Having two little ones, means throwing two birthday parties every year. We are on a tight budget so throwing a big bash twice a year is tough. Especially with one of those birthdays being very close to the holiday season. What are some frugal ways to throw an inexpensive party, while still making it special? -Rose
We never worried about big themed parties as kids. We had family parties every year, but ones with friends only every other year. And even then it was only a few, maybe up to ten. We did every other year until “double digits.” Then you got parties with friends at the big ones (10, 13, 16, 18). Or maybe a friend or two to spend the night on off years, but no real party. You really don’t need to worry about a theme. Kids are happy to have a few friends to play with a cake and some ice cream!
Last year we did a Dora party for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. A lady I sometimes babysit for makes cakes so I bartered babysitting services for a free cake! It turned out really cute too! And something that I wouldn’t have been able to afford if I had paid cash! For the treat bags I took brown paper bags and painted the fronts of them purple, then glued on a face to make it look like backpack. All the treats inside came from the Dollar Tree. You can buy a pack of 6 play-doughs for $1, a pack of 3 bubbles, stickers, even fruit snacks or candy can be bought there. For the game, my husband drew a swiper on cardboard, painted it and cut it out. (Time consuming, but cheap. If you are not artisitic, I think there is a swiper poster you can print out for free on the nickjr website.) We blew up a bunch of balloons and drew stars on them then set them loose in a field to play “catch the stars” and my husband ran around with the cardboard swiper trying to “swipe” the balloons from the kids. It was a hoot!! The kids wanted to play over and over again. We bought hot dogs and buns for the meal and had family members bring the sides and drinks, kind of like a potluck. The only thing we realy spent much money on was that we went ahead and bought the Dora themed napkins and tablecloths, but you wouldn’t have to do that, or maybe just pick one thing to be themed and use plain for the rest of it.
Here is the post from my blog about it: http://benandtabby.blogspot.com/2009/08/2nd-birthday-party.html
What great comments and ideas!
We are about to celebrate my daughter’s third birthday this weekend, and it didn’t even occur to me to go “all out.” I mean, it will be mostly all family with 2-3 of her little friends and their families included. I was planning to make the cake and not give out any gift bags. Growing up, my birthday parties consisted of inviting 10 of my best friends over for a sleepover at my house. This happened every year, and that was it! We had snacks, cake, and watched movies- no decorations or extravagant outtings! There were four of us kids, so the budget was tight for my parents. I never thought anything about it until my kids were born and suddenly we were thrust into this world of ginormous birthday parties. Simple is sooooo much better in my opinion! My daughter is super psyched about her birthday, and we are excited to just celebrate it with all of our family. I designed the invites, then printed and mailed them. I have enjoyed making the cake for both my kids in the past, and this year is no different. Its a small task I take joy in, that I love and look forward to doing each year.
I threw a princes party for my daughter one year. Their uncle just had given their cousins a princess tent so we borrowed it for decoration. I also went to the thrift store and found a pink rug. We put this in front of the tent and took photos there. I found a frog toss game at a yard sale so we played that and we also painted princess suncatchers. We had a princess tea party. All the girls dressed in their princess costumes. We served little cakes and small sandwhiches and cookies (very inexpensive!). Lemonade was served in the ceramic tea set I purchased from a thrift store for $5. A friend read the princess and the pea story while I acted it out in puppets. We had a cardboard puppet theatre. It can easily be made with a trifold board and any scrap cloth for a curtain. After the story the girls took turns sitting on different piles of pillows and had to guess which pile had the pea in it. Hope this gives you some ideas!
We held a tea party for our daughter – which was wonderful. The girls made headbands, and had a tea party on real “china” (Goodwill on a 50% off day. You couldn’t buy plastic for what we paid!) Use your imagination…Google ideas for your theme and you’ll be surprised at what you can do on a small budget.
Last year, our 4 year old was SUPER into Dinosaurs. So we through him a big bash at home for something like $75 or less if my memory serves me correctly. We took a bunch of our saved big cardboard boxes (you can also go to appliance stores and see if they are willing to give you some they are just going to throw away) and my husband drew huge dinosaurs onto cardboard boxes with sayings coming out of their mouths like “Welcome to Camasaurs’ Birthday!” “Thanks for coming! We’re glad you could stay for some extra Bites!” yada yada…. corny cute stuff like that. the kids also colored them with crazy colors, making them feel really involved. We did that with as much of the decorating for the party as we could so that Cameron really felt like it was his party. We cut dinosaur foot prints out of cardboard for a 2 games; an egg hunt (eggs super cheap from Oriental Trading Company), and The Dino Stomp (musical chairs to dino music that we already had from a Sandra Boyton book that was all songs inspired from her books). We had cheap prizes like $1 coloring books and puzzles from Walmart & the Dollar Store; all dinosaur themed. We had dino masks from Oriental Trading. We made on our computer and with dino stickers (from OT) Official Paleantologist badges for their “official admittance to the Dig Site” that they got as soon as they walked in the door. They got to keep all of that, the eggs they found with baby dinos in them, and some little dino stamps & stickers from OT. They decorated their goody bags that were just brown paper lunch bags with the stickers, stamps and crayons when they got there (while waiting for other guests to arrive) and then when everyone was there, we started the dino hunt. Oh, and we tried to do a clay project, that didn’t work with home made clay. And we had a play volcano that the kids could make erupt with baking soda and red dyed vinegar. It was some Star Wars volcano play set we had. They LOVED that. And even though the clay thing didn’t work out, the kids loved just playing with the goopy mess anyway. Oh, and we printed yellow warning signs from our comp that said stuff like “Beware, there are dinosaurs everywhere!”. You get the picture.
All of these ideas were from a GREAT website for birthday party ideas: http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com
We had lots of fun, the kids loved it, and it was cheap. Way better than any of those “jump around” places our oldest has gone to. You can find really good deals during the week at those places if you don’t have the time to do all the above. Because it was hard work. But completely worth it.
If you are looking for a place to have them: Focus on the Family’s Welcome Center has a couple of FREE kids birthday party rooms that you can reserve for an hour. You just need to call 531-3400 to reserve them in advance.
I love what Kelleigh said above–wanting kids to be satisfied with simpler things–that’s what we feel too!
We don’t need anymore toys and games, so we always write “Please, NO gifts” on the invite, and we mean it! They still get gifts from us and grandparents. Our kids just want to spend time with their friends and have fun for their birthday. We invite whole families, so we usually have at least 25 people over. We serve simple snacks and of course cake. We don’t do party bags or favors unless I was able to find a really good deal on something, or we’ll do a craft that they take home with them.
We just had a party at a local park–I brought juice, water, cake, and cupcakes and I went to the dollar store for some activities (other than playing at the park, which was fun with friends by itself!). It’s SO hot, so I got a pack of 100 water balloons and some spray bottles that mist. The kids had a blast getting wet from balloon games and then running around chasing each other and misting with the spray bottles. This was for a 7 year old.
I also have a child with a winter birthday, and for those so far we’ve just had a free-for-all at the house, again with several whole families attending! Simple snacks and cake, the kids run around and play, dance to music, etc, while adults hang in the kitchen and try to chat above the noise! It’s a fun and simple time. 🙂
The birthday kid just wants to be the center of attention for their birthday–that doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot of money.
Also, don’t forget about asking friends and checking freecycle for items. I just saw someone giving away kids party favors on freecycle the other day. Also, it’s super easy to make goody bags with plain bags and stickers! A friend of mine got some cheap beach buckets online and painted the guest (kids) names on them and it was a total hit. you don’t need all the expensive party stuff, involve the kids in the decorations even, they’ll have a blast!
Okay I don’t actually have kids but do have nieces and nephews. Recently I found a cheap box set of how to make balloon animals, and it was a total hit with my nephews. It really isn’t that hard to do the simple ones, and besides they really wanted the “sword”balloon which is just like a blown up balloon, LOL, and they just loved watching me shape the balloons, lol. I found that there are plenty of videos online showing how to make some simple balloon animals and they sell the long animal balloons at party stores or online for pretty cheap! This could be something easy and cheap you could do or have a friend do, it’s not ALL the hard crazy balloons you see at amusement parks, but still fun for young ones!!
Our best party was was when my son was about 10. The theme was ‘The take it apart party’. I made a flyer for our neighbors and told them about the party. I asked for things that no longer worked, or that were no longer needed. This was done about a month before the party. All sorts of things arrived ———- flat irons, old radios, VCR’s, a bread machine, a very old calculator, a typewriter, a rotary phone…. The items were all set up in the basement and each boy could choose one thing to “take apart’ – not destroy with a hammer. We supplied screw drivers and advice. My husband went around a explained how everything worked. The best part !!!! – telling the boys that they could take all the parts home. It was an easy clean up! It is the party that they still talk about.
We just had our birthday madness! We have two girls, six years apart BUT their birthdays are only two days apart! We are, as many these days, on a tight budget. I kept the parties small, my oldest invited 6 friends, my youngest invite 3. I borrowed the decoration for my youngest party, pink tulle, it was a Ballerina party and for my oldest’s water party we kept the decorations simple by making some and buying color coordinated plates, napkins etc. We also didn’t provide much food, simple snacks and cupcakes or ice cream. One thing I didn’t do this year was goody bags filled with toys that a thrown away quickly and candy. I put together simple goody bags for the Ballerina party with stickers and balloons I already had and bought $1 packets of water balloons for the water party. That alone saved a lot of money. Lastly, I love to craft so I looked around the house at what I already had and used it.
Mostly, I try to keep it simple. My 3 boys all have birthdays in the spring 2 weeks apart. This year they turned 5, 3, and 1. I had a combined party with just the family, which included their 4 boy cousins. I pick a simple theme–this year, camping–and keep it simple. We set up a tent and let them play. I’ve had to give up the idea that every party has to have tons of decorations and party games. The boys were totally happy just being free to play. We grilled hot dogs. I made a cake for the theme–with graham cracker tents and upside-down sugar cones covered with frosting for pine trees. I have fun decorating the cake, and I try to do it ahead to keep it stress free. As some of you mentioned, I’m not crazy about take-home bags that have lots of things that will be tossed or broken. One year (since our b-days are in the spring), I gave a bucket with bubbles and sidewalk chalk, or things like that. This year, though, was my favorite. To go with the camping theme, I bought the small-sized headlamps (camping dept. of a sporting goods store–$3-4) for each boy, including my own. There was nothing better than seeing 5 bobbing lights as the older boys ran around outside in the dark. 🙂 As the boys get older, I believe I’ll stick to the not-a-party-every-year idea. I think we’ll let them choose a fun thing to do on their b-day most years.
I haven’t read the many other replies, so I don’t know if this was mentioned or not, but with my 2 boys I alternate their friend birthday parties every year. The one who does not get a birthday party, still gets to have a friend spend the night. And we still do have a family party for both boys (their birthdays are only 1 month apart). When I announced this 2-3 years ago, both boys were pretty okay with it….and it has saved us money and planning! 🙂
I have always had wonderful parties for my children, and I never spend much money on them. The key is planning ahead. Decorations can be made easily from large cardboard tubes (carpet stores will cut and give these to you), brown paper bags and cardboard boxes. For goodie bag prizes, homemade play doh in baggies decorated with theme related stickers, stilts made from coffee cans (free-cycle is a GREAT place to get these), homemade cookies to decorate, and homemade bubble solution are all almost free and kids love them. For older kids, let them make these things themselves, and just have containers for them to bring them home in. For younger ones, you can have them packaged in brown paper bags decorated with stickers. I had a jungle themed party for my son this year. We had 14 children and 22 adults, and my total cost was under $50. We went on safari and the kids received “giraffe legs” (coffee can stilts), mashed banana dough (homemade yellow playdough), pouncing bubbles (homemade bubbles in soda bottles), and made zebra cookies (chocolate cookies with white icing and brown sprinkles). The children also received toilet paper tube binoculars and brown paper bag vests that they could decorate. I had basic party food that I gave “jungle sounding” names to, and played the Madagascar soundtrack in the background. It did take some time to make all of the favors, but by starting early enough I was able to do it with very little stress.
@Joyce, cute ideas! I may steal this one year!!
Here are a few ideas that we have tried:
*use Evites instead of paper invitations
*do a morning party with donut/donut holes, homemade muffins, and kids cereals (bought with coupons) instead of cake
*use black and white pictures of the birthday boy/girl from the past year that you can print for free or almost free for decorations–you can glue these to cardstock and hang with ribbon from just about anywhere, or you can tape them up, etc.
*use plates/cups/napkins from hobby lobby bought with 40% off coupons–we usually opt for solid colored plates with happy birthday napkins
*the park or your house are usually big hits with kids this age–my son is 5 and has always chosen a home party. I love it that he wants to have his friends at his house.
*stock up on party favors after christmas, easter, valentines day with things that are not holiday specific, but are packaged as such. I got 30 plastic heart necklaces after Valentines Day for 75cents total last year. I bought bubbles 75% off at an end of summer sale. Also, we’ve had some great “favors” that were really cheap, but fit the party theme–big league chew for baseball parties, buckets and shovels for summer parties–bought at 75% off–so 25cents each, etc.
* for favors think–do I want this at my house? If the answer is no, its junk, realize no one else does either…
@Sarah, I like the idea of getting decorations after holidays. I’ll add that a friend bought post-4th of July stuff to use for an Olympic b-day party, where we did relays and got medals. cute!
A friend gave me this advice when my second was born and we have stuck with it. My kids get a “friend” party every other year (we’ve decided on even numbers). When it is a party year we do the typical party using a lot of the strategies above to keep the costs down. When it isn’t a party year we do something special as a family that day – usually donuts for breakfast, a movie or museum during the day and the train diner for dinner with homemade cake afterwards.
Oh, and another way to keep costs down – do NOT invite the whole class. Limit the number of invites sent out. Some people allow the number of invites to equal the child’s age (turning 6, invite 6 kids, etc.)
Your kids are young enough that you can decide a strategy now and they won’t notice a change if how you’ve done it so far.
Once I began staying home and our income was cut in half, we quickly realized that birthday parties for our kids can be fun (without being expensive). We’ve always had them at home, which saves money. We’ve hired a clown or rented a jumpy house for our yard. But recently due to the economy, we’ve decided to combine our kids’ birthday parties into one party. They are still young (5 and 7) and their birthday is 30 days apart so this works for us. I know I won’t always be able to do this but it works for now. Oh, and I’ve never done goody bags – those are just a waste of money! I’d rather put that money into the actual cake or presents.
