We love birthdays in our home and are known for celebrating birthday month instead of just one single day. See how I am going to save money on a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party and how you can too!
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Birthday parties for kids at an establishment can get expensive very quickly. What happened to the days of having cake and ice cream at your house and just playing? Geez. I mean I get it. The big and elaborate, Pinterest worthy parties at lovely venues make for great pictures and are super fun. But many of us want to find ways to please our children and not spend a fortune at the same time.
My daughter chose to have her 5th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese so I went on a mission to see how we could do that in the most economical way possible. I wanted to save money on a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party and still have the magical experience that my daughter desired.
Save Money on a Chuck E. Cheese Birthday Party
Book the Star Package
The Star package is the least expensive package that you can purchase. When you choose this package, it will automatically prompt you to upgrade. It is “only $5” per kid and may seem tempting because it shows you that you get a lot more stuff. If you upgrade, you receive 15 more tokens per child, a souvenir cup per child, 250 extra tickets for birthday kid and some extra balloons.
I have been to what feels like 100 birthday parties at Chuck E. Cheese’s and I can honestly say that I have never noticed rather a table has 3 balloons (included with the Star package) or 6. I don’t think your kid will either.
The souvenir cup is not something that I personally think is worth it. The kids already get unlimited drinks in the regular paper cups that are provided with your party. To me, the magic is in playing the games and riding the rides not a cup that may or may not get taken home.
If you move to the next package, you receive an additional 250 bonus tickets for the birthday child. You get 250 with the Star package (so you would get a total of 500 with the upgrade). Again, to me this is not worth it because my child is going to get birthday presents at the party. I don’t feel the need to upgrade the party for additional tickets to get extra stuff at the toy counter.
You also get 15 more tokens per child if you upgrade. To me, this would be the most legitimate reason for upgrading. If you have 10 kids coming, that is an extra 150 tokens that you are paying $50 for (if you agree with me that the other extras that you get are not really worth it). If you keep reading, I will show you how to get 120 additional tokens for free. So you can save money on a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party and go with the Star package.
Book the Party Online
Book your party online to get 20 free play points. It is that easy. The online process is easy to use and you can see available dates and times. You can also set up your deposit payment online and avoid having to make a trip up to the location (which I would probably never remember to do).
Book Friday, Sunday or Saturday Morning at 10
If you book a party anytime on a Friday or a Sunday or Saturday morning during the 10:00 time slot, you get 100 free play points. I love that they offer this for the early morning Saturday party. Friday or Sunday parties are not usually possible for us but the Saturday morning time works awesome!
We can get to Chuck E. Cheese, party all morning, eat lunch and still be home for nap time. And get extra play points for free just for booking that early time. Use them at the party for unexpected guests or if you don’t need them, save them for a rainy day. If you are feeling generous, bless someone walking in the door that is bringing their kids in to play. I think that would be such a fun thing to do.
Use Coupons for Extras
On the Chuck E. Cheese website, they always have great coupons that you can print or save to your phone. There are two ways to save money on a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party using these coupons.
When we have parties, I am always worried that a sibling or someone that I had not planned for might show up and need tokens (maybe someone forgot to RSVP). Or there may be a kid or two that use all their tokens up in 30 minutes and have nothing to do for the next hour. You can buy extra play points using a coupon that is a pretty good deal.
I often see a coupon for 100 points for $20. Every time that I have used this coupon, the staff has been good about breaking the amount up over a few cards for me so that you don’t have to give 1 child a card with 100 tokens on it.
There are usually food coupons online as well. The pizza prices are usually the same that you are offered during the birthday party online booking. But you will find good deals on drinks using a coupon. For example, there is a coupon currently for 2 large pizzas for just over $30. That is the same price you will get during birthday booking. The kicker is that with the coupon, you also get 4 drinks. The drinks are $2.49 for adults so that is right at a $10 savings using the coupon. That is great if you want to have food and drinks for your adult guests.
I am not sure if they will let you use the coupon at the actual birthday party (I will find out at our party booked in a few weeks for sure). Worst case, I will send my husband or Dad to order and just pay for it separately from the party.
Chuck E. Cheese Birthday Party Value
Last year I started searching different kid focused venues for birthday parties when it was nearing our birthday season. Several different places that I searched for had parties that started out at $250 or $300 before you even added food. In addition, many of these large dollar amount parties included a very limited number of kids. In order to get the number of kids included that we needed, some of these places would end up costing $450-$500.
I just couldn’t justify spending that type of money on a birthday party. The Chuck E. Cheese facility really offers a nice middle ground. It offers an indoor space (which we need for a December birthday) and the kids love it. Overall, I feel like the money spent is a good value for the experience that your kids receive. Especially if you follow these tips to save money on a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party.
Do you have any money saving tips for a Chuck E. Cheese experience? I hope this list helps you save money on a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party for your child.