Today’s post is on children’s birthday parties!
When I was expecting our first daughter, thinking about throwing her birthday parties was probably the last thing on my mind.
As my daughter’s 1st birthday drew closer, I realized just how much I wanted to make her feel special.
But my family operates on a tight budget. How would we pay for a party?
It’s only been 3 years, but here are some things we’ve learned:
1. Use a FREE venue, like a park or your own home.
We used parks her first two years, and we threw a princess tea party in our home this year.
2. Make your own cake—or cupcakes.
I spent hours crafting an elaborate princess cake (yes, we’ve already done a princess theme twice in 3 years!) for my daughter’s 1st birthday. I solicited the help of a couple of friends, and made it into a really fun moms’ day!
3. Keep the food simple.
Schedule your party for mid-morning or late afternoon, so your guests won’t expect a meal. You can simply serve cake, ice cream and a beverage (juice, lemonaide, sweet tea or even just water).
4. Allow your guests to save money, too.
Tell your guests that gifts aren’t necessary (our kids, for one, DON’T need more toys!). A friend of mine actually requested that guests bring food for our local soup kitchen in lieu of presents for her child.
5. Shop at bargain stores for paper products and decorations.
The Dollar Tree is my personal favorite!
6. Combine parties with a friend.
Split the costs and enjoy celebrating together!
7. Keep activities low-key.
This year, our daughter’s guests colored pictures of tea sets and princess crowns, ate cupcakes and drank juice and spent the rest of the time playing with her toys.
8. Be creative with the favors—or forgo them altogether.
Cheap toys and candy? Most parents don’t like bringing that stuff home. If you still want to give something, try:
- balloons
- bubbles
- homemade reusable snack or sandwich bags
- a box of raisins
- a favor with a lesson: This year, we gave out tea cups (that we bought at a thrift store) that we used as flower pots. They cost next to nothing and went perfect with our “Princess Tea Party” theme!
rebecca at thisfineday
It’s so hard to throw a full birthday party on a budget. We totally cut back this year on the party. I’m already planning how we’ll keep it simple for our second daughter’s birthday in a few months. Here is our take on a fun birthday party on a budget:
http://thisfineday.com/blog/2013/6/6/throw-an-awesome-birthday-party-for-under-50
Selah
I keep the flags and banners each year untill they’re broken, out of shape or otherwise no longer usable.
I live in the Netherlands, so there is a change in valuta and the worth it has when buying stuff, but at our place we don’t buy birthday cakes with a print but we’re buying cheap cakes for 3-4 euro a 12 person cake.
When needed for a kids birthday you might scrape the cream from the top and make your own cream and put on tiny toys to make it childlike.
We usually make a plate with cheese, dried sausage, cucumber, some chips and other cheap salted snacks.
This also makes us serve coffee and tea before having any more expensive beverage, this usually keeps the amount of beverages below the point of “i’m thirsty and i’m drinking soda’s to the point it’s gone”.
All together(without the presents) i spend up to 30 euro(about 40 USD) a birthday.
But all together you can spent as much as you want to spend on a birthday.
Fact is that family and friends need to understand they’re not gonna have the most luxurious party.
Besides, parties are for the fun, so buying kids that come a little gift and having a great day with games will help to put down the costs.
You might wanna ask grown ups(or older kids) to bring something to drink or eat along.
Then it’s gonna be an American party which keeps the budget in line and bringing stuff themselves downsizes the budget as well as leaves you with less preparation.
Dawn
We are party planning right now! I plan to make the decorations (pinwheels) using paper from the craft store that I will purchase using a fifty percent off coupon and tin cans that we will open in the coming month. Table covers will be freezer paper that the kids can color on, and fresh cut flowers from our garden will add to the decor. We will keep our menu simple. We have decided to forgo the moonbounce and instead have different activity stations, made with thing we already have, around the yard. My husband may even offer free tractor rides 🙂 in lieu of favors, we will likely make a donation to a neutropenia research organization since our daughter has neutropenia.
Leanne
What a fantastic idea !!