Wow, lots of good ideas and advice on this topic. We have 4 kids and I don’t do huge parties with their friends every year, although we do often invite nearby family to celebrate. When we do choose to have a party, it’s almost always at home with a homemade cake. I would agree that you need to set precedents early on. Think about how you want to celebrate birthdays at each age and then be consistent. I let my oldest daughter have a small sleepover (3 friends) when she turned 10. Sure enough, when my boy/girl twins turned 10 this year they wanted the same thing so to be consistent we did, on 2 separate weekends. 🙂 Also, plan a budget for birthdays and then stick with it. There’s no need to go into debt to celebrate a birthday. One idea that I’ve used that works well for early childhood birthdays is to do a book exchange. In the invites, I let the parents know that they do not need to bring a gift for the birthday child, instead each child attending brings a new, age appropriate paperback or hardback book, wrapped. Then we do a game to exchange the books. For my child’s birthday then, they receive one new book. Each child attending the party then also receives one new book, which is also their party favor.
Plan what you’d like, get creative, and have fun!
I just threw my first “kiddie” party this year and some of the ways that I found to save on throwing a great party were:
*buy paper goods and decorations at the Dollar Tree, you won’t spend more than $1 per package.
*During the summer school stockup sales you can usually get boxes of crayons, pencils, erasers, markers and other fun craft supplies at a steal. I used this sort of thing in the goody bags for my son’s party. You could also use them for crafts at the party.
*For good bags you can use brown paper sandwich bags and let the kids decorate them at the party using markers, stamps, and stickers.
*You can print posters with your child’s favorite cartoon characters using a word processor, the internet and a printer, saving having to buy expensive decorations at the store.
I did a small series on doing a Birthday on a Budget when my “baby” turned 1. You can find my ideas here: http://www.mamabee.net/?s=Birthday+on+a+Budget
I have three kids 7., 6, 3. We decided when the 3rd came along that we would do a “party” every other year. Before age 5 they really don’t remember much about their parties. Keep it simple, decorate your own cupcake, build your own pizza, dress up party (princess and knights; cowgirls and cowboys, etc). Then have fun games centered around the theme. Outside parties are great- hot dogs on the grill (or crockpot), and sprinkler or two, ice cream and cake- under $100 and the kids are having the best time ever! Kids remember fun times with family and friends, we seem to get tied up into the expectations of parties and forget to let the kids have some fun!
Traditions. You are perfectly set up to start some wonderful family traditions. Good job!
Some of our traditions include:
1. The decor. I have a bag of decorations that come out for every birthday. The same hats and banners and noisemakers. Every once in a while we add a new decoration (usually from the dollar store). I usually buy one set of “theme” plates and supplement with solid color stuff.
2. The cake and food. The tradition is… for the first 3 years or so we have chocolate cake with my famous chocolate frosting (I have three famous frostings… chocolate, buttercream & penuche.) and spaghetti or tacos for the family dinner. Red wine and lemonade are served. And we use the pretty glass cake stand and the antique cake service. As the kids have gotten older they’ve picked themed cakes…. I did a rocket cake one year. I’ve done pink cupcakes with little princess decorations. Family Fun’s website is great inspiration.
3. Lunch with mama. Each kid gets to pick the place and we go to lunch for a special treat. Last year my daughter picked Burger King. This year she picked Jade Garden (egg rolls and pot stickers).
4. My best trick ever…. the scavenger hunt. We do this for a lot of holidays (Father’s Day… with the kids writing the clues and Daddy finding a specially printed picture at each location… is the best). You make up clues and send them running all over the place to find gifts.
5. Games. My kids love old-style “traditional” games…. like dropping clothespins in a jar while kneeling on a chair or tossing walnuts into different sized bowls for points. We also play ladder golf, badminton and baseball… the joy is having lots of family around and getting daddy and grandparents to play games with them.
@Homestead, I agree with “best trick ever” We do this at Christmas with Stacking Soldiers, each contains the next clue. (Born from lean Christmas year that I wanted to extend the gift process and take the focus off the stuff that they did/didnot have to open.) This could be a great tradition for NON party years. My children are in high school and would miss this terribly if I was to omit it.
My kids have birthdays that are 5 weeks apart. We always have birthdays together! (they are only 13 months a part!) But ever other year we rotate whose birthday it is going to be on. This years was my sons next years it will be on my daughters. that way they still get to have a party on there birthday just every other year! 🙂 Plus whoever doesn’t get the party on their bday we spend it together as a family doing something they want or out of the ordinary!
Also if you are having food at birthdays try pulled turkey or chicken or pork if you can find it cheap enough. Its easy and cheap!
Throughout the year, I scout out the clearance section at Target….in the party/stationary department and in the dollar section.
Some may not like this as much, but here it goes:
My friend did a third birthday party for her oldest. She made it bird themed. They only invited two family friends. She let her daughter pick dinner (burritos). She made a bundt cake and decorated it to look like a bird’s nest and put three emptied and dyed egg shells in the center to be the “baby bird eggs”. The gift? She illustrated a chore chart for her three-year-old. In the center of the page was a bird nest. Along the bottom were five chores: picture of a toothbrush, picture of pajamas, picture of toys in a chest, and two more I can’t remember at the moment. She also drew and cut out five baby birds. She reimbursed the church two bucks to have it all laminated. She put magnets on the backs of the sheet and each of the five baby birds. During the day the five baby birds would each cover one of the chore pictures. Before bedtime the three-year-old had to do each of her simple chores and move each bird, in turn, into the nest. She could not go to bed until all the birds were in bed. She LOVED it. She told the entire church about her special birthday gift. Most parents frowned at the thought of a chore chart being the only gift for a three-year-old’s birthday, but it made her so excited to be a helper.
We don’t really do parties. Generally it’s just a family celebration. We make a special cake(or dessert-have 2 birthdays in June, July and September so I get a little burnt out on cake-trying to get the kids to think of special desserts too but so far it hasn’t been fully accepted-LOL)
Kids wake up to a balloon filled house on their birthdays and we just try to make it a special day for them. I don’t like the way birthdays seem to be over done so have tried to keep ours more down to earth, yet still special for the child. I also think I’d rather spend the money on my kid and not all the birthday guests, but maybe I’m just a tightwad that way.
I have 2 boys that both have winter birthdays, so we always need to be inside. Though, we have done some crazy, over the top indoor parties (like our most recent Superhero party), we’ve done some very low-key ones, too:
1) Decorate your own cookies and cupcakes (Cookies and Cupcakes party)
2) Make your own Ice Cream Sundae Party
3) Make your own Pizza Party
4) Kung Fu Panda Party (could be done with any Asian theme – Karate, Ni-Hao Kai Lan: we ordered basic Chinese food for the kids – lo mein, dumplings, egg rolls)
5) Art Party – one table with play doh, one table with paper and crayons, one table with finger paints. The favor was an art smock I found online for 99 cents each.
6) Lego Party
The kids are generally happy with just about anything. We are fortunate that we can make use of our church hall for a small donation (amount of our choice). Most of the time, the kids have the most fun just running around.
I have an 11 yr. old son that has a Sept. birthday, so we have relay games in the back yard, water balloons and I just serve a simple homemade cake with a few side snacks. Cheap and Fun. We have also just had 2 or 3 favorite friends spend the night and they campout in the living room and they play outside until dark, can’t get much cheaper than that either. We usually request that the kids do not bring gifts, because some of our friends are strapped for cash, but some bring gifts anyway and I don’t think that gift bags for the kids coming are necessary anyway.
You can do lots of fun outdoor activities. I’ve seen kickball parties in the court (if your kids are old enough to play), pool parties if you live in an apartment complex with a pool or have a friend with one, or a backyard party with games like tag or races or limbo. The more you can get outside, the better (and it’s usually cheaper, too)!
@Michelle, I agree with you Michelle. To add to your ideas I have a spring birthday and I usually use the left over easter eggs, fill them with prizes (pony tail holders, stickers, tatoos, gems [the little stones used for decorations] anything but candy, and hide them (just tell the kids how many to collect). Also cheap flower pots decorated with stickers or paint pens as age dictates and send them home with a flower they planted (Pansies or gerber daisies, or violas are cheap and showy). These can easily be moved indoors should rain interfear.
We have done a little bit of everything. We had the big huge parties (which totally stress out mom and child), we have done the bouncy place, we have done one at Chuck E Cheese and one at McDonalds.(there is a cheap way to do these) We have also done the smaller home things. I liked the CEC and McDonalds ones best since they weren’t at my house, so no freaking out about how clean everything was etc. Both of those parties were under $100.00 and each of my boys got to invite up to 10 friends. For the CEC, we had entertainment book coupons so we used all of those for buying tokens and pizza and drinks. We made Super Hero Capes for the kids as party favors. They loved it. We also had the party right when they opened (not busy at all) on a weekday. They let us bring our own homemade cupcakes too. We just were not able to sit at any tables with reserved on them since those were for paying parties. The McD’s party was $75.00 for 10 kids. They provided lunches, cake and icecream, and goody bags. Along with a fun play area to run around in. Also both places cleaned up for you which is a bonus for me.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
I always make my own cakes for my kids! Get a cake mix and make your own frosting then search on the internet for easy cakes. I have some on my blog http://samandann.blogspot.com/p/cakes.html that I have made for my kids who are 3 and 1. It’s amazing what you can do with different candies and toys that they already have to make an amazing cake! I also go to the Dollar Tree for pretty paper plates and balloons and streamers. I usually throw a party for my kids and family for less than $40 including food! Can’t beat that!
Cook their favorite meal, bake a cake and have a few presents and call it good. Invite some close relatives and friends if you want. No need to make a major production about it, especially at such a young age. I only had maybe two birthday “parties” in my life and I have not been damaged by it. I think all my husband ever had was a birthday cake, eating his special meal, a few presents and family members wishing him a happy b.day—he turned out okay too. We weren’t ignored or anything, just didn’t have a big fancy parties. We still feel special. It really does boggle my mind the expense parents will go to in order to throw a birthday party (especially for toddlers). You may be surprised to find out how simple of a party your child would be happy with. Mine just love getting together and playing with their friends and blowing out candles on THEIR cake.
If you feel the NEED to throw a big party. Bake your own cake. I like to decorate mine, but hubby was used to plain white cake with white icing. Have the party from 2-4 so you don’t have to go to the expense of a meal. Use plain paper plates. Use plain napkins (seriously they really do NOT care). Decorations–why? I’ve never gotten balloons and my kids have never noticed (if I lived in the city I *might* go pick some up at the Dollar Tree, but again doubtful).
Our kids have done a “movie” party where we rented a movie, did some pizzas (homemade or frozen) and popcorn. They loved the parties at the park. I resist buying the cheap and cheesy party favors. Sometimes I’ll have a little something, but usually it’s a bag of candy.
You can get as expensive as you want or not. You don’t owe your child a party you can’t afford….your money, your choice.
We have four kids under 6 years old. We learned early on that big bashes for each birthday was a budget killer. Instead, we have big bashes on their 1 and 5 birthdays, then later on probably 10 and other milestones. When it is not a big party year for a child, we allow them to have over a friend or two and then let the birthday child plan the menu, pick out the kind of plates, cake, ice cream, and a movie and games to play. One year, my then turning four year old, chose for dinner mac & cheese, strawberries, mashed potatoes, and lemonade. That is all we had. She was thrilled, and everyone cleaned their plate! We just concentrate on making the day as special for the child as possible, even if we don’t host gobs of people.
We only do “friends” parties on milestone birthdays (we’re planning on doing 1, 5, 10, 13, 16, 18). Only having a party with family keeps costs down alot.
I have 3 kids who are now 13, 11 and 9. Until about age 10, we have had parties every year because we have no extended family anywhere near us. Over age 10, my kids now like to do a special activity with a friend or two. Just this past weekend I threw a Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs party for my daughter and 9 of her friends. I spent very little money and the kids had a blast. I bought the plates and goody bag items at the dollar store. I made all of the decorations and game out of things from the dollar store or things I had on hand. I bought the majority of the food with coupons. I have a party plannning blog and I often share party ideas on a budget. If you would like to see pics and ideas from my Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs party, check here.
http://www.pamspartyplanning.com/2/post/2010/07/cloudy-party-update4.html
Keep It Simple!!! When my son was 2, he was into the Incredible Hulk. I made a chocolate cake with green frosting. For months he talked about his Hulk cake. Right then, I decided it is the PARENTS, not the kids who expect grand parties. Or a homemade cake decorated with your child’s favorite toy. Wash are currently owned toy to use as the centerpiece.
Taco parties are easy and cheap for family parties.
NO GOODY BAGS; no one misses them anyway.
@Kelly, I totally agree!!! I think many parents throw parties because they feel it is expected of them from other parents! My kids (and any friends they invite) would be happy with running around outside and playing and getting cake and ice cream.
We only had a big party for 1 and plan to have a big party for 5. For the other birthdays, we just had family and a few close friends over for cake only. I make the cake so it only costs a few dollars. I have made a monster truck cake, a jeep cake and a shamu cake. My son still talks about his cake from 1 1/2 years ago and he’s 3 1/3, so I would say it is still memorable to him!
A friend of mine did a make your own milkshake bar for her daughter that was a lot of fun and the only cost was the ice cream and fixings. She just borrowed a bunch of blenders from everyone.
We decided to only do a birthday party every four years. The other years were just a family party. This would include a special dinner and cake with just our family. I noticed it made the party more special and my children more appreciative. Some of my children’s friends have a party every year. If just five friends do this that is a lot of presents.
Growing up, I was given two B-day parties that included more than immediate family on the “Guest List” I wasn’t missing out anything. In fact, I was given a very precious gift: the ability appreciate and enjoy simple things. As my first child’s 1st birthday approaches, I hope to give him the same joy.
This may work better if your kids birthdays are close together. My brother, sister, and I have birthdays within 3 weeks of each other, which meant a birthday bash 3 weekends in a row–yikes! Plus, my military family was often moving around the time we were getting ready to celebrate, which added to the chaos. So, my parents would throw one party for the three of us. We each got to pick one friend and we would have a picnic or something at the house and then go bowling or to some other fun excursion. Then those three friends could spend the night. It was such fun and the highlights were more on the time spent together rather than the gifts, since there weren’t a lot from tons of friends.
