Birthday Party at the Park- Dubai
This year’s challenge was Joy’s second birthday! I planned a park birthday in less than a week and here is what I learnt
- Checklists are everything- you need so much in the park versus what you would need in a closed area. From seating to garbage bags. Write it down because you will forget what you don’t write. Like a knife for the cake. I didn’t write that hence it was forgotton . Thankfully this was a community park and my husband got a knife from a nearby supermarket but you can’t take chances.
- This isn’t the cheap option- oh where the money goes on these things you never know. The most expensive item is def the food followed by the cutlery, decorations and entertainment. Don’t think having the birthday in the park will save you any money, you can spend more because you need to cater, entertain, decorate and seat.
- Seating- parks can be helpful and have a table with seats. But these are usually very limited. We had our eyes on one like that but when we reached the park it was all taken. So you need to depend on mats and chairs. I got two chairs from carrefour for 34 AED each, i should have gotten more. Also I got a table from carrefour for 75 AED but it wasn’t big enough. So this really needs some good planning and either buying more chairs/tables or depending on people to get their spare too. The people actually did that which helped but not all had a chair and sitting on the mat for long was definitely not so comfortable.
- Entertainment- I got colouring books and pencils, a game of blindfold and guess and snakes and ladders. I learnt that kids prefer to run around and interactive games like simon says and orders game. But also snakes and ladders was a good hit with them just because they spent a few minutes on it and gave the adults a rest. But overall this is the beauty in parks, they can run around and there are usually slides and play areas so you don’t need to break your head with the entertainment. For adults I think the good weather and good food is the best entertainment you can offer.
- Fooood! This is the ultimate factor that makes your event a hit or a fail. We got a mix of things- mixed grills, kfc and pizza. For the kids it was happy meals. I’d say the food variety and quality was quite good and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Although barbecuing was an option, I think it takes too long and the food might not be well cooked so I’m glad we didn’t go for that
- Decoration- this was a bit tricky in the park. I have now learnt I need to be more prepared with strong strings to hold the decoration and perhaps boards or stands to stick the things on it. We used the trees which was good, also having limited resources made us creative and I’d say we did a pretty decent job.
Now while parks aren’t the cheapest or the easiest, I definitely saved on not spending on any third parties. I’m not saying I won’t need their help in the near future, but not for her second birthday that she will only remember from pictures. Also having a park birthday especially in Dubai is beautiful because the weather is good for only a few months so we need to make use of every chance.
Below is an estimate cost breakdown of how much you can expect to spend if planning a park birthday from scratch.
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Item
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Cost
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Food for 20 adults and drinks
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850
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Food for 7 kids
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100
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Decoration, entertainment and cutlery
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500
|
|
Cake
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450
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Seating
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200
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Total estimate
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2100 AED
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So yes you can expect to spend at least 2K on the birthday but it’s still less than hiring other companies to do it for you. At the end it was a lovely experience and I’m glad we enjoyed and so did everyone who joined us.
Until next year!