July 3, 2018

Birthday Celebration Group Ideas

In honor of my recent birthday, I thought I’d share with you some great ideas for birthday celebrating for big and small groups! Personally I am fine celebrating my birthday at home just my husband and I, but we have a great circle of friends who love to celebrate birthdays. Since they love celebrating every one individually we’ve done so great things to celebrate birthdays over the years. I know it’s hard sometimes to come up with ideas for your celebration which is why I’m sharing these with you.

Escape Rooms

We did this first for my Husband’s birthday a few years ago. The rooms are themed and full of puzzles that lead you to finding either a key or code to open locks that lead you to solving the mystery at hand. The first room we took on was an Egyptian Pyramid. Our goal was to open the sarcophagus to retrieve the huge ruby locked inside and then make it our of the room before our time was up. We successfully completed the mission and made it out of the room with under a minute to spare.

We’ve done a few other’s since then, everything from trying to save the world from the imminent release of a deadly virus to trying to stop an evil villain from taking over New York City. Most rooms are for anywhere from 6-10 people. It’s always better to try to have as many people as allowed because there’s a lot of work involved in solving the puzzles.

Top Golf

We just got a Top Golf here in Orlando and went earlier this year to check it out. I have no interest in playing golf itself, so I was a little worried this wouldn’t be fun. I had nothing to worry about you don’t need any actual golf skills to have a good time. The best way to describe it would be a driving range on steroids. I wrote a post on it if you want more details about it, you can check it out here. The building is three stories of lanes where you compete to hit different goals in the large field. Don’t worry it’s all color coded, with micro chipped golf balls that do the scoring for you. There’s also a full menu of food and drinks. It’s quite popular so make sure you go early or make a reservation.

Theme Parks

We live in Central Florida so this one includes tons of options for us. The prices of theme parks seem to be climbing but luckily they have great options for annual passes. In the past I’ve had annual passes to Sea World, Busch Gardens, and Universal. Those were all great and mainly I had them because there were a few times that Sea World and Busch Gardens ran specials where you pay for one day and get the rest of the year free. The problem was I hardly used them when I had them. However, I just recently joined the ranks of Disney Annual Pass holders and I have been taking full advantage of this one. My main motivator was Disney finally came around and let Florida Residents pay monthly. There’s so many options for passes, but for the one I have, Gold Pass, it’s $41/m. Considering the daily rate for a one day, one park ticket is now $120 + tax, it’s actually quite the deal.

Whirly Ball

On I-Drive there is a place called the Whirydome. It’s a concept where they took bumper cars and combined it with a mix of lacrosse and basketball. That’s the best description I can think of, you ride around in these little bumper cars on a basketball court, while trying to pass a small ball down the court to team mates. You pass the ball by throwing and catching with scooper like thing they give you. I wasn’t very good at catching and passing, but the driving the bumper car around was really fun. It’s $8 per person for a game (note: games are only 10 minutes long) or you can book a party which is what we did. That way it’s one price to rent for a set amount of time and then split the cost between the number of people in your group.

Beer Festival

If trying tons of different beers is your thing, try finding a local beer festival. We recently celebrated a friends birthday by attending the Beer ‘Merica Craft Beer Festival. It was held in a small park next to a lake in Orlando. It was $20 admission and there were tons of tents set up by local bars and breweries. With admission you get a mini beer (8 oz) beer glass. You can use that glass to try as many of the different beers offered as you want. It’s basically “all you can drink beer” for $20. Along with the beer tents there were outdoor games (think corn hole), a wrestling ring (interesting choice), and food trucks. It was raining during this years festival but we still had a great time with friends ponchos, umbrellas, and all.

Sky Diving

A few years before I turned 30 I had made a list of 30 things to do before 30. One of those items was to go sky diving, so for my 30th birthday celebration my husband planned a little adventure for us to go sky diving. It sounded like the ultimate thrill until you’re up in the air sitting in a line waiting for your turn to jump. That’s where it turns terrifying and you wonder why you thought this was a good idea in the first place. Once you jump (or in my case the person you’re attached to jumps because you’re too scared) and as you’re hurling towards the earth free falling it’s really is quite exhilarating. Then your parachute opens (hallelujah) and you get to nicely glide towards the ground. It’s not for the faint of heart as it’s terrifying and fun all at the same time. I don’t think I’ll ever do it again but it really is the ultimate way to celebrate your birthday (at least once anyway!).

Mystery Dinner Theater

This was an unexpected choice for a birthday celebration. We went to Sleuth’s Mystery Dinner Shows, and it was more fun then I expected. It’s a really big room that is set up like a large dining room with the tables  set up around a stage. Everyone on who works there (including the servers) are dressed in character. The actors walk around before the show starts and chat (in character) with guests. The show itself was pretty entertaining and the mystery was revealed well. It’s a good activity if you’re looking for something different, but it’s a little pricey at $70 per person.

Howl at The Moon

Howl at the Moon is a well known piano bar here in Orlando. I’ve seen them in other big cities, so chances are there’s probably on near you. If there isn’t specifically a Howl at the Moon, just search for piano bar. Piano Bars seem to be pretty popular and you’ll probably find one nearby. The whole concept of this venue is one big party centered around two guys playing dueling piano’s on stage. They play anything and everything that people request, but mostly catchy oldies (think Sweet Caroline). The have lots of fun drinks and lots of room to dance around. I’ve always had a great time there and depending on the night you go it’s anywhere between Free to $15 to get in. They also have lots of packages to reserve tables or book a party. It also seems to be a popular stop for bachelorette parties.

Laser Tag

We have a few laser tag places around Orlando, but one of the more well known places is called Hard Knocks. You pay They have several different arenas, an office, a warehouse, and a maze. You have your pick of different types of laser guns. It’s fun if you can play with your own groups, but depending on the night and how busy they are you may get stuck playing with other groups. Not a big deal unless you find yourself playing with a bunch of young kids who are hiding their targets and never seem to get out of the game. Overall it’s a fun activity if you’re looking for a more active thing to do for your birthday. Just know going it it’s a workout and you will leave tired. The birthday parties start at $25 per person for 1 hour of play.

Home Gathering/Themed Party

Home gatherings are the most cost effective way to celebrate birthdays and personally my favorite. I prefer not causing others to spend a bunch of money to celebrate me. I enjoy inviting friends over to play games, have a few drinks and have an all around good time. Everyone brings something to share and it ends up only costing about $10/pp. I don’t really usually come up with a theme for our hosted nights, but we have attended a few good ones. One year the theme was “Crazy Wigs” and another year we attended a party where each couple picked a country and your outfit and your food dish had to represent that country. Then as  you played games you earned coins for winning and at the end of the night there was a winning country that got a prize. It was one of the best themes I’ve ever participated in.

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Hopefully if you’re planning a birthday party those will give you some great ideas of things to do. All of these activities provided a great time celebrating. I tried to make sure there’s something for every price range.

What have you guys done to celebrate birthdays? I’m always looking for great ideas so let me know below! 

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