Mine are older now 25 and 23. When they were little I did family only with a nice meal and a cake (children do not remember until age 4 and they don’t need a real party until after 5) So after my oldest turned 5 i did a combined party I have one in June and one in August they had the same friends so I did a combined party in July until age 12 then I did give them each a party. I did the park and we fed the ducks and all their friends thought it was the best ever (our park also had free tickets for a train ride so the kids did that as well) Then when they turned older I limited the number for a few years they had 5 each at the house and I did special things like projects makeovers and pedicures for the girls, building things with legos or a science project like a volcano for the boys . The last parties I had for each of them was when they were teens they had one quest each and I took them to the amusement park and paid for everything for four kids. We went after 5 and the admission was $5.00 I took a picnic lunch and that way I could also give them money for games and snacks in the park. (They remember that their parties were awesome because they were diffrent the friends do too! )
I learned how to decorate cakes from my mom but you can take a class at Michaels or Hobby Lobby, etc and make your own cakes for a LOT less than you can buy them and they taste better too! I make all birthday cakes. Also we do not do goodie bags (big waste of money and unnecessary in my opinion most of the stuff they get in them is junk anyway) the party is supposed to be to celebrate the birthday child not give presents to their friends and family (never understood this concept) I do make a meal with ours because it is for our family (I generally only invite grandparents, aunts & uncles and cousins anyway) and I will have to cook for us anyway so we have the leftovers for a few days after the party. As mine get older they are kinds of not wanting parties (they are 9, 6 and 5 mo) and want to go someplace special with mom and dad instead of a big party anyway. Ds wants to go horseback riding with just mommy and dd wants to go to the waterpark with just us and her brother and sister. I always give them the choice if they want a party or not.
I get colored plates at the party store or at Dollar Tree along with any silverware we need we use generic birthday banners, etc (mostly bought on clearance at the party store 😉
As kids, my parents set the rule that we could have a birthday party only for when we were turning even numbered years, to cut down on expense and worrying about who to invite. On the odd years, we would have a special family dinner (often at a restaurant) or other event, and we could often invite one other friend to join, if we wished.
Highly recommend a website called http://www.amazingmoms.com They have allllll sorts of fantastic ideas on frugal ways to throw kid b-day parties on current themes (superheros, princess, Dora, etc.) They utilize Dollar Tree and other bargain stores. Their ideas are wonderful. Hope this helps!
Our best solution (which is a tradition I continued from my own mother) is to only have a “friend” party every other year. My kids know how things work and don’t seem to mind. THey dream and plan their friend parties for two years. But of course, I still keep them frugal.
Check at your church, if they have a gym. Ours lets members reserve it for free, and you can have an ultra cheap and fun boys’ basketball party!
Who says you have to have a party every year? We were only allowed a “real” party, with friends, every other year (there were three of us). And then we could only invite the number of friends according to our age. The “odd” year we were allowed one or two friends to a special night – like going to a movie and out to dinner with my parents.
I also remember being “hired”, when I was teenager to help with neighborhood kid’s parties. My friend and I would organize the games and run the show. We were paid in book gift certificates – gold!
I only every had two “friends” birthday parties- one when I was six at a local pizza shop where we got to make our one pizzas, and one when I was thirteen (a sleepover at the house). We were middle class/upper middle class, so looking back, I don’t know why we never had yearly birthday parties! I didn’t miss it though. I never realized people had full-fledged birthday parties every year until I met my husband’s family 🙂 And actually, even my nephew who has “friends” parties each and every year didn’t have one this year and didn’t seem to miss it. We just had a family party in the backyard.
I grew up in a pretty poor family due to some repeated layoffs. We never had money to burn but I still had great birthday parties. We never had a big bash or themed type parties. My mom always made the cake. Sometimes we would rent a special movie or play a special game/puzzles that my Mom set aside for special occassions only. Most of my parties were small gatherings of friends and/or families.
My birthday was two days after Christmas. If your child’s birthday is really close to the Holidays as mine I would strongly suggest not merging a Christmas family gathering and birthday, but to make a seperate gathering for birthday. For my birthday my mom usually took down the christmast ornaments on the tree and allowed me and my friends to decorate the tree with small toys (such as pound puppies, happy meal toys, small stuffed animals, and what not) It was always a favorite among me & my friends!
I had been to other friend’s that came from more wealthier families. They had elaborate parties but never once did I feel jipped! Just make the day special, it doesn’t take a lot of money to do that.
When my sons(2 1/2 years apart in age) were young, we agreed that one would have a “party” on the even-numbered years and the other on the odd-numbered years. If you didn’t get a party, we went to dinner(at the birthday boy’s favorite place) and had a small cake and presents at home after dinner……worked great for us!
We had the local fire truck come out (they did it free as a public service activity) and then decorated the tables with my son’s fire truck toys. We also made cupcakes and put inexpensive little fireman picks in the top of each one. The kids had a blast! 🙂 And my son loves to talk about the fire truck and firefighters coming to his party!
I haven’t read all the other posts, but after many years of spending A LOT of birthday parties….we now have 7 children & we just can’t do that anymore, and have realized it’s such a waste of $$. They don’t remember all the decorations anyway. I bought a colorful fabric tablecloth on clearance at Target & bought a Happy Birthday banner we use for every party. It’s still special when the “Birthday” tablecoth comes out! I also found at Goodwill a “It’s your special day” colorful plate that the birthday girl/boy gets to use all day on their day! So, I only put the $ out once, and theyg et used at every birthday. That has saved us a lot. We have never done “friend” parties, only close family & we will have a pitch in, so I don’t have to spend so much on the meal & we make whatever dessert the birthday child chooses.
Anyway…for what it’s worth!!!
@Michelle, That’s smart! My parents had a mug printed with “Happy Birthday” and balloons that I remember coming out for every birthday (even the parents’!) – usually with some special or favorite food for the birthday boy/girl. Once I was married, I asked if I could have that mug for myself to help make our birthdays a little more special.
When I was growing up we usually just had small family parties, and we would have a birthday party with friends over for the milestone birthdays (5, 10, 16, 18, etc.) But that was just my family’s personal preference, if you want to do a party every year, go for it!
One idea I remember that was really fun was my mom would get brown paper lunch sacks and all the guests would decorate them with stickers, markers, glitter, whatever. Then she would fill them with candy, etc. and they would be party favors, as well as a party activity.
Also, when your kids are older, I remember sleepovers being the best parties. They are pretty inexpensive, you just have to provide the food, my friends and I would paint our nails, play truth or dare, watch movies, and mainly just eat lots of junk food and talk all night 🙂
My philosophy with birthday parties has always been, simpler is better. Especially when they are young, a lot of activities can easily overwhelm a small child, so it is better to focus on a few fun games. Choosing a theme is always good too.
There are so many ideas, which readers have shared here.
With our five children and three birthdays within a month of each other, I have a ton of birthday traditions and ways to throw parties on a budget featured on my blog, but this was such a fun and easy way to decorate on a budget….festive but fun.
http://beautyandbedlam.com/creative-party-decorations-on-a-budget/
My idea is a little different. My Birthday is Dec 1 and growing up I never celebrated it in Dec. I was given a family birthday party but it was held in June or July of the year following my actual birthday. I felt real special because I would have everyone cook for me. It was like a huge family get together. I had no other birthdays in those months. I never felt slighted, even when I got older. I was also taught growing up that gifts were optional. I usually got one or two items. Mostly homemade like Afghans, dresses, quilts, and when I was 4 I remember getting a homemade Doll from my grandmother. I remember watching her make this with her own hands. That doll is still with me. Now my Daughter plays with it. I was allowed to invite 1 friend but to be honest I had so many family members that there was no need. I always had someone to play with. Even when I was older it was fun. We still get together and a cake is still made for me and its even more special now because my DD was born June 4 and so we celebrate together now.
On my actual birthday in Dec I got a huge homemade dinner of my choice with immediate family. I got to plan what would be served which was followed by a movie and popcorn in the living room or a board game of my choice. The main thing this taught me was I had no entitlement. Meaning it was an honer to be given a gift. The problem I see with a lot of children today is that they think they deserve it. To get everything they want. Not so in my family. At Christmas we drew the name of someone to buy for(adults and children), We could buy them something or we could make them something but we could only spend 10$ per person. We learned how to be creative and our parents encouraged this. Over the years this also encouraged us to make gifts through out the year and save them in a box which when it came to other parties we attended we had a supply of gifts to chose from. I still do this today. Hope this helps many blessing To all!!!
I love birthday parties – but I know that parents and kids think differently. Depending on the age of your kids, you can ask them what they are looking forward to on their birthday. I’ve got three girls under 5- my five year old was so excited about having her cake and blowing out the candles. Cake? check. We invited a few friends up, strung up the streamers, played old fashioned games (ring toss, three legged race with lovely, cheating parents who lifted up their kids and ran, sack race) and then had cake and ice cream. It was low key, fun and inexpensive. I detest treat bags, but we sent everyone home with a container of sprinkles and a “thanks for coming!” note attached.
Our birthdays were always special days. A candle in your pancakes, sprinkles on your cereal or fun things like that for breakfast. Maybe a cool new shirt for school was my Mom’s gift. A small treat in your lunch box and a fun note, a special snack after school. Dinner was always special with candles on the table and cake after we ate. If you think your kids would be receptive, consider trading a two hour party for the whole day! Special breakfast, a family planned out to some place your kid has been wanting to go, a movie fest (at home or matinee) with popcorn and soda, all their favorites for dinner, etc.
My favorite birthday was the day my parents divided up the day and spent one on one time with me. I didn’t know they were taking care of errands, but after birthday pancakes my mom and I went to the library together. Just us. While my dad stayed home with everyone else and took care of the weekend chores. My mom told everyone it was my birthday. We went home for lunch and then my dad and I went out to drop things off at the neighbors and we had a small ice cream together. (shhhh, don’t tell Mom) Again, my dad told everyone it was my birthday. Went home to dinner with the fam and cake. One of the BEST birthdays EVER.
There are so many ways to throw a frugal party, and I doubt I can add much to what’s already been shared. We don’t have parties every year. My daughter’s birthdays are less than two weeks apart, and they are close in age, so we are able to get away with a joint party for their friends, and we do it every other year. Some people will not like this idea, but we always say “no gifts” on the invitations for my girls’ “friends party.” We don’t need the extra clutter in the house, and it takes off some of the pressure to spend a lot of money on a spectacular party. After all, they are just kids, and we want to impart the lesson that celebrating and having fun with friends is way more important than getting gifts. The surprising part…my kids are absolutely fine with that!
This is a great discussion. Here is a link to a post I wrote about my 4 year old’s birthday party this past Spring.
http://buyonsaleandsavethedifference.blogspot.com/search/label/birthday%20party
My younger son has a birthday during a school break so we always wait a few weeks to have his party. As it so happens, his school holds a bingo night every year around the same time. So for $5 per person, they get a drink, a slice of pizza, and 10 bingo cards plus coupons for free products from area businesses. We invite 4 or 5 of his friends to go to bingo and then we all drive over to our house for a sleepover. They have a ton of fun and it doesn’t break our budget!
For the cake, I usually bake a round of cupcakes using one of the recipes from my Martha Stewart cupcake book. They are from scratch and my kids absolutely love them!
I’ve got four kids ranging from 3 to 17. I’ve learned over the years that most kids couldn’t care less if there are decorations. I haven’t bothered with them for years and the only difference I’ve noticed is that I have more money.
For summer parties, we usually have an outdoor event. My daughter always has a shaving cream fight with her friends. Each kid gets a can as soon as they arrive and they chase each other around and give each other mohawks. When they’re ready for cake, they rinse off in the sprinkler. Because this can sting the eyes, wait until your kids are 8 or 9.
For my oldest son, the party is at night. We have a simple cookout (with cheap or free hot dogs) and then give each guest a flashlight and let them play flashlight tag, catch fireflies, or play king of the hill. They keep the flashlights as party favors. I can usually find them on a good sale and get them for a dollar each.
My youngest daughter has simpler parties, with just a couple of friends sleeping over or even just coming to play. My 3 year old has just family.
For all the parties, we bake our own cake (Betty Crocker makes a mean red velvet!) and serve inexpensive food and drinks. We NEVER serve anything with caffiene. A bunch of kids running around your house is bad enough without adding caffiene to the mix! We also make sure that the cake is the only sugary thing and that it comes after the kids have burned off some of their energy playing.
Another favorite birthday option is to let my kids choose between a big party or a special outing with one or two friends. Sometimes it’s cheaper to take an extra kid to the zoo or the pool than it is to host a party for 15 friends. If your kids have a BFF that they get along with well, it can be a nice alternative to a party.
For gift giving ideas I usually give a gift that my child has and enjoys, that way they are sure to relinquish it and I know it will be well received.
I have been known to give a large set of colored construction paper (Sams club $7 at the time) and a set of markers/crayons. The childs mother just raved about it weeks later. (It was large and heavy when wrapped and inexpensive.)
When I was growing up we threw a birthday Olympics party and it was a huge hit. The games we played were dizzy bat, obstacle course, which included chewing up saltines and trying to whistle, chugging kool-aid, etc… we also had 2×4 races where each team stood on the 2x4s with ropes and had to move across the lawn. And then a game with old pantyhose tied around our wastes with a ball in the end. The games were ridiculously fun and costs little to no money. The winning team received homemade trophies my mom made from paper cups and pipe cleaners! My parents were super creative, but any combination of silly games can be a hit. Instead of cake we made sundaes.
I wanted to add that one year a coworker of my husband’s offered to make balloon animals in trade for our party food. We felt it was more than fair for us and he was okay with it since he offered. It worked well for both of us in the end because he stayed about 30 minutes and we sent him home with at least 2 meals for his small family. Consider bartering for anything in life. You never know until you try! Plus my grandma made most of the food so it was delicious! Let family help you sometimes we try to take it all on and make others feel useless in the process. Also, I have put “no gifts please” or “your prescence is your present” on every invitation I have ever sent yet every year no one listens so when my sons, whose birthdays are in October and November, get finished opening the presents I hide a few in the closet for the summer months. I do this at Christmas too because my mother goes overboard! I know I can’t get away with this much longer since my kids are young, but between birthdays and Christmas they don’t even notice it right now.
Next year I’ll experience the birthday close to Thanksgiving, but with the two summer ones, I throw a family party (meaning 20+ extended family). Everyone brings a side dish and we provide the hamburgers & hot dogs. Since it’s summer, we’re outside so we don’t really do any decorations. When they get older and want friends over, it’s very easy to keep it simple and cheap! Dollar stores for cheap goodie bags and decorations. I scrapbook, so I even make my own invitations sometimes. And it’s really not as hard as it looks to make some cool, fun, themed cakes. I’ve done everything from a wheel to a butterfly!
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…We sure enjoy planning parties together as a family. For cheap and good entertainment, my husband always dresses up as a character that relates to the party theme. For the art party he was Mr. Paint A. Picture. We borrowed a silly wig from a friend, he wore an apron and did a paint “lesson” for the kids. It’s always the highlight of the party and it’s always FREE!
