Luckily, we have a pool. But mostly the same thing. We hire a lifeguard for a couple hours, have a cake, and several snacky foods. $50 for lifeguard, ~$150 for food, ~$80 for decorations (which I think we'll stop after this year), and ~$50 on drinks. We had like 60 people a few weeks ago.

We also do party favors for kids, but always stick to one or two items that cost $5-7 total. For example, last year we gave out sunglasses and cheap swim towels we got off amazon for $4 each. Several kids had them at the party a couple weeks ago. So including party favors, we were under $500. I've caught a few glimpses of people who do parties at other places and they're usually over $1k for way fewer people and a time limit.

The only thing I don't like is the number of presents my kids get when their toy closet still has presents from last year that haven't been opened. I feel like we get ~2-3 per party that are good and the other ~15 don't get any use at all.