This sounds wonderful
Chris H.
These are fun ideas. We had a princess party for my daughter this year, too. I drew a frog and some lips and we played “Pin the Lips on the Frog Prince”; I bought some Dollar Store craft supplies and each of the 5 little girls made a wand; they had a “picnic” (her birthday is in January) on old table cloths in the living room and the loot bags had a cookie cutter and some bubbles. Easy and inexpensive.
The previous year it was a tobogganing party, with 4 little friends. After tobogganing, they made their own mini pizzas (I pre-cut and shredded the ingredients) and then they played while their lunch baked. Cupcakes for dessert were made the day before. The biggest cost were the 4 $5 book store gift certificates that were the loot bags.
It is not hard to have inexpensive birthday parties….it merely takes a bit of creativity and a bit more effort on the part of the parents than going somewhere that does everything for you.
AzMomO5
With 5 kids we could spend lots on birthdays every year. But before my oldest was born we decided we would only throw parties for 1st, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 12th, and 16th birthdays. The other years we take the kids out to dinner of their choice and have cake at home.
Because we don’t do parties every year for each child we do spend a little more on each child ($100 total budget per party) I don’t like the cheap junk filled goodie bags that come home from parties our children attend so we make our activity the gift we send home with our guests.
We have done “color parties” – the take home was a homemade coloring book (lots of free printables on the web and 20 cent 3 prong folders bought during back to school time). The invitation was a box of 8 crayons (also bought on sale during back to school time) with an attached tag. For the activity I bought tins of markers, crayons, water color paints and rolls of butcher paper (all either on sale or stock piled over the course of a few months with Michael’s coupons) and set up creation stations around our back yard. My mom and I made a homemade cake to look like a box of crayons. This was a 3rd birthday party for 3 of my kids.
We have done “cookie parties” – the take home was an apron they had decorated with stamps and decorated sugar cookies that they decorated. The invite was a cookie cutter with tag attached. I found a box of 20 cookie cutter for $5 at Walmart. My mom made a cake to look like a decorated sugar cookie. This was a 5th birthday party for 2 of my kids.
We have done “savenger hunt parties” – no take home on this one as this was a 12th birthday party for my oldest and by that age you don’t really need to send a goodie bag home. We came up with a list of items for the kids to collect or things to do and get a picture of here in our community. I spoke with several of the business in the area to see if they would mind helping out. They all said yes. Items on the list included – get a piece of popcorn from the movie theater, get a set of chop stickes from the chineese restaurant, help someone out to their car and load their groceries for them. We broke the kids up into 3 teams and I recruited 2 friends to help drive the teams around. We set geographic boundries they had to stay within. The team that came back within the time limit with the most items completed won. I had large, medium and snack size candy bars for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes.
My third child really wanted to do his 12th birthday party at the local trampoline park. I called and asked if they had any discounted party package deals. They gave us a deal for coming in during the evening on a Thursday $10 a kid minimum 8 kids for 2 hours, paper goods and drinks included. My son invited his 7 closest friends and we got pizza from Little Ceasers and I made homemade cupcakes. By coming on a less busy day/time and limiting the number of kids he could invite he got the activity he wanted all within our budget.
Leesha @ Living Contently
I love these ideas! I recently put together a party for my niece, sticking to the frugal route. One of the biggest hits was the “tea sandwiches.” We did 3 different kinds of sandwiches and used a cookie cutter to make them tiara-shaped. They were super-cute, went with out theme, and kept costs low!
Kasey
What is your suggestions for a birthday close to Christmas and saving money then. My son is two days after christmas. So a park is out of the question. I also don’t want him to feel cheated so we celebrate christmas and his birthday separately (usually in January). Any ideas will be appreciated.
Robyn
My youngest was born on January 1st so I feel your pain. We usually have his party with friends late in January. Serve foods like a tacos and make homemade cupcakes. I usually let the kids buy 2 packages of character plates and then get plain colored stuff from the dollar store to coordinate. The kids can make up great games or play board games if weather is too cold to go outside.