My boys’ birthdays are about a month and a half apart and we usually have family parties at home with just a few of their friends and all of our extended family. Last year I decided to get them a mini jumpy house for their combined present (Ebay). We used it at both parties and it is great to put up in the afternoons when they want to play outside.I always make their cake myself (with coupons it cost me about .75.) And after two parties of forgetting to hand out the overpriced bags full of candy and junk toys I have ditched goody bags altogether. Last year my son had a hotwheels party and I gave the kids hotwheels sunglasses as their”goodie”. I have a friend who always sends Evites to her kids’ parties to save money. We have discussed combining their parties this year, but whether we do that or not we will always keep our tradition of having a special family night with just us four and maybe the in-laws on the actual day. Last year when my son turned 4 we went to ChuckECheese with coupons, got free tokens, used them, then went to burger king to eat/play and my MIL brought cup cakes. It cost me the price of our meal. It was way more fun than the big party we had a week later. For my other son, we planned our annual trip to the county fair on his birthday so it didn’t cost any extra money, but he felt super special that night. I agree with everyone else. Keep it simple. My favorite childhood birthday memories aren’t elaborate parties, but rather the homemade ice cream and family! I love this site and I love knowing I am not the only crazy person in this world giving up the status quo (sp?) for peace of mind.
Like others have mentioned, my children choose their party theme months before their party so I can get the best deals on party supplies. My daughter just had an “art party” where we used school supplies from the back-to-school sales last year.
Anytime there’s a sale and coupon for paper goods, I stock up.
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In my family we combine parties with cousins with close birthdays to split party costs. Normally just 2. I think it is asking a lot of guests to be able to afford gifts for 3 or for kids on the same day. We have a large extended family that we do parties with until the kids reach 10 then do smaller parties with the friends. This year my son wanted a dinosaur themed party and there are sales for that right now so just bought some dino napkins and hats and got plain plates etc. I got the cake from sams club only 17 for a half sheet cake. My son and I painted a pin the horn on the triceratops game and I spent about ten dollars for sand,dinosaur 3d puzzle and shovels, brushes for a dino dig station in garage. We will put up streamers and decorate with his dinosaur figerines and poster. I only many complain that parties are going over board but I am just trying to make a special day for my son without breaking the bank.
This is bringing out lots of great ideas! I just remembered a few more things. With my youngest brother, for his first 2 or 3 birthdays we had a “stone soup” party. We invited the families of a few of his friends from church and everyone brought something for the soup pot. We put in an actual stone, ate our soup and cake, and everyone had a good time playing together–no presents or set activities. As far as frugal gifts when attending parties: I often gave kits. Mom and I would cover a small box with contact paper, then fill it with things that met whatever theme I chose–often envelopes, stationery, pens, stickers, and stamps for a letter-writing kit. Office supplies can always be found cheap, and you don’t need a fancy set–just a cute junior legal pad, a handful of envelopes from a regular box of them, one each from several different packages of writing utensils, etc. It never cost much, and taking the time to make something into a kit or a gift basket makes it much more special.
I have 2 kids with birthdays 3 weeks apart in Oct and Nov. My husbands birthday is in December. We are always on a tight birthday budget. There are lots of ideas for parties out there on the internet. I start by choosing a theme, and then hand make everything. Last year, my son (turning 3) had a Fall Theme. I made his invitations on fall colored paper with an owl stamp. They said, “Look Whoooo’s Turning 3” At his party, we served snacks and cakes. All having a fall theme. Like leaf crackers cut from egg roll wrappers and baked at 350 for 2-5 minutes. We also have a lot of family near us, and they helped make snack trays. As an activity, the kids made owl cupcakes. I think we spent a total of $40 for plates, cups, napkins, drinks, snacks, invitations, cake, etc. Good luck with your planning!
I can make birthday invites, thank you notes, and more for you for real cheap! Custom annoucements only 10.00 then I email you a high resolution image for you to print. You can take advantage of the offers she always posts on here to have pictures printed. Email me for examples of my work. I love to do it.
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I don’t think really little kids need much at all. For my son’s birthday recently, we bought and wrapped a few gifts and I baked a chocolate cake and made his favorite food for dinner. The real highlight of the day for him was knowing that it was his birthday and that he was special. I made the day his; I tried to make it special for him by paying attention to him and doing things with him that he liked.
We had three kids in my family growing up, and my parents decided to rotate who got the “big” party every year. The big party would be a handful of friends over for cake and simple games. The two of us whose turn it wasn’t got to have a friend or two over and pick our favorite dinner. Unfortunately, my parents never kept close track of it and we’re pretty sure our youngest sibling got the party most years.
The birthday that was most memorable to me was the year that, instead of a big party, my parents hired a sitter for the day and we all went to a nearby water park. I got to pick my favorite sitter, my parents paid for her ticket and fed her and all that as her compensation, and we all had a great time. It’s not dirt cheap, but it’s a fun family memory and cheaper than a lot of birthday parties I’ve seen — especially if you’d like to do that kind of outing anyway and just combine it with a birthday instead of doing it in addition to one.
Borrow anything you can. Our church has a water slide for summer events, and they allow us to borrow it every year. It keeps the kids happy and busy and the adults have time to sit and chat.
If someone you know is talented at cake decorating or making homemade decorations, ask that they do that for your child’s birthday present. My sister makes the cake every year to match the theme. Her gift to my daughter is the cake she makes. That way I don’t have the expense of a cake, and it’s cheaper for her than buying a present.
The Dollar Tree has an amazing stock of themed birthday party supplies. And instead of goodie bags, I pick up coloring books or small toys for $1 each from the Dollar Tree. The kids are happier with that than the cheaply made trinkets that are usually in goodie bags.
I’ve already commented, but I thought of something my dad did and still does on occasion…he makes a scavenger hunt for the person. For a small child the clues can be pictures taken with your digital camera and printed off. For example, the birthday card would have a picture of the dryer. The recipient would go the dryer and find their next clue inside…the hall closet…and so on, until it led them to their gift. This would especially work well for a large gift that is hard to wrap, like a bicycle. For older kids you can make the pictures trickier, a close-up of things they have to figure out, or if you’re really creative, make the clues a riddle. It’s always a riot watching the person flounder and search, and they have fun hunting!
My kids are 3 year old boy/girl twins so we haven’t hit the “friend” stage yet. Our parties are family and very close family friends, but that still means a houseful – usually 35+ people! We have a TINY house, and their birthday is Dec. 27th (think – Christmas tree and decorations ALL still up!). Everyone squeezed into our home for the first couple of years, but last year I caved and had to rent a room at the local park b/c it was just too crowded with preschoolers now running around (close friends have kids the same age).
I always pick a theme – but I LOVE pulling out all the stops/creativity for a themed party! People tease me b/c I stay up late for weeks before their birthday handmaking invitations/decorations/etc.
Last year’s theme was SuperWhy, but since most people don’t know SuperWhy I focused on the “ABC” aspect. It was SO fun! I made the food (mac n’ cheese, chips, cutie oranges, crockpot meatballs – easy stuff) and labeled everything with a letter on a toothpick (I bought 3″ or so punch out letters from the dollar store – I only needed 1 or 2 packs for the whole party – $2!)
Games: I did balloon hangman. We wrote letters on a whole bunch of inflated balloons – not helium – (kept in trash bags until game time). We emptied them all on the floor and then I would call out a letter. All the kids would run around looking for the right letter balloon – this worked with the multiple ages too – even the little ones that didn’t know their ABCs had fun running through the balloons! I would hang the balloon on the wall with a piece of rolled tape and continue with another letter until we spelled our message (Happy Birthday…of course!)
The other game was with the punch out letters. I taped dum dum lollipops to the back of the letters and then hid them all around the room. There was enough for each child to find 2 letters – everyone even obeyed the limit! The ran all over looking for their “superletters” and got their special lollipops.
Favors: I used plain red Solo Cups and a bag of foam alphabet letter stickers. Each cup had the first initial of the child’s name with the foam sticker and then I wrote the rest of the letters in marker. I did the same with plain/solid colored party hats, but only did the initial. I made sugar cookies on a stick with each kid’s initial and wrapped them to go in the cup. I also found post it pads for $1 with each kid’s initial that I also threw in there…but that was luck, I could’ve done without that!
I went “all out”, but it was still relatively inexpensive b/c I made the stuff or just got creative 🙂
This year will likely be more a challenge b/c I envision a “Cars/Princess” theme being asked for 🙂
I made the rule that they can only hace a party on even numbered years. Odd years, we have a cake at grandma’s house.
If you want a theme, buy one or two liscenced items that you can use again then buy plain, colored plates/decorations etc.
Here’s a blog post from when I threw my daughter a $50 HSM party for 10-15 people. http://mandys-life.blogspot.com/2008/11/eliyas-party.html
I have two really little ones too. My oldest son has had two birthdays and my youngest just turned one in June. We have had all three birthdays at the same park/playground! It is a county park that is associated with a farm where kids can see the animals and learn about farm life. For both of the first birthdays, we just let the kids play on the playground and crawl around in the open spaces! They loved it and had so much fun exploring that they were hardly interested in cake. Both parties were mostly family with a few close friends of myself and my husband. Very small.
For my son’s second birthday, we had it at the same park, as I said, and this time we toured the animal pens. Since it was in the morning, I wasn’t sure how parents would feel about cake and ice cream, so my sister and I decorated cookies and the kids ate those with juice. We attached streamers and balloons to trees and the picnic table. There were more kids at that party. When they are little they just like playing together, really. We had cake as family that evening. I made it to look like Elmo’s face. Round layer cake frosted red and textured with a toothpick for fur, two white circles with black for eyes, orange nose, and big black mouth in the space of which I wrote “Happy Birthday”. It was the first character cake I’ve ever made and I was so proud of it, especially when my son said “Elmo!!” He asked for weeks after to eat Elmo!
For his third birthday I’m planning to have the party at another playground which is right next to the volunteer fire station. I’m hoping to make a fire truck cake. I’m also hoping to ask the firefighters (or at least one) to come over and talk to the kids about firefighting. I’ll either buy a bunch of fireman hats at the dollar store or ask if the firefighters can bring the ones they usually distribute to classes.
At some point I’ll probably do a construction theme and buy hats again and let them role play.
For girls, a good idea is a tea party. My sisters and I loved this.
For my thirteenth birthday I organized my own party. It was supposed to be a colonial party because I was really into Felicity at the time. So I asked all the girls to bring their knitting/needlework and we did that for a while. We took turns playing pieces on the piano while we sewed. The food I made myself from the Felicity cookbook! I honestly can’t remember the cake at all!
Hope those personal anecdotes help!
Mine are all 4 and under, so we prefer family dinners. One birthday, all the family bailed except for my parents, so we invited all our friends with small kids to come eat all the food. We packed in our little apartment and had a good time. Two of my kids’ birthdays are New Years Eve and Jan 2, so our holidays are pretty busy.
When they get bigger, let them camp out in the backyard or something with a few friends. Or stick with the family dinners and save yourself a whole lotta hassle. =)
For little ones boys or girls you can get a roll of butcher paper (very cheap) and have each one of the kids lay down on the paper and trace around them then have each one decorate their own Paper Doll or Super hero for boys. It’s a fun game, it fills the time and then it’s cake and presents and then each child gets to take home their creation. That one is always a hit.
As they get older you can try having a game tournament. We have done these with board games and then a year or maybe two when my son hit the teen years his grandparents bought him a Wii and we had a Wii sports tournament party I bought plastic gold silver and bronze, medals.
And always bake and decorate your own cake. It is sooooo much cheaper.
I don’t know how old your children are, but the way my husband was raised, and what we’ll do for our kids, is that the kids are only allowed 3 big birthday parties… period. These are: Ages 1, 10, and 16. Their other birthdays are still recognized, but they are recognized by a homemade cake, singing, and very small gifts (usually ten dollars or less) from siblings and parents. The birthday person is allowed to have one of two people join them, but the parents really try to keep the focus on family. It’s really cool because the kids truly look forward to planning their big birthday bashes, and don’t mind the understated birthdays the rest of their lives. I understand that it may be a little late to implement such a thing into your family (depending on how old the kids are) but I hope it’s something that may help you or somebody else struggling with this issue.
I usually do cupcake-only parties, but a few times, I really wanted a cake decorated to match the theme. I am hopeless at doing it myself, so I ordered a customed deocorated 1-layer 8″ round cake from a local grocery store for $10-$15 (depending on the decorations). Then I made cupcakes and iced them with matching colors.
I am not a fan of goody bags, so we have had a book exchange where instead of bringing the birthday child a gift, everyone brings a book (new or gently used), and we make a game of exchanging the books. Every child leaves with a new-to-them book, and I don’t end up with a house full of toys.
We tend to celebrate with immediate family, the childs’ favorite meal and cake. A best friend or two may be included and treated just like family 🙂 I always make the cake, sometimes they even want to help.
As far as saving on supplies and decor, I tend to pick up cute napkins as they show up on clearance and put away for special occasions including birthdays. Think 19 to 37 cents per pack! Yay!
For years I have been accumulating clear glass serving plates for literally pennies from thrift stores and yard sales . This saves me from purchasing paper plates for birthday parties, baby showers, wedding showers, christmas functions, you name it!
Pick up a pack of tissue paper from your dollar store or recycle used tissue out of gift bags and boxes you have received to make paper flowers or pretty hanging tissue balls ala Martha Stewart. So simple decorations and so-o-o cheap.
The tea party idea is always fun and cheap for girls. If kids are older how about a culinary inspired party. Food TV is all the rage today. Pasta, salad and bread are super easy and cost effective to prepare with young assistants. Another idea would be to make ahead pizza dough and let the kids go crazy putting on their favorite toppings. Our dollartree has cute chef’s apron’s for a dollar. It saves their clothing and makes a cute party favor.
Good luck!
http://thevfiles.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/our-frugal-pirate-party/
I LOVE throwing super fun parties for cheap! Being frugal does not mean taking away the fun for your little one. Last year, for my son’s 3rd birthday, we had a pirate celebration that was nothing less than a blast! See the link above to read how we kept it low cost.
I save up the gift cards that I earn from transferring prescriptions (Target, Meijer, CVS, etc). I have two kids (parties in Jan and June) so I can usually save quite a few before the parties and I use those to buy party supplies, food, drinks, etc… In the last two years, I’ve had 4 parties with little to no money out of pocket.
Its all about focal point. Just like decorating a house, pick a theme and find the one *big* item or oomph that you want to focus on. Then you can cheap out the rest and it won’t even be noticed. But in my family, all we really celebrated, are birthdays. So for me it gets more involved then even Christmas does. Plus, I think of it all year and buy supplies when they go on clearance.
