Are they out of control by you? Dh and I looked into having one for dd at a place and for only 10 kids (5 would have been family) it would have been between $300 and $400! We decided on a small family party with a kid playdate at the end so the cousins can stay for the kid part too. We are having it at the house and hopefully the weather will be nice enough that the kids can get outside for a bit and play on the swings!

No. It's way cheaper to have your party at a place than at your house here. I have had several karate parties. For $100 you get pizza, cake, pop, chips/cheese puffs/juice boxes for the kids, the entertainment, and up to 10 kids, and that includes the wood they each get to break at the end. DH and I felt a little bad --- but--- she's gotten a new little students from almost all of our parties, which in a month, will more than pay for anything she's out. Even a party at Chuckie Cheese where it's like $9.99/kid is worth it to me--- they feed them, provide entertainment, clean up etc. I always have their first birthday parties at home, and I drop WAY more than that after I buy plates, plasticware, food, drink, etc. Plus then I have to come up with something for them to do!

You can rent out the whole skating rink and they have a huge play area and arcade, for $399 for up to 50 guests, lol. (Not that we need to do anything like that.)

Most of the birthday places around here are bounce places. They are in huge warehouses and the parties are like assembly lines. You go into the bounce area for an hour, then into the pizza cake room for 30 minutes, then you get rushed out so they can clean before the next party goes into the cake room. We looked into weekday options, and even things like ceramics and bowling. Nothing was going to be less than $250, and we have family that would be excluded that would want to come over for cake on her actual birthday anyway

Around here a 10-kid party with only cake and entertainment is at least $200, and usually closer to $300. I think Michelle has it a little better as she's not in a major metropolitan area.