've been able to tell, and the birthday parties around here are pretty reasonable, e.g. no crazy inflatables, no Cirque du Soleil acts in the garden, etc.

I'd love to hear any suggestions, recommendations, and warnings from folks who've thrown toddler parties -- what to serve, what to avoid, how to make sure the kids (and parents!) have a good time.

I heard it's my birthday

SassHat — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 08:08:47 -0800

Fun birthday ideas in Toronto? I'm turning 28 in a couple of weeks and am looking for something fun to do with a bunch of friends for my birthday. Nothing requiring a lot of time or preparation, but maybe something unique/different/really extra fun?

It would be on a Friday night or Saturday afternoon/evening. The group could be a core group of 10 or 12, up to maybe 40ish, depending on the limitations of the venue/activity.

Ideas? I'm open to ANYTHING, just tired of the usual boring bar birthday.

Thanks in advance, darlings.

Birthday extravaganza

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:33:39 -0800

Restaurant recommendations in D.C. that are loose on IDs. A friend is looking for restaurants that are relatively loose on carding. He/she is planning a 20th birthday party, and ages range from 20-23, which sucks for those who have not quite hit the big 2-1. Looking for a place that is fun, loud, crowded, relatively cheap for a large-ish group where carding isn't a big issue. I know, I know, this is the nation's capital and things are a little more strict, blah blah blah but they're out there.
Bonus points for near Dupont/Georgetown, although Adams Morgan and U-Street neighborhoods will do the trick.
Extra bonus points if the restaurant resembles China Wine in NYC. Or those wonderfully sketchy BYOB places with the Christmas lights on the ceiling.

Help me give my husband a 40th birthday he'll never forget

geekgirl397 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 11:05:02 -0800

Good "experience" gift for my geek husband's 40th birthday? My husband turns 40 in a few days. We already have too much "stuff" and he's not very materialistic in any case. We're both geeky techies, and he loves music. Last year I bought him a great guitar, and he's already taking guitar and voice classes.

I want to buy him a great "experience" that he wouldn't treat himself to and that will be special and memorable.

We don't have any kids and we do go out fairly often - although I'm not a night owl so it tends to be quiet restaurant meals etc. We already have a 3 week trip planned over the holidays, but that is to visit my family in England.

I'm thinking something involving vehicles and speed - he likes to drive, but we live in Chicago and don't travel much by car (and have a small city car in any case). He did some flying in his youth - in another life, if he had had better vision he would like to have been a fighter pilot. He's a slightly reformed risk-taker, and I'd like to give him a taste of his reckless youth in relative safety.

One thing I thought of was maybe a session in a race car at a track .. I've done some searching on this and found some packages sold at the Chicago Speedway but I don't know how good they really are and it quickly gets very expensive.

My budget's a bit flexible but ideally I'd spend less than $1000 - but if I were to go more than $200 or $300 I'd want to be sure it was really worth it.

His birthday's coming up in just a few days, but as long as I have the gift planned I don't think it's important that he "redeem" it before then or before our UK trip.

All thoughts and ideas welcome!

Help us choose an NYC birthday activity!

rachaelfaith — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:24:06 -0800

NYCFilter: Group of four 20-something friends need a birthday activity for this Sunday! Conditions: not too pricey, preferably Manhattan or Brooklyn, nothing too physically strenuous. My friend's birthday is this Sunday, and while we have reservations for dinner, we all wanted to do something fun beforehand. We were considering mini-golf, but Chelsea Piers seemed too expensive and we're questionable on The Putting Lot.

We're all female. Common interests include food, movies, parks, dessert. [So unique!] We're not really into coffee/tea, biking, touristy things.

So, any cool festivals or activities going on this weekend? Hit me with your creative ideas!

Help me make my boyfriend's birthday awesome with fiendishly delightful present wrapping and delivery!

t0astie — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:32:15 -0800

It's my boyfriend's birthday soon, and I want to make the present giving AWESOME! Have already purchased presents and booked flights to be with him. Am organising special birthday meals for him, and a couple of activities too, so most of the day is pretty much sorted. But I really really want the present giving/opening experience in particular to be super fun for him. I'm thinking along the lines of a treasure hunt with clues so he has to hunt for the presents... Or wrapping the presents in a giant box and painting it like a cake with sparklers on top! Or multiple layers of wrapping disguising the present...Or, um, something else. But I don't know what exactly. I just want to make it a completely excellent fun surprise for him. Some background

Him: mid-thirties engineer. Likes:dinosaurs, robots, sci-fi, machines, beer, puzzles, poker.

Me: mid-thirties journalist / photographer. Handy with glue, cutting, drawing, writing, pics, collage and general crafty stuff. But even simple woodwork or electronics would be beyond me.