We’re having a County Fair birthday theme for my daughter next weekend and are expecting 40 people. Instead of tons of balloons and an air tank, we’re using multi-color pennants everywhere. The party is starting at 3pm, so we’re only having hot-dogs. But we’re getting the Nathans’ brand at our local Sams Club. (They are the huge park-sized dog.) And we’ll be having a “gourmet” toppings stand. We’re also getting a deal from a local bakery to pick up freshly baked german soft pretzels. Supermarkets have individual bags of cotton candy for $1 favors. We’re only serving water and home-made lemonaid. Can’t afford tables/chairs so we’ll have a picnic area with the plastic table cloths staked to the ground. There’s a pool so that is the entertainment! Dollar Stores have so many random party supplies so so cheap., and we won’t need anything but forks since we’re having finger foods. 🙂
Our focal point this year? At half my budget, its the cake. A three-tiered, multi-colored masterpiece complete with fondant accents and 24 ice-cream cone filled cupcakes with the frosting looking just like the ice cream. But I’m having a local friend make it, and she’s only charging $25 over cost.
The biggest thing with planning any party, is to write down what you want, and then see what you can afford. And if you need rentals, don’t be afraid to check rental companies the week of or a few days before the big event. Many times, they’ll give big discounts to still make money off it.
I have a winter birthday that is AFTER Christmas. Don’t know if your child’s birthday is before or after, but here are some additional ideas:
* sledding party (invite a few friends, drive to local sledding hill, when the kids are worn out, go back to the house for pizza & cake and then you’re done!)
* Crafting party or cooking party – making something will almost always be a hit with kids.
* Ask your local church or function hall if you can use their facilities. In the winter, simply allowing kids to run around in an open space will probably go over well, especially if you do some age-appropriate games.
@Anitra, You can also search the holiday clearance for winter-themed items. We’ve used snowflakes and snowmen napkins and disposable cups bought on 75 percent off clearance. We’ve also used Valentine’s Day clearance (red and white) for a February birthday.
An idea from when I was a kid: My brother and I shared a birthday in the same month (December) two weeks before Christmas. To save, we always shared a birthday cake and had one celebration. In addition, you could use holiday themed decorations and they could serve a dual purpose.
Plan ahead an involve your child/ren with creating games/decorations or whatever you are looking for. We are shooting for the big number birthdays, and I have a son turning five this weekend. This is the first friend party, but no presents are coming (except from family, opened after friends leave). He wanted a Toy Story theme, so we started planning a while in advance so he picked out a cake online and I am planning to make it myself, we are having a Mr. Potato Head pinata that we made at home, playing Bean Bag Toss into a cardboard town building (like Andy has set up in his room at the beginning of TSI), we are doing a ring toss with $1 jelly necklaces over papertowel rolls decorated as Buzz Lightyears spaceships, and so on – all that to say, since he’s getting old enough to have a party with friends, we’ve spent the couple months thinking of and creating fun things for the party at home. It’s been a good use of time for him and his younger brother, and its cheap. We also just had a party for our youngest who just turned one. All our relatives live out of state, so I made a fun 3D Baby cake for him and we went to Chuck E. Cheese as a family. Since its free to go there, we used old tokens (the few times we go, we always use only a portion of the tokens and save some so its “free” next time) and had cake we brought, so it felt like a party for the bigger boys and they realized we were celebrating, but it was low cost. Usually we just have the party at home, though. I’d be happy to share pictures from the Toy Story Party and show the party games we made (and the cake) if anyone is looking for ideas.
We mostly stick with a family birthday party. We invite friends that have kids that are the same age as our kids, so that there are some kids. For the birthday themes, when I could get birthday themed books – we did for the kids in attendance. We’ve done Curious George, Blue’s Clues. I make my own cakes fitting with my theme – http://abusymomoftwo.blogspot.com/2010/01/birthday-cake-roundup.html
my daughter has a summer birthday- so I think that is easier- we always have it at the park with the playground- I pick up things all through the year that I see on sale- usually princess themed- we just have hotdogs and cake- this year I am telling people NO GIFTS- instead bring a back to school item to donate to a local inner city school
I’m already picking themes for my kids birthdays next year. For my oldest we’re going to have an art party, so I’m going to take advantage of back to school clearance soon!
My mom was always great at planning birthday parties. I always decided on a theme first, and then we planned activities and favors that weren’t expensive. For my Laura Ingalls Wilder party, we played the sort of games Laura did–charades, etc, and Mom made each girl a cheap muslin apron. For American Girl Kirsten we made little applique doll pillows–used cookie cutters to make colorful designs, fused them to muslin squares that I’d already added a patchwork border to, then we all whip-stitched the designs in place. For American Girl Samantha, we made garlands using ribbon and ribbon flowers just like Samantha wore for her birthday, dressed up in our fanciest clothes, and waltzed with our dolls. One party when I was very young everyone got an “imagination cape”–Mom took cheap colorful squares of fabric and serged the edges, then we played with them. They were capes, blankets, parachutes, slings, etc.
My brothers are much more active than I, so they had different sorts of parties–one was a “car wash”, where they received empty ice cream buckets filled with a spray bottle and sponge, and they washed their tricycles. Another was a Winnie-the-Pooh “expotition”–following a map around the back yard to get to the cake with little adventures along the way. We also had a cowboy party with chuckwagon food eaten off tin pie plates, which were the favors!
Basically, you can have amazing parties without spending money, it just takes imagination.
Not sure if this was mentioned but now that my boys are older (8 & 11) I have gotten away from doing goody bags. The last couple of years I have just done large Hershey bars with a homemade thank you sticker on them.
My daughter’s birthday is a week before Christmas…now that she is a teenager she invites a bunch of friends and we drive to a house that is decorated over the top for the holidays (a small donation is all that is requested to tour the grounds) and then we have chocolate fondue. Easy, inexpensive and different!
We do things simple here. Our family does parties at the odd hours, like after lunch, so we don’t have to provide “real” food, just cake and ice cream. I make the cake (they don’t always turn out looking like the requested cake, but my kids are still young enough not to care.) We use paper plates and stuff that I got on sale at some point through out the year. For decorations, I have some generic reusable things I have picked up here and there on sale. We don’t do goody bags, too much candy. For guests we only invite at most 4-5 families, but since most of them are larger families that means about 25+ people (another reason not to do goody bags, my other mommy friends would shoot me!) We normally spend about $20-30 on the gift(s), which since the rest comes from the household budget is the only “expense”.
We do birthday parties every other year. My kids really look forward to their birthday parties now – it ended up we do even years so we will hit all the big ones like 10, 16 etc. The year with no party – we let the child pick where they want to go to dinner and we have cake and the grandparents come over. They still get presents (nice presents) but its not all the expense and they are still the center of attention.
What a timely post – I am in the midst of planning my daughters party now!! Up until this point I have had easy Family-only parties, but this year she is in preschool (turing 4) and really wanted her friends to come. I get that you dont HAVE to throw a big party but I WANT to – its so fun to plan and I am probably more excited than her lol.
I am a single mom on tight budget in a small apartment and I work 60 hours (at least a week) – my daughter wanted a Pink and Purple dinosaur party – here is what I am doing:
LOCATION:
Checked with my church and their cafe/kitchen/living area is FREE to use for special events. I reserved it for a Saturday afternoon. It has tables, chairs, couches, kitchen/buffet area, and even a stage area. There is a door off of the side that provides easy access to outside playground and basketball court – PERFECT!
INVITES:
I bought $6 worth of cool scrapbook paper and cardstock at Michaels with a 40% coupon and made dinosaur invitations at – they are super cute! I used some word play like “ROAR!! is Four!!!” and “Dont be Extinct! RSVP by….” They took a few hours to make but everyone has loved them (including my little one).
ACTIVITES
FREE hour of clown entertainment won through a drawing (I entered this weekly til I finally won lol). The clown will be doing face painting, balloon art, magic, etc.
Pin the tail on the dinosaur!
Pinata – I priced dinosaur pinatas but they ranged from $10-$30. So instead, we are going to make a homemade one. Much easier and costs just a buck or two! I have been saving up candy from freebie sales and other events for the last couple months, and I also found some dino funny bands and which I got for free at CVS with EBCs – I will use this stuff inside the pinata and may stop to get a couple our things at the dollar store.
Craft station – I havent totally decided on this yet – I think I will have them make their own bags for pinata goodies and other loot. I already have tons of crayons, markers, stickers, etc, so will just need to buy some bags.
CAKE:
I am making a huge homemade dinosaur cake. I already have it designed. I may cheat and make from cake mixes…but I am going to do a cool rainbow cake effect for the inside cake that makes up the body, the tail will be chocolate, and the head will be strawberry cake. I will ice with pink/purple icing and finish off with soft purple and pink sparkling sprinkles. I already have all of the necessary cake pans and food coloring, I may just have to pick up a couple random ingredients like the sprinkles.
The decorations and such are still a work in progress but I have about a month until the party. As I said, I am more excited than she is. Throwing bday parties should be about kids being able to have a special day with friends and family, and it doesnt have to be expensive. Also, throwing a “big” party with lots of people should be a treat not a burden – this is a celebration of the day your child was born – get happy and have fun with it!!!
PS – For those that have talked about the idea of having too many toys, etc. — parties with lots of kids can really attract a whole bunch of toys picked out by parents that don’t know your child — this year my daughter got presents from family members but for her party asked people to bring money or donations for the local animal rescue organization……a great way to deal with the whole present thing and teach kindness and giving.
We love having theme birthday parties for our kids, and are creative with props and games, so that we don’t spend a lot.
A couple favorites: “bring your doll/stuffed animal to tea” party, and “archeology dig” where we created a dig area in our back yard (pea gravel under the swing) and my husband (ok, he ‘s a geologist) hid tiny fossils. We created bags to go over the shoulder with brown lunch bags and twine, and included a notebook and pencil to record their findings from the dig. At the tea party, older sibs and cousins wore button down shirts and ties, and acted “fancy” while playing waiter.
As they’ve gotten older, we’ve had a baseball game at the park (hot dogs, of course) and a make your own pizza party with dough and toppings.
We usually kept goodie bags very simple, related to the theme, and often were take home crafts done at the party. Not a ton of stuff, and especially not hard (chokeable) candies.
I have two born two days apart (next week!) This year, definitely not two parties. We are going to the beach! I’m making a special chicken salad to serve on buns, potato chips, watermelon, and cupcakes as the birthday cake for both! Of course, we’re bringing gifts (it’s just our family), and planning to spend the whole day sand castle building, swimming, sunning, and playing frisbee! My son and daughter will be 6 and 3. For decor, I am getting Toy Story 3 pix and Dora Explorer pix off the web and getting them printed at UPS store for cheap, then putting those up at home with some balloons for both kids to have theme, per se. After the beach, I’ve promised both they could watch movies until they fall asleep where we are having popcorn, left over birthday cake and ice cream (with a couple dollar store gifts to open as a final treat). We’re on a budget, and though I’m buying them 2 presents each, my mom sent a ton of clothes for them that I saved and am wrapping so each child will have 10 gifts each. The most important thing is memories so we’re taking lots and lots and lots of pictures of them having fun, and I just constantly share how fun the day is. It really works!
I have actually gotten slightly infamous for my parties and they are generally about $100 for about 15-20 kids. We rent space at a local park, make a homemade cake and I get to be the entertainment! The kid gets to pick a theme (this year was animal rescuer) and I search on the internet for cute sayings, etc and make my homemade invitations but make them very geared toward the party. I usually start off with a craft —- I use my pudding cups, paper towel rolls, etc. for these and there are a lot of ways to adjust these online to do it (we made toilet paper roll puppies and used 1 thing of glue poured into saved pudding cups). The games “simon says,” “duck duck goose,” “hot potato” all can be adjusted for a theme (dogcatcher says, cat cat dog, hot dog etc.) and it’s easy to download themed music for freeze dance. Grabbing some items from home (hula hoop, tunnel, etc.) for an obstacle course is good too. Last year we did a princess party and I got a princess book from the library to read. I splurge a little on prizes/favors because I hate spending money on things people won’t use and will throw away, but you could turn the craft into part of it. We decorate lunch bags with stickers for favor/prize bags and make them more personalized. I make cupcakes and get ideas online to make them for the theme (we used candy to make pawprints this year). It is a TON of work but everyone is always happy not to have a party at the same “party place” every time I do it. Good luck and have fun!
I’m new at this – my son is only 6 months old. I recently started planning his party so that I can get things on sale and not be rushed. We frequently get 40% and 50% off coupons for A.C. Moore in the Sunday paper, and they have lots of party things. I started off with a cupcake stand – it can be used for years, and baking my own cupcakes is a lot cheaper than buying a cake and easier than trying to decorate a cake! They have festive Wilton cupcake paper cups and picks that are really cheap – and cheaper with a coupon!
I am all for the HUGE(like 100 people) over the top birthday’s! It is just my thing I guess. I was raised by a single mom who had to work 3 jobs just to make ends meet. I never had the big parties, I am not complaining. My hubby was in the same boat. We both have huge families, and we LOVE being known for throwing the big crazy parties! However, I am extremely CHEAp! lol….
1. BARTER BARTER BARTER!!!
There is a mommy in our neighborhood who makes amazing cakes, she also has three young children at home. I babysit for her in exchange for a cake. When I say cake I mean beautifully decorated, shaped, and large! I have done the same thing with a clown, horseback rides, baloon artist……anything! Most people are happy to do it!!
2. Pick your theme, but decorate CHEAPLY!
I highly recommend the Dollar Tree! You can buy all of your papergoods(if you don’t have a stockpile) there very cheaply! Use local FREE resources such as your county library to projectors and make homemade decorations. For example, for my son’s Dr. Suess party I printed some dr. suess color pages, rented the projector, blew up the color page and traced it onto a poster board. I colored it myself, and my son LOVED them! Most schools will let you borrow their die cut machines if you bring your own paper. Just check with the principal!
3. STOCKPILE!!!
When you see a clearance table throughout the year…check it out! I keep bright colored tablecloths, napkins, etc….year round! I am always ready to throw a party! 🙂
4. NIX the goody bag!!!
Instead of giving each kid a goody bag…..set up a crafting area. Make some copies of color pages and set out some crayons! Or Do facepainting! It is extremely cheap!! Make a bunch of cupcakes and let the kids decorate their own cupcakes! (another very frugal craft!)
5. BE CREATIVE!!
You can rent video projectors, screens, and movies from your local library too! Set up a “movie party” in the backyard with a favorite movie! Serve some popcorn(you got on sale and used coupons for 🙂 ) Make the cupcakes yourself and just let them have fun!!! 🙂
6. Food –
We all know that food can get expensive if you choose to feed people. Hot dogs are very cheap! You can almost always get hotdogs for free during summer months by couponing! Buy the buns from the day old bread factory and no one will be the wiser!! Mix up a couple gallons of tea/lemonade and call it good!! 🙂
My oldest child says that the simple parties he had growing up have been his favorites. Few ideas: 1. The local newspaper probably sells end rolls very cheap (ours sells them for $5.00 and they last a very long time). Use that as a tablecloth with cups of crayons at each placesetting. 2. For a party close to the holidays, make it a cookie decorating party using the cookies as the desert. 3. We did a hobo party one year that I had a campfire for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and all the games were train related. I called companies and asked for items to use as party favors. All the favors were free, just had some advertising on them. I made a piñata in the shape of a hobo bag. 4. Another fun party is to have it close to dark. We did a flashlight scavenger hunt. The kids loved it! 5. I have taken a class in cake decorating so I don’t need to purchase cakes any more. 6. We did an art party one year and asked everyone to wear a white tshirt which we let the kids paint on each other (parents were forewarned). For my sons keepsake, I had a white pillowcase that all the kids put handprints and signed. 7. I buy party favors during back to school season: markers, pencils, playdoh (I buy the bulk package of this at Sams during Halloween). HTH!
