No, not adult birthday parties, you pervs. Just birthday parties for adults. I’m turning 34 this month (ack!) and I’m not really digging the idea of just going to a bar all night. Does anyone have any suggestions for a fun time that isn’t too expensive? I live in New York City, which leaves me with many choices but I don’t know where to start (but feel free to leave suggestions that aren’t city-specific, to help other people). Most of my friends and I work nights, so daytime ideas are welcome too. Thanks!
Interesting birthday parties I’ve been to recently:
Roller Skating (twice) - one party at a rink that served beer…one that didn’t.
Laser Tag
Toga
Beach
My 40th is within view. I was talking about it last night, trying to figure out what to do for it.
No idea yet.
-D/a
Heck, do kids’ stuff. Go to the zoo or museum or planetarium. Have a scavenger hunt, without the items. Everyone has a camera these days, so each partygoer could figure out some sort of puzzle, and take a pic of the answer. Split into two or more teams, and give Group A the puzzles from Group B, and vice versa. Meet up after a couple of hours, and compare answers.
I was once take to a party as a treasure hunt item for a birthday party. (Guy with a long beard if you must know.) It was a fun party, about forty people, including several guys with long beards. The treasure hunt was mostly for things to bring to the party, but you could not buy anything. (firewood, for a bonfire, chairs, etc) The winning treasure hunters brought a band.
Tris
My friend did Zombie Golf for one of his birthday parties. It’s indoor putt-putt on a course that’s all painted with glow-in-the-dark paint.
We’ve also done Whirly Ball.
Yeah, kid stuff. Fun!
When I was about 10, our girl scout council rented out Discovery Zone overnight. Which was like an enormous indoor play area with slides and mazes and ball pits and bungee areas and swingie things and walls to climb… omg, the most fun I had in my childhood afaicr. I’d love to do that as an adult. All the stuff there could accommodate adults too, but you couldn’t go in unless you were accompanying a child (for obvious reasons). Anyway, that’s still the best birthday party I can think of. An overnight at Discovery Zone!
And, a perfunctory internet search has alerted me to the existence of adult play areas like Discovery Zone. If there were one in my area, I’d go there all the time!
There was a group of adults that came in to the restaurant I work at for a birthday party just last night. They were having a superhero themed party. It looked like fun!
Another fun idea… board games! Get Cranium, Outburst, CatchPhrase, Apples to Apples, etc. There are so many fun party games. Also, Casino Night isn’t just for frat parties. Buy some token gifts from the dollar store to give as prizes for the people with the most chips at the end of the night.
For my 43 birthday last week. I invited two other couples with kids and we all went blackberry picking. Then we made jam. Everyone had saved up twist top jars and brought them with them. I had preprepared a simple dinner and for desert, everyone got ice cream with hot blackberry sauce. A good time was had by all and they went home with 6 jars of jam each. Costs 6 dollars total for the special jam sugar.
I’m also in the NYC area and I’ve been thinking about doing a scavenger hunt with Watson Adventures. Get people to sign up for one of the public hunts!
I’ve also gone with a group of friends to the Dave & Busters in Times Square - since you can go at an off time it could be fun to play tons of skeeball and drink beers. We had fun, and I now have two stuffed Stewie and Brian dolls as a reminder of the day (everyone pooled their tickets together at the end and handed them to me so I could get a good prize).
This is silly, but once on a whim my husband and I bought and filled a pinata to take to a birthday party. It turned out to be extremely fun. Just make sure no one drinks too much beforehand, or make sure you have a sturdy “referee.”
Ha, funny, I went there three years in a row, and then skipped last year to go to Rudy’s Bar and Grill. Maybe I should just head back to D&B!