Equipment available: minimal. Can go to the hardware store, and there's a not-very-good craft store in his town too. I don't have a sewing machine. Everything basic like glue, paint etc is easily available where he lives, but more complicated stuff not so much.

Finances: low. Am broke after present and plane-ticket buying. Could go $20-30AUD extra. Aiming for ingenuity and surprise over extravagance.

Location: Outback Australia. Really.

Timeframe: Nine days til I catch the plane and another eleven days in his town before B-Day. If it's going to be massive in size, must be constructed in 11 days. I won't be bringing a papier-mache fort or birthday banner on my discount flight, for example.

Help me hive!

He is really the best boyfriend in the world and deserves the Best Birthday in the History of the World Ever.

Want to birfday but I has the dumb

Cat Pie Hurts — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:28:43 -0800

It's my Kryptonian birthday, and other than destroying Superman, I'm out of ideas for what to do in the Boston area. I have no local friends and my local family is too busy for nighttime shenanigans due to the recent emergence of my squeaky new nephew. I've made amazing strides over the last several months in pushing through a terrible social phobia, so rather than play the hermit and be miserable and lonely as usual, I'm really in the mood to go out and have some fun, meet people and perhaps get a little tipsy ( or a lot). What are some good, casual non-frat-kid-filled places where I could sit, consume tasty beverages, perhaps (attempt to) chat with random strangers and revel in my advanced agedness on a Tuesday night in the Boston area? Eclectic/eccentric atmospheres are double plus good.

How to plan a unique 27th birthday party in Boston?

evalenza — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 18:22:09 -0800

What activities, in or around Boston, would create an amazing birthday evening for my delightfully nerdy, almost-27-year-old boyfriend? He isn't picky or demanding, which makes me even more determined to ensure he has an awesome time.
Examples of great birthday parties you've been to, or organized, would be helpful. I'm totally up for throwing something in my apartment, too.

-some things he enjoys: live music, microbrews, bowling, billiards, video games, karaoke, cooking, brunch, zombies, philosophy, controlling the music, samurai flicks, theme parties
-thinks he doesn't: club-y scenes, dancing, bees

What should I do for my birthday in NYC?

Brainy — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 14:00:05 -0800

What can me & a bunch of friends do for my birthday in NYC? My birthday is coming up towards the end of next week and I'd like to do something for it. Previous years have always been "hang out with the usual friends and dinner with the girl" but this year my friends are in scattered social groups so I'd like to do one of those birthday...thingies. But I'm not a party thrower and not a big fan of house parties anyway. I don't drink so just going out to a bar is really not my thing either.

I've searched and got plenty of questions about "couples" activities but no group ones. Here's what I'd love:

Something really fun - but maybe a little offbeat - for a group of 5-15 to do together that won't cost a lot of money for each of us, isn't restricted to 21 & over, and is pretty accessable from Manhattan.

It will probably be a Saturday or Sunday, but I'm considering begging a day off to give us the chance to do something uncrowded.

Coney Island, bowling & minigolf are on the table so far, but they're all fallbacks and I'd love to hear what you guys can suggest.

Fun birthday activities in Cambridge/Boston area?

shivohum — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 09:49:58 -0800

What are some really fun, chill places/activities for a birthday party in the Cambridge/Boston area? I've already thought of: karaoke, playing board games at Diesel Cafe in Somerville, and candlepin bowling. Any other ideas...? Thanks.

Help me plan an awesome birthday party in Chicago.

geryon — Mon, 25 Jul 2005 12:08:39 -0800

Help me plan the most awesomest rockin' birthday party in Chicago. I'm turning 23, I'm in Chicago. Here are my options; I have my Dad's house in the suburbs, or I was considering renting/commandeering a bar somewhere in Chicago.

This is what I need:
I need any suggestion of themes.
I need advice on renting/showing up at a bar-Do I call beforehand? Is there a way to buy a keg for my friends and just park it so we don't have shell out tons of money once we're in the bar?

I also need recommendations for a good bar ( I don't know Chicago too well)

Or if people know much better places to have a birthday party for a 23 year old, please suggest away.

Also, other than excessive drinking, is there anything else I should be doing for my party? I've never known anything else, (I mean, except for lazer tag parties as a young lad)

The crowd is mixed, 21-26 year olds, leaning more to the indie rock side than the yuppie side. My objectives for this party: I wanna have fun, get good and drunk, and have an awesome time with my friends.

Mefites are certainly invited.

Cheap Birthday Activities in Portland, Oregon

Keyser Soze — Tue, 12 Oct 2004 05:41:06 -0800

Today is my 21st birthday. None of my friends have any money, I have 50 dollars to spend, and I can drive. What can I do for my birthday in and around Portland, Oregon? Ok, now I have 70.