Birthday parties are when I really utilize dollar stores. When kids are younger, I don’t think they really care what they get. I buy all the paper goods there (even balloons and tablecloths). Also, you can buy platters there and dishes that would cost so much somewhere else. I also buy gifts there. My daughter has enough toys that she really doesn’t need expensive ones for her birthday. I also think it’s ridiculous how people do birthday parties for kids, with adults and they have to provide a meal. If you do invite people, do it on an off time, that way you might just want to provide the cake and that’s it. Also, there are so many creative ideas to come with for entertainment. For example, my sister threw her 4-year-old a fireman party, and she got the firemen to actually come with their truck! No cost at all. I guess the firemen have to do so much service in some areas that she didn’t have to pay for it! The only catch was that they wouldn’t come if they were on call, but she didn’t tell the kids in case that happened and it was a huge surprise! Fun, inexpensive ideas are around, and most you really have to think about. But it’s so worth it!
When I was younger my mother created a scavenger hunt for our party. The adults would help guide the teams, and everyone “won” their goody bag at the end. Then we had pizza and cake or a BBQ. We LOVED it!
My birthday is near Christmas. My mom would always let me have some friends over to make Christmas ornaments. We would get cheap supplies from the craft store. The girls loved having something to take home. My mom would make a big batch of potato soup and some homemade bread. After dinner we’d have cake or popcorn with M & M’s in it and watch a Christmas movie from the library. I always thought my parties were the best!
@Elizabeth, Awhh this is sooo sweet!! 🙂
I feel your pain. My twins just turned 3 and my daughter is 19 months old, and my husband was out of work last year during all of their birthdays. I ususally start thinking about the boys’ birthday in December (their birthday is in June) so I can be looking for cool things on sale through the months before. My daughter’s birthday is in December, so for her 1st birthday we had a snowman theme. It was so easy to find winter things on sale, and coloring books, ornaments, everything I needed actually were very cheep. The craft activity we do is usually also the party favor, so I save money that way as well. I always do the cake, usually cupcakes, actually. For the boys birthday this year, I was able to find cake mixes on sale for $.25 each. Pretty much, if you think ahead about what you want and keep your eyes and ears open you’d be surprised how little you’ll spend and still have a great time!
Since your children are so small (under three)I’d skip the dollar store baubles and maybe invest in transfer paper and 2-3 three packs of tshirts and and do a transfer on a tshirt of whatever your theme is. If you have to have a party I’d stick to the rule of one child per year of life for now( a (bunch of 3 year olds will run you ragged and require ALOT of supervision.) I’d maybe get the ingredients to make edible play dough a and bag them in baggies to be taken home with some 25 cent cookie cutters.
At 3 though I personally would use that money planned on lots of birthday fripperies to create a meaningful experience for my child like maybe a special trip to the zoo or an aquarium(maybe even pick up annual passes as a present) and make a special tradition(In my house everyone particpates in making a cake for the birthday person).
However, I would definitely keep it simple if I absolutely HAD to have a party.
Hmm..I just ask everyone to bring something to pass! Make a pot luck out of it! Then I make the cake and provide a few snacks, like cheese and crackers, and veggies and dip and maybe the drinks, but we don’t drink soda so I never even buy it for gatherings.
My mom let us all have only one very big, very fancy birthday party, we got to pick what year it would be. I think mine was when I was 11, we went all out and all my friends came. Otherwise all my birthday were small family affairs…I didn’t mind that at all!
I think birthday parties have become too much- but that said it’s is really easy to go overboard, quickly.
One way to keep it cheap is to have the party between lunch and dinner- this way there is no meal provided. Cake, ice cream and drinks are fine and all the kids love it.
Skip the goodie bags (parents never really want that junk or candy
anyway)
And make the decor minimal- may be a banner, then use stuff you might already have (toys, games, ect..) And the 99 cent store is great for coordinated plates and napkins.
We also do no gift parties. This year we are planning on a Raggedy Ann party (I bought a cake tin at the thrift store) or a “cat” party. If we do the Raggedy Ann theme we will have the kids bring toys to donate to charity or if we do the cat theme we will donate pet food to the local animal shelter.
You can easily make home-made birthday cupcakes or deserts without busting the bank and purchasing an expensive store-made cake. We made these Elmo cupcakes for very little oop (had gotten the cake mix and frostings free with overage) and for food we just had snacks from the stockpile and sandwich fixins so we hardly spent anything on feeding everybody. I also used recycled decorations lol.
Here’s a link to our adorable creations:
http://workinthedeals.blogspot.com/2010/03/home-made-birthday-goodies.html
My husband and I have 7 children. They vary in age from 4-24. We give them a choice of a party with friends, a special dinner out, or cake and ice cream and a gift. Our budget for each, for everything, is $50. And while this may seem extreme, we’ve found that if our parties are less about things and more about fun activities (usually free ones) that our guests have a great time and our special birthday child has a nice memory. We try to keep in perspective that each birthday should be special but not necessarily extravagant. If your child wants to have friends over, we try to choose a fun but generic theme. For example, a “Barbie” party involves “Barbie” themed items which could involve be difficult to do on our budget, but a dress up party is a simple delve in our closets with Mom’s make-up and a mirror and probably some fun music. We also encourage our children’s friends to bring things sometimes, for example our daughter wanted a nail polish party, so we asked our guests to bring some to share. And we also try to remember that food doesn’t have to be “pizza and chips and pop”. Chili for our boys worked great becuase they would eat so much whereas our girls sometimes wanted “Italian cuisine” (which meant spaghetti). And when we did plan those bigger bashes, we included the kids. One of our children wanted to go to the community center pool which is free on Friday nights -great idea, and it cost me nothing. Once the kids understood they had a limit, they enjoyed brainstorming with us…and occasionally they just skipped the whole party and chose the gift and cake instead. Which meant it was their choice and relieved us of any guilt. Every child and every family does it a little differently, but if you set a budget ahead of time for everyone, you can avoid the after-party-bill-blues. Oh and one more thing, I always bake the cake. Nothing fancy, but they choose the flavor. And even the older ones still enjoy this.
For my birthdays before I went to college, my Mom would take me out of school early, we’d drive to the city, eat at a “fancy” restaurant for lunch (like Red Lobster), see a movie, and then get ice cream. I would then get to pick what I wanted for dinner, and then afterward I had a few friends and family come over for a little while for presents. But I never had like a birthday party, even when I was a teenager.
Another cool thing that my Mom would do was sneak into my room while I slept and decorate it so I would have something fun to wake up to, that was always awesome to me (and I’ve never quite figured out how she managed to do it and never get caught)!
Think outside the box (or the holiday!) I picked up solid red and solid light pink plates, napkins, and table clothes for $.37 each after Wal-Mart clearanced them after Valentine’s Day. Red for a little boy can go with most party themes (Toy Story, Fire Trucks, Thomas, etc.) and Pink for a little girl — need I say more? 😉 You can add inexpensive decorations or a single item like cups OR napkins that have whatever theme you are doing.
Use toys or existing things to decorate for a party.
Make a paper or fabric banner/pennant that you can reuse for birthday parties which saves when you can use over and over.
Make your own birthday cakes for your children. They aren’t that hard to make and you can use Happy Meal toys, kids toys, etc. to decorate. My kids (and husband) have had lots of cakes with Star Wars figures, Thomas trains, etc. on top. They LOVE them.
If you are having a party, just do cake — serving lunch or dinner significantly adds to the cost of a party.
Even if you do a party at a place like Chuck E Cheese (which is like $8/pp), do an ala carte party and use coupons to order for the kids. Most parties usually only give 1-2 slices each kid and then give them a bunch of junk — do your kids really need cotton candy, too?
We also are planning on doing just the big numbers (1, 5, etc.) right now they are 1 1/2 and 3 1/2. My husbands family always had the grandparents for each birthday, which was a tradition he wanted to keep (so obviously he liked it). So that’s all that we have had at each birthday so far other than their first. Their first birthdays (both boys are winter) we just had their aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents (which added up to a lot of people so we had it at a relatives house)with just snacks (chips, dip, animal crackers *I personally liked this one*, pretzels, maybe a veggie tray) cake (me or my mom normally make something “cool”), the “free” birthday cake a lot of grocery stores give out, and Ice cream that I had collected when they were on sale.
@Amy, Also a friend of mine for her daughters 1st birthday gave baby food, teething biscuits, etc. for the younger kids (since there were a lot of younger ones) and stuff like crackers with the spreadable cheese for the older ones. I like that they were stuff that we could use up and not just junk for me to step on in the house : )
Camping and/or pick-nicks always fun and usually cheap
Don’t forget about all the deals we get all throughout the year- many of them can be used in favor bags. This year I am doing a rainbow themed party for my daughter. I went to Dollar Tree and bought each product in a different color (ex.: red plates, blue forks, purple cups, etc.). I am making cupcakes- this saves a lot compared to buying a cake from the store like I have done in the past.
I also found sand art kits on sale for $2 at Walmart earlier in the year. We are using them as an activity at the party.
And those coupons for $x/$x purchase…f you have money leftover that you need to spend to get the amount off, buy items that you can use at the party.
We had an “ice cream parlor” at my son’s birthday party a few weeks ago and it was a HUGE hit for the kids and the adults….it was GREAT!! I found a huge box of different kinds of cones at Costco for $5, a few cartons of ice cream on sale and bowls of candies and sprinkles (all bought on sale or with a coupon). I framed an 8×10 picture of the birthday boy with an ice cream cone and put it in the middle of the table for decoration. The whole thing cost maybe $20.
@Megan, We attended this type of party recently and it was a lot of fun!
I’m with Andrea Q.
Do your kids really need more toys? And I just hate it when people invite you to a kid’s party and then say “He likes X-box games…” or some other $50 item. Give me a break! That’s not only rude and inconsiderate of your guests, but it’s downright tacky.
How about a nice small *immediate* family celebration? If you have a home, how about planting a small tree and explaining to your child(ren) that the tree will be there forever and will help the environment? Mark the passing of time by taking their picture each year with “their” tree. My sister did this and it is awesome to see the photos, one after the other.
How about marking the day by volunteering, if your kids are old enough, at a community garden, Habitat site, or at a local pet shelter for the day?
My siblings and I were brought up without a lot of big birthday parties (and we survived…) I have cousins, however, with 4 and 5 children, that feel the need to do a huge family party year after year for each child. It gets old, fast – I wonder if they know that??? I think it’s nice to have a First Birthday party – after that, consider letting people “off the hook” from feeling obligated to buy your child another present that will just end up filling a spot in a landfill someday. (sorry if I sound cynical but I worked in a children’s consignment store for years and have seen firsthand the “he never played with this” toys that get pushed aside.)
I so much would rather mark the passing of another birthday by teaching my kids something valuable, instead of just the “gimme, gimme” attitude so prevalent today.
My kids are both little still, but I went a little overboard (and over budget) for both of their 1st birthdays. At that point we decide that we wouldn’t even have parties but on ODD years (3,5,7…) and even then, cheaply. Like pizza and cake. I’ve made a few reusable decorations (flannel happy birthday banner) and we have spent the week before the party making other decorations. At some point, probably those scary teenage years, we might need to figure this out again, but when kids are little, little things get them excited. We’ve joined the kids club at a cute local diner that sends coupons for free kids meals on the kids birthdays and they make a big todo for the kids- it’s the perfect thing for us right now.
Forgot to add that when our children were little and we had friends-only parties, we specifically ask that people do not bring gifts. A few would still bring a card with a couple of dollars, but most people were happy to just get together for a few fun hours.
Here’s how we have done parties in the past.
http://www.livingonadime.com/kids-birthday-parties/
kind of skimmed, but didn’t see this idea yet. if you go to church, check w/ them. our church lets us use the playground and the fellowship hall free of charge. we just have to set up the tables and chairs and clean up when we’re done. it’s nice because we have an indoors and outdoors area free of charge all to ourselves, and we only have to worry about decorations and food. i actually started a trend with most of my friends to do their kids’ birthday parties at our church. it works out well for us all, since we’re all on tight budgets right now.
Kids really just want to play with their friends for their birthday and feel special. I have found that it’s not that big of a deal to just invite them, play some fun music, let them dance (I have two girls), and then have them make a little inexpensive craft, have a cupcake, watch the birthday girl open presents, and then do more dancing until the parents come. This lasts about 1 1/2 to 2 hours and the kids love it. It works even in the winter. I just let them go crazy in the family room of my house. I don’t even normally do treat bags, but they do take home the craft they make. I also usually will buy a roll of streamer from the store to hang on the doorway of the family room and they all love to walk through it. This kind of party doesn’t cost hardly anything and it’s fun.
When I was 8 or 9, my parents put together a “Double Dare” party for me. It pretty much consisted of crazy relay games outside with all of my friends. We bought balloons and we would stick a balloon between our knees and race from one end of the yard and back again. My dad worked at a local drugstore chain and somehow he got a hold of a Giant Inflatable Crest Toothpaste Ring Toss game – it was shaped like a tube of tooth paste! We used some of the sports equipment that we already had and my family made up fun new games for us to play. I think we used an inflatable pool and filled it with balloons or packing peanuts (which I think we had at the house) and then we’d dive through it to find a flag or something like that.
I honestly don’t know what they spent on it but I know that my mom only baked a cake because it was in the afternoon between lunch and dinner. Kool Aid and Water were the drinks of choice. We didn’t have dollar stores in our area back in those days but with my dad working retail we got some pretty sweet discounts on penny candy and party hats and stickers.
Best Birthday Party Ever!
@Jackie,
For my oldests 10th birthday we did the party in the evening and used the glow in the dark necklaces for a night time game of tag. The kids loved the glow necklaces and we picked up 3 packsof the things for a buck at the dollar store. Water guns bought on clearance and water balloons also went over big with the older set.
Who says they have to have a “friends” party every year? I do a “friends party” every year for my kids. On off years, it’s just family – maybe one friend over to play.
If you are doing a party every year, it could even create a burden on the invitees who feel they have to get a gift every year.
