Indoor birthday party ideas for an 11 year old boy?

My son will be turning 11 in a few weeks, and I desperately need ideas for a birthday party. It will be winter in New England, so outdoor activities are not an option. I live in an older rented house, and my landlords live above me…so I don’t want a dozen kids running around in here causing mayhem, but every activity that he or I can think of involves running around and making lots of noise. We don’t want to repeat what we’ve done in past years, as he’s crossing over into an age where he’s not quite a teen, but too old for babyish stuff. Some of the things we’ve done in past birthday parties that i think are kinda ’spent’:

- Sleepovers involving just a few of his closest friends, doing indoor camping activities and roasting marshmallows over a sterno can.
- Bowling parties.
- We’ve even delayed his birthday party til the summer so we could do outdoor activities that included water balloons/water gun battles and a Darth Vader pinata that they hit with a light saber.

Of course, money is tight, as I just got laid off from work, so Chuck E Cheese and other such options are way too expensive…and neither he nor I were impressed when we went to the last Chuck E Cheese party. It was overcrowded and hot, the food was horrible, and the prizes were sucky.

I’m willing to host here at home in theory, but doing what???? He loves Legos and Star Wars, and laser tag and guns or cops & robbers type of activities. HELP!!!!

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