But anyway, there are lots of ways to not spend a lot. Great ideas above. Old-fashioned party games are the best and cost zero money (like musical chairs). A lot of kids these days have never even played them. I have done a Play-doh party for 3 year olds two times, which was a great success. Play doh in the 4 packs is quite cheap. Buy several 4 packs and some of the “tools” and you’re good to go for about an hour! I just sent them home with one full size can as a favor. It’s actually cheaper that way than buying those mini party favor cans!
I hate when my kids bring home cheap junk for favors, so I try not to inflict that on other parents. Plus it’s really not that cheap when you add up all those “only 1 dollar”. Kids can paint a wooden photo frame and take that home. Or make a beaded necklace.
Make your own cake or cupcakes from scratch- so much tastier! Get food that you don’t usually get your kid to make it special. For example, mine normally get cheese cut off a block, but for a party I will get a bag of cheese cubes. I’ll buy more expensive fruit like raspberries and blueberries. It’s so easy to please young children. Save your money for when they older and less easily impressed!
A lot of children’s parties that I have been to seem to be all about impressing the other parents! Waste of time and money. Mom just gets stressed out making cute little matching themed thingies, and the kids don’t even notice that there is a theme. They just want to run around, eat, and have fun. So I try to remind myself: “Who are you doing this for? My child or all the adults?
I have 4 children so the idea of paying for 4 birthday parties each year used to be a bit mind boggling (Not to mention the idea of trying to get family together for 4 parties)
My solution, and one that the kids love is throwing 1 Birthday party for all. We have 3 birthdays in July and one close to Christmas. My daughter who’s birthday is close to Christmas celebrates her half birthday in July. We have done it this way for about 10 years now and everyone loves it because since we are only planing for/paying for 1 Birthday Party we can spend a bit more on that one. The kids take turns picking the party theme and understand that when it is their siblings turn we have fun even if we would not have picked that theme (My Son wasn’t particularly thrilled to find out this year his sister was planning a Barbie Fashion themed party, but with one aww that was all I heard).
We also let the kids have “friend” parties at specific ages with sleepovers coming into play when they turn 8, and on the day of their actual birthday we have a homemade cake at the dinner table (which of course I probably spent .50 to make after coupons and sales 😉
Reconsider the idea of a birthday party. Is it really necessary? Is the party for the child or is it for the benefit of family and friends? Every birthday doesn’t need to be a “big bash”, especially when that typically means bigger and more expensive every year to avoid disappointing the child.
If your children are very young (toddlers and preschoolers), a cake and balloons with immediate family (and maybe a special friend or family member) might make them feel like a prince/princess. Or, go on a special outing of the child’s choosing (if possible). When one of my girls turned two, she asked to go to the pool and go hiking. We had so much fun playing that we didn’t eat her cake until the next day!
Another way to go is to ask that guests do not bring gifts, but instead bring a party game or food item to share. When my daughter turned five in January, we hosted a potluck instead of a party. I provided cupcakes and we did sing the birthday song, but the day was spent playing with friends without the pressures (financial or otherwise) of a regular party.
Another idea is to just get together at a local park. A few balloons, a couple of boxes of popsicles and some napkins and you’re done.
I also agree with the poster that mentioned reconsidering the idea of dollar store junk in goodie bags. Stuff from the dollar stuff is typically a big waste…it is broken in minutes and gets thrown in the trash. There are also major concerns about lead and cadmium in inexpensive children’s items. If you really want to do goodie bags, consider giving food treats instead, as they can often be bought with coupons!
@Andrea Q, I totally agree with everything!! Esp. the goody bags. HATE those dollar store toys! LOL!
@Kelleigh @ Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs, Skip the toys and find the ponytail holders, lipgloss, stickers, puzzle books, preferably bulk pkgs. and divide them up.
I’ve done candy bars that I’ve made my own themed labels for – they were a big hit. I hate the cheapy toys too.
We do birthday parties as you mentioned — maybe a special date with mom and/or dad, a cake and balloons with family and just showering the child with lots of love. Our oldest is only 5, but so far, they’ve loved it! 🙂
@Andrea Q, I totally agree with the “cheap” stuff for goodie bags. My child has brought home bags of cheap junk and they didn’t last a day before becoming, well, junk.
I like the idea of the favor being something the kids can make or use at the party — a craft project, a container of legos, etc — or an edible treat for later.
Remember, there’s a big difference between “cheap” and “inexpensive.”
Your boys are still so young… try to remember that “birthday hype” is ALL about the adults. The kids don’t care!!!!!!!! They’ll be just as happy with cupcakes made in your kitchen as they will with a fancy schmancy cake. Celebrate the CHILD, not the birthday hype. 🙂
http://amysfinerthings.com/frugal-birthday-ideas
I totally agree ~ my kids have loved anything I’ve done – from extreme when the budget allowed to cheap cheap cheap! They’ve loved it!
I did big birthday parties for big dates like someone else suggested. Other years it was just the family. I made my own pinatas using old newspapers and flour paste for both of mine as they grew up . . . we have had everything from a pig for a farm theme to a dragon (used green netting for the body and head was the pinata they could slay with a sword) for a Knights and Princess party. I think BirthdayExpress has a discount bin online and you can find some of the more popular themes.
My daughter’s birthday is in December, and we started having gingerbread decorationg parties a few years ago. I go to a school nearby and ask for discarded milk cartons (If I give them enough notice, they even wash them out for me) 2-3 containers of vanilla icing with a few teaspoons of powdered sugar added and graham crackers. it takes 2 crackers to build the house, then decorate with cereal, pretzels, popcorn-whatever I’ve gotten free recently.
Put them on a small disposable plate and it’s the activity and party favor all in one:)
I do the same thing for our children as my parents did for my sis and I. We have birthday parties every other year. On the alternate year (no party year), we do a special family thing (go to dinner, go bowling, etc) and have cake/ice cream/gifts back at home. When they are older, we will allow a friend to come along. We have three children (oldest now 9), and this really helps the budget. Each year, the kids feel special regardless of whether it’s a “party” or a “family thing.”
I also have 2 children with birthdays close enough (within a month and a half of each other) that it gives the option of a shared party. While they are 4 years apart in age, some places can still cater to both age groups. This allows us the flexibility to take them to a place we would normally not consider due to the price, as it ends up being a 2-for-1 deal.
My daughter and my cousins daughter’s birthdays are a day apart. For the last two years we’ve done a combined birthday party (because it’s mostly family, and the family we share makes up 75% of the guests!) . We have it at a local park that has a huge playset. We split making the food and drinks and each make a cake. It’s worked out so well! We don’t do games because of the playset. Party favors are just something little, like a bracelet or parachute guy, if anything.
We have 2 winter birthdays and do small (under 10 kids) parties for my 7 and 5 year old at our house. I love the challenge of making the cake myself and do a search for cake ideas. We play a couple games the kids help choose – their favorites are old fashioned games like musical chairs and pin the tail on the donkey type games. After games, cake, and presents I just let kids be kids and play.
I think some of the ideas mentioned are great ones. I just might add (gasp?) that I don’t think kids need big birthday parties every year. Growing up we were always on a VERY tight budget. Our family policy was that each kid got a “big” party in 3rd grade, where we invited all their class over (10 kids) and my mom went all out with cake, streamers, organized games, etc. Every other year birthdays were a family day–still very special with balloons, homemade cake, singing, games as family, and of course presents (nothing super expensive). Once in a while we could have a friend or two over, but nothing big.
Now that I have three kids of my own (5, 3, and 1)I am following suit…birthdays are a family day first of all. We are starting out small because we know that once you start out big kids will expect that every year. We make it special by letting the kids pick whatever they want to eat for supper and by making them whatever kind of cake they want. As they get older they might want a friend or two over. But hey, don’t feel like you have to have this big party every year or you are a bad mom! I am not a big party type and I think I would have a breakdown if I had to try organizing three of those things a year!
@Kristin, We do the same thing in our family. I have four kids (7, 6, 4, 3) and we just make it a family day… we take them to Toy’s R Us and let them chose one modest toy for their birthday, stop by baskin robbins for an ice cream treat and have a special dinner of their chose with a homemade decorated cake. We always let them invite a few friends over to have cake but we do not do any special things (game or such). We have also always requested that nobody bring gifts for them either!!!
Wow I can’t believe you posted this! I happen to be in the middle of doing my daughters 7th birthday and I am broke! So I made my mission for her to have a great day with little money. It’s a Toy Story Party. I made a lot of tissue paper flowers in the Toy Story colors, garland out of construction paper, and I went to a site “disney.com” and found a lot of party ideas! I made the alien guys out of felt, and Wheezy out of felt and stuffed him with a bag of rice I had for a game, also I made out of felt a pennant, I am going to hand Buzz which we have had since number 1 from the ceiling fan like he’s flying. I could go on but if you have the will you can make a great day on a very small budget!!! Thx
I saw the cutest alien cupcakes from Toy Story! They used 3 mentos with black frosting for the eyeballs and some green chewy candy for the ears and antenna! I think it was in that Disney magazine that I can’t remember the name of!
@Karin, the Magazine was Family Fun
@Karin,
Family Fun
(They were cute cupcakes)
They even have a magazine for the movie. It’s a little pricey at $7.95 but it might be worth it if it has Toy Story related puzzles that’d keep 7 year old engaged.
I trade my services at my daughters preschool which is really a home made into a school. I’ll bring crafts from the dollar store or other craft ideas for the kids to make and games for them to play. The site costs me nothing but some time at the school and the kids love having a place to play that is all their size!
The dollar section at Target has so many cute things to use for decorations, favors, etc. And just having cake and ice cream and keeping the guest list small also make things inexpensive. And buy paper products, balloons, etc at the dollar store not a party store.
I’ve done a lot of parties at home. Seems to be the cheapest way to go now days but the prep is a lot. I’ve also done parties at the park – those were easier in the cleaning and clean-up but harder because I had to go reserve a spot to have the party and move everything from point A to point B. The at home parties we’ve done a treasure hunt (kids all loved – the gift bags were at the end – the treasure) – do this at the end. I’ve ordered a 4 ft sandwich from Walmart (really inexpensive $25), pizzas, I’ve done chicken nuggets in the oven and mac and chz, I’ve done bbq beef sands from the crockpot. I always make my own fruit or veggie tray (its just cheaper). I’ve also made multiple cakes – from a castle, to Cinderella in her ballgown, to two tires that were a track with Lightening McQueen cars on it or I’ve bought a cake and added the kids toys to go with the theme as well. One other thing that the kids thought was really cool was I made a giant pirate ship out of large moving/refridge size boxes. It was 15 ft or so long and ~ 10 ft wide and I taped all the boxes together with moving tape (the ship was 8 or so ft. tall). I cut doors and holes so the kids could crawl thru the “inside hull” of the ship. I wish I could post pix – it turned out really good and I made $10 on it when I recycled the cardboard. 🙂
A favorite game with the kids if a penny toss. I never would have thought that that would be a hit but… Each kid starts with 10 pennies and a ziploc bag with their name on it. I usually put out metal pots, bowls or dog food bowls (the kids like the sound when it hits the metal). I draw a line on the cement for the kids to line up – recruit my best friends to help monitor and the kids take turns tossing the pennies. Any pennies that go in are theirs to keep and they can take as many turns as they want. I’ve never spent even $5 on this game! It’s a huge hit everytime! My mom use to do this with us when we were little. FYI – don’t do this on grass (you’ll have pennies lost in the grass everywhere and the gardener or hubby will be mad!).
One of my friends had a tea-party for their daughter. It was very inexpensive. The girls were to come dressed up. She had mini sandwiches that she made – PB&J and sandwich meat cut in cute shapes. She made mini cookies and cupcakes. She borrowed teacups and saucers. She served the kids lemonade or punch in the teacups. She bought an kit and had the girls make bracelets/necklaces. I think she found a deal on boas and had one for each girl. The table was draped in some pink fabric. It was very cute and easy. She also played old-school games (hot potato, pin-the-tail, twister, etc.) My daughter loved it.
She has also done a painting party at home where she bought the girls dog houses at Michaels and let them paint them, bought pizza and made a cake.
When I was 5th grade or so – from then on we always had slumber parties with pizza for dinner. We’d paint each others nails, do makeup and hair. We’d get donuts for breakfast and stay up all night talking and watching movies. I’m sure we drove my parents nuts! But I love them for it 🙂
@Karin, thank you for sharing!
I know this may not be the most frugal, but if you really want to do a certain theme and can’t find the stuff discounted, I would plan the party fairly far in advance and then buy a few items each time you get a paycheck to spread out the cost.
when we were little, we always did birthdays together. my sister and i were only 10 days apart. almost always a homemade cake, either the pool at our house or our swing set was the party game. sometimes it was a sleep-over. hotdogs, burgers, sandwiches was the menu.
with my three girls, they are months apart! for the jan baby, she is only 4, so family is pretty much it. have the cousins over for a lunch and cake.
the nov baby is 9. every year since she was in school has been sleepovers at t he house with a different theme. one year, it was princess, the next it was makeovers, then a spa, last year was a movie premiere with two movies (gifts) to premiere! this year, we are going to splurge a little and go to the park most likely and do a pirate theme, complete with treasure hunt!
the july baby, we have been going to the beach each year. there is a park here that you have a nice water park next to a bunch of picnic tables. once you put up $3 a carload to get in, the rest is free! this year, all the kids are too big to play in the water park, so we actually are going to the beach there. shell hunt, sandcastle contest, finger sandwiches.
the most i have learned through 9 years of throwing parties, you can pretty much not spend much and the kids still have a good time. the best thing about birthday parties is, having friends over!!
I’m the mom of 7 – so we have LOTS of birthdays (plus all the regular holidays). For my younger set, I have them choose a party theme the DAY AFTER their birthday. Then, we have 365 days to carefully buy/plan for the next party. Everyone knows what said kid’s theme is, so it’s fun to buy stuff year-round. Our 7-yr-old daughter, for example, had picked Hello Kitty. So, after Christmas I was able to buy Hello Kitty bath soap, etc. for 75-90% off on clearance from the Christmas section. Another of my children, 14-yr-old daughter chose a Luau theme, so we downloaded FREE games & songs from online. We obviously utilize the sales, the Dollar store, and even Craigslist/Ebay/yard sales. The older kiddos (my oldest is a Jr. in college) usually opt for pizza, a few friends, and either swimming or a DVD/movie. I think planning a full year in advance & including the kiddos in the game/favor/activity-planning is KEY to a fun party and actually adds to the anticipation. It doesn’t hurt the pocketbook, either! Birthday parties w/many kids can be done!
@TERA – Wolf Pack Mom, That’s a GREAT idea, planning a year in advance. I LOVE IT! Thank you!
Amy R.
@TERA – Wolf Pack Mom, We just had my youngest’s birthday party and she also picked Hello Kitty. I attempted to make a Hello Kitty cake with fondant. I got the idea from watching some Hello Kitty cakes on Youtube. Here’s how it turned out in case anyone else is attempting a Hello Kitty theme. My daughter was very pleased with the cake.
http://www.honeycombhollow.com/hellokittycake.jpg
I made the fondant in my breadmaker and it was easy as pie! I don’t consider myself very crafty, so if I can do this, I think mostly anyone could. You save a ton of money making from-scratch cakes! You can learn a lot of cake decorating from Youtube.com You don’t need a lot of fancy supplies to do a simple cake, either. A couple cake decorating tips, some food coloring (I bought Wilton’s individual icing colors for $1.50 each).
Another tip for Hello Kitty themes is to go to the dollar rack at Target. They have a number of cute Hello Kitty themed items.
As for food, we usually do pizza for our birthday parties. Crystal has an excellent pizza crust recipe! I make it and divide it into thirds, top it with pizza sauce from Sam’s Club (bought in bulk and frozen in pints) and then garnish with pepperoni, sausage, you know the deal! Saves a lot of money and you can make the dough ahead of time and freeze it to save time for the big day.
Other comments contain some great ideas, and I just wanted to add that we’ve decided to only do “big” parties for our kids on select birthdays – 1,5,10,13,16,18 (probably – our oldest is only 3 at the moment!). This lets us space them out, do only one (or none) a year, and celebrate the other birthdays in alternate ways. This year, for our son’s third birthday, we went to see a relative in Chicago we hadn’t visited for a long time. She made him a Thomas cake and we had a grand time! Do what works for your family, but I think it’s worth considering whether or not you really want to do what “everyone else” is doing or develop some different kind of tradition for your family.
@Susan J, Susan,
I was going to suggest the same thing. I don’t feel like it was that long ago that NO ONE I knew had a big birthday every year – just every few years. We always had immediate family over for cake and ice cream each year but I only had a party where I invited my friends every 3 years. My best friend was one of 8 children and their rule was a sleepover party (with maybe an outing like miniature golf) every 4 years starting at 8. During the intervening years they could invite one friend over to spend the night. We’d have my friend’s favorite dinner and then maybe go out with her mom for ice cream or a movie or something.
I just want to know when this big birthday trend started. Goody bags for every kid? A theme that involves a hundred dollars in cheap paper products? Thirty of a 4-year-old’s closest friends? I remember when a trip to the bowling alley and cake was considered a lavious party.
@Whitney, I couldn’t agree more! I think that this trend started about when the trend of living way above your means did.
@Whitney, I think it might have started when people purposed to wait until forty to have a kid, then only have one, and pour everything they’d earned in their long prechild career into that child. You can’t have such lavish parties consistently for more than one child for all eighteen years of each one’s life.
@Susan J, This is exactly what we do. My husband’s birthday is the day after Christmas and mine is on New Year’s Day, so we never had parties growing up and I never felt like I had bad birthdays, nor did he. My main reason for wanting to do this was just so my children didn’t grow up thinking they were entitled to a grandiose party each year (though it has been helpful with the budget). On the years with no “big” party, we celebrate in some other way. i.e. have a special friend or two meet at the park for a play date and cupcakes, or have a friend over for movie and popcorn, or have close family over for dinner, and sometimes even just our little family of 5 do something we don’t normally do like go to the movies. But always on someone’s birthday they get to choose dinner for the night and always get a homemade cake. When I was growing up my mom’s tradition was to always let us eat the birthday cake for breakfast! It sounds weird but it was my absolute favorite thing about my birthdays because how many times do you get something like that for breakfast? Uh, never! Plus, she said she liked us having something that sweet earlier in the day instead of after dinner closer to bedtime. On the years that we do a “big” party, we just choose a simple theme and go light on everything. Usually we try to have lots of games that kids don’t regularly play anymore. Believe me when I say that kids really do enjoy these kinds of parties and lots of times even more. After my daughter’s last party I overheard two kids saying they were glad not to go to the inflatable place again because too many people are having parties there and it was boring now. Party idea for a boy: I saw this one once that I can’t wait to do with my sons…the parents invited some boys to go to the local high school football game to tailgate…have hotdogs and soda…and then enjoy the game. So simple but fun…no decorations or goody bags needed!
@Susan J, That’s what we do! My husband, daughter and I have our birthdays within a 2wk period so we usually do a BBQ with friends. No special decorations and usually not many kids. :0) She had a small party when she turned 5, just 3 friends. We called it a princess party and all I did was pull out the dress up box for them to play in, asked the teenage daughter of a friend if she would mind coming over and painting their nails. They played, had cake and I bought little notebooks for .50 and recovered and stamped them, added a pencil with a fake flower attached (like a wand) and that was it. They had a blast! There is nothing that says you have to do a party every year. We did another at 8yrs and probably won’t do it again until she’s 12 or 13yrs.
Kids love to decorate their own cupcakes! It’s inexpensive, fun, and creative!
My daughter’s b-day is 1 week before Christmas, which makes it tough to go outside. The best party I had was an arts and crafts party, and I bought most of the craft stuff (crayons, markers, watercolor paints) at this time of the year, back to school time. We had several stations for arts and crafts. Each kid got to color sheets, paint a pencil holder (tin cans with masking tape over them), paint a bank (I bought them 1 at a time at hobby lobby when I had a 40% off coupon). I made the cake, so that was inexpensive. The kdis didn’t get goody bags, but rather got to take home all the craft supplies. Each one got the crayons, markers, paints and a pencil box. This year, I’m considering combining my girls birthday parties, since they are 2 months apart, just splitting the difference. I think you could also invite a few friends over, play a few speical games, and have cake. Birthday parties don’t have to be extreme.
@Lois, I also have 2 girls, one of the best parties I had was a pajama party NOT sleepover, dinner/evening . My girls (4and5yrs). We invited several sister friends and their moms come over preferably in there PJs (Moms too in sweats/whatever). We had pizza and cupcakes I think. I put white xmas light on the ceiling for stars, we made glow in the dark necklaces. Drawing game in the dark, and the hit of the night, we did surprise Mommie Makeovers. I went to the dollar store and bought cheap, colorful, gowdy, makeup and hair accessories. The results were histerical, we took lots of pictures to share. My goodie bags usually contain a craft made during the party and supplies I use during the evening.
@Lois, Lois: I have two sons that both have December birthdays and rather than have their “special day” get lost in the Christmas shuffle, I have their birthday party in the summertime. We just make it clear that although their actual birthday is in December, we have their party in the summer and I’ve never had any problems. It also lets you take adavantage of all the cool (and inexpensive) options like the park!
We used to spend $200-$250 on parties, sometimes less, but the idea was to try to keep up with the friends’ parties. When our budget decreased, the parties had to, as well. What we’ve decided is unless we’re just having cupcakes at the park, we’re not inviting every child we know. When my kids’ birthdays roll around now, they pick 1-2 special friends and we go do something fun together that we don’t normally do. Then I’ll make their favorite cake and meal, and their friends are invited to join us. We’ve really enjoyed doing it this way.
the park is always fun. just bring some $5 pizzas and cake, and the kids have a blast on the playground.
also, we went to our gym once for a rock climbing party. my kids friends were all gym memebers, so they all got in free. they climbed and then we went back to our house for hot dogs and cake. the gym wanted $200+ to have the party there! you coudl do the same thing with a neighborhood pool, etc.
You can always do a party at your local park! What kid doesn’t love going to the park. Grill hot dogs (mine has charcoal grills available) and have chips and koolaid. Get cheap party favors from the dollar tree. Bake your own cupcakes and have the kids decorate their own! Lots of fun use food coloring to change plain white frosting, m&m’s, twizzlers, sprinkles and colored sugar to decorate. The kids will be a mess but they’ll love it.
I’m getting ready to do a party for three of my boys. Ones birthday is in June and the other two are in July so I do them together. I’m doing just cupcakes and ice cream and kool-aid. For the decorations I went to the dollar tree(the best store in the world). I’m doing a train theme and well they didn’t have any birthday items in trains but they had alot of train cutouts and such from the teacher section. I made my own birthday banner with string and train cars, I painted the letters on them. If your not sure about a theme just go and look around to see what you can come up with. For the invitations I just made my own and got a train template off the internet to use. Also I will be doing a raffle drawing for a prize with train tickets. I got it off the microsoft website. They were actually like raffle tickets but I customized it to what I wanted through microsoft word. There are endless possibilities. Ilove crafts and coming up with myown ideas. Also I took cardboard boxes and made them into small train cars that I will be using in a game of tossing the coal. I’m crumpling up aluminum foil to use as the coal. Hope this helps.
Wow, I cant believe my e-mail was chosen!
Thanks for all the ideas everyone. My boys are both under age 3 so Im still getting used to this whole birthday party thing. As a new parent, I feel like there are so many expectations for everything. I really need to shake that notion and just focus on them having fun!
@Rose, one of the things we did with our boys is to decide to have “family only” birthdays until after Kindergarten. We invited grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins. No one in our family expected to be hugely entertained and the focus was on the birthday boy (and the CAKE!) rather than goody bags and decorations.
Now that our oldest is in the “after-Kindergarten” stage, we still keep it simple. We do a backyard birthday (in July), with simple decorations (always balloons and streamers), simple games (no prizes), hot dogs (free through couponing!), a homemade pinata (which my son makes), and a totally cool CAKE! Really. It’s all about the special cake that mommy makes!! Instead of goody bags, the kids take home a brown lunch sack filled with their pinata loot. My son LOVES his birthday parties and has never once complained.
AND, when my boys are invited to other kids’ parties at cool venues with really cool bounce houses or expensive activities, we delicately set the expectation that we will never have that kind of party. Not because we can’t afford it or because we think there is anything wrong with it, but because we want our kids to be satisfied with simpler things. And, a backyard birthday party is WAY cooler anyway (or so my boys tell me!).
@Kelleigh @ Kelleigh Ratzlaff Designs, that sounds like a lot of fun!!!
@Rose, Keep the parties as simple as possible now when they are little! The traditions you start now will carry through as they grow; maybe birthdays in your home can be family-only affairs or only big parties for milestones (like becoming a teenager).
@Rose, Since your boys are still little, you can easily set the tone of expectation for them. We only did family parties (just cake and ice cream) until the kids turned 4. Then, we started “friend” parties every-other year. When it’s a “friend party” you can invite 4 friends if you’re turning 4, 6 friends if you’re turning 6, etc. For Friend Parties, I go online a month or two ahead of time to find easy, fun party games that go with our theme. Then I get to work, using household items for most of the games. The Internet is full of ideas! If there’s one area I splurge on, it’s help. I have found hiring a teenager to help put up simple streamers and balloons is worth the price. She will also help in serving cake, etc., so I can actually enjoy the party! Good luck with all your future parties–the fact that you’re even thinking about this means you’ll do a great job!
@Rose, I think the “expectations” vary depending on where you live. We used to live in the DC area, and the parents were all uber competitive. I really just didn’t get it–I mean, one, two, three, and even four years old is too young to really want or appreciate an elaborate party. We just do special family things on my son’s birthday. He always gets a cake and we usually eat out somewhere special and play with his new toys. Once he’s in school, I’ll start with the kid parties–then I’ll be emailing for tips because his birthday is in February and I don’t know how I’ll manage a party at home if it can’t be outside!
I love, love, love back yard bday parties. Both my boys have summer bdays – so that helps. It allows kids to just kick back and have fun, play with each other without being over scheduled. I’m sure most backyard games (minus the water balloons) can be moved inside if the weather isn’t good.
Also, plan the party at a time when no one will expect you to feed them a meal – like from 2 to 4 in the afternoon. Oriental Express is a great place for cheap party favors. Most of all, avoid feeling like you HAVE to go overboard. Kids will have a fabulous time if they are allowed to just be kids!
1)Buy a roll of freezer paper and tape long stips of it to a wall inside or outside, put a bunch of your kids crayon and markers beside the stips of paper and let them draw on the wall, leaving birthday wishes and pictures. This was a huge hit at my daugther’s birthday party. 2)If you can have an outdoor party make homemade bubbles and buy those really 4 packs or flyswatters and the dollar store and let them use them to make lots of bubbles, this was also a huge hit. 3) Instead of a cake, bake up some cupcakes, make different colored homemade icing and let the kiddos decorate their own cupcakes to eat. 4) depending on the age play games like duck-duck goose and muscial chairs, you know the games from our childhoods. 5) If your kids are like mine they have tons of building blocks and leggos, put them in a pile and let the kiddos build things with the leggos. 6) Make up a couple of gallons of kool-aide for drinks, maybe some ice cream and let the kids have fun. We as parents tend to think that the kids who come to the party need to have gift bags to take home, they do not. I would rather see the parent spend the money on the birthday child than on some cheap, easily broken junk in a party favor bag.
Do some research on the inter-net and you can come up with lots more cheap kid friendly ideas.
5 dollar pizzas (little caesars, 2for1, etc) dollar store has decorations, invites, plates cups etc. usually matching sets. big lots has them too. make a cake from a mix, you can get favors at the dollar store too. for a party with about 8 little guests you can spend about 20-25 dollars. and have a nice, small but ample birthday party for little kids. the adults can eat off of non decorated plates etc.
I highly recommend visiting your local dollar tree type store for cheap decorations and goody bags (I bought a few bags lollipops for treat bags, different colored plates/cups/napkins). I like to get some .50 poster board and print pics from online..I made most of the decorations myself when my 2 yr old had an Imagination Movers party..disney.com has tons of free party decor and invites you can print at home. I had simple treats, pizza, homemade cake, ice cream. Had the music blaring, filled a trash bag with balloons and let them all out at once for the kids to dance with and toss in the air. Printed some coloring pages from online. Found cheap colored lunchbags at a party store and cheap $1 packs of stickers and set up a craft table where kids decorated their own goody bag, then reached into the giant bowl of lollipops and stickers for a handful to stuff in the bag. When I was a kid we did make your own ice cream sundaes which was huge. Kids really, really like old fashioned birthday stuff. I made the mistake of going “big” with a moonbounce, etc the first party I had. Too much money and the kids really didn’t play in it that much!
I don’t have any kids, but I remember when I was little we were limited on funds, but basically I would invite few friends from school, no more then 10, usually all girls lol, and I would have a carvel cake ALWAYS lol, and we would do really simple but fun things, play dress up, act out plays, and usually a few would sleep over and my Mom would let us order pizza and watch movies, I really had a blast at those type of things, even when i got a bit older and had more organized parties at places, those were way more fun. Oh and for decorations.. simple streamers and just a Happy Bday Banner.