Kids’ birthday parties have gotten more and more extravagant in recent years, but perhaps those days are over, and it’s probably for the best. Times are tough right now, with gas over $4 and a trip to the grocery store that requires a trip to the bank before you go. We all need to watch our spending, and your child’s birthday party is no exception. But you can still have a wonderful celebration of this childhood milestone on a tight budget. Kids, at least up to the tween years of 11 and 12, aren’t impressed by what you spend; they just want to have a good time.
All components of a successful children’s birthday party offer savings opportunities: the invitations, the decorations, the paper goods, the food, the activities, the party favors. But the most important factor in limiting party expenses without sacrificing the fun is the choice of venue.
Have your party at home, the old-fashioned way. Choose games and activities that keep children interested and focused, and they will do what you have planned instead of ransacking your house. Limit the mess they can make to controllable substances: paper, craft supplies that can be easily vacuumed up. Keep the numbers at a level that can contain only one or two rooms that will then need to be cleaned. A little thought and it becomes quite manageable.
Create your own invitations and thank you notes on your computer. Use one of the many free clip art sources you can find on the web, or your Microsoft Word clip art online. Use a kid-friendly font for your text and some bright text colors for visual appeal. Do the same on the envelope of your invitation to make it different and special. It doesn’t have to be a professional job; You need to get the kids excited about your child’s upcoming birthday party.
Party decorations should set the mood for fun, they don’t cost a fortune. They will stare at your decorations for about 30 seconds and move on to the fun, so they can easily be limited to their input. Use bunches of colorful balloons—inflate them yourself instead of paying for helium, and tape them down with paint-friendly tape. Hang a happy birthday banner printed with one brightly colored letter per page (or printed on colored construction paper and cut out) and tape it to the wall. Make tissue paper flowers with your birthday girl for a nice activity together and use them for decorations. Decorate the birthday boy’s chair for the cake and ice cream with curly ribbon to make a birthday throne. Put confetti on the table, or use flowers from the garden, colorful fall leaves, or sprigs from evergreen trees.
Character plates and napkins cost about twice as much as solid colors. Mix your colors for a festive effect. Make fans out of your brightly colored napkins or roll up each napkin and tie with a multi-colored curly ribbon. Place a large, bright tissue paper flower at each girl’s place. Print each guest’s name in a fancy font and bright colors, add some cute clip art or a pretty border, cut them to size, and glue them to each guests paper cup. Use your own cutlery instead of buying disposable plastic.
Children do not come to your party to eat. They come to have a good time, and unless you have scheduled your party around feeding time, they don’t need a lot of food. They also don’t need a lot of sugar to increase their arousal level. Keep it simple and inexpensive: a bowl of pretzel sticks, a large bowl of red and green apples, soda or water. And avoid the huge expense of a bakery cake. The best way to save money is to make it yourself ahead of time, freeze the cake without icing, and decorate it right before the party. Your next best bet is to use a store-bought cake for about half the price of a bakery cake. If you do it yourself, your cake decorations can be as elaborate or simple as your skill and time allow. Using decorating tubes from the grocery store, anyone can write the birthday child’s name on the cake and add some floral frosting accents to create a pretty birthday cake.
Skip the goodie bags. Even with just some candy and a cheap toy, it will cost you at least $2 each, which adds up to $20 for a small party of 10. Create your own party favor for them to take home: a photo Digital of each child in a funny hat or with the birthday boy will do. Pick a party activity where they make something they can take home.
The obligatory birthday gift can be a real waste of money, and it can also put your guests in a budget bind. When the bag is tight, it’s just silly to ask guests to spend $10 or $20 on gifts that often end up meaningless to the child and never used. And that $10 or $20 spend could be a burden on some of your guests, perhaps even causing a few RSVP “no’s” in these tough economic times. Consider setting up a gift pool for everyone to contribute as they see fit, and use the gift money to buy one or two really nice gifts for everyone’s birthday boy. A much better use of everyone’s money.
The centerpiece of any children’s birthday party is the activities: birthday party games. You can find an overwhelming number of game ideas on the web, many of which can be modified to fit your party theme. This is the place to spend your time and brainpower, as this is the fun that will determine the success of your birthday celebration. Since this is the component of the party that gives many parents the creeps, use the money you save on food, invitations, goody bags, and decorations to purchase your activities online, which is still much cheaper than hiring someone to come to your house to entertain. You will still come out ahead in the savings department.
Spend less money, have more fun. It’s the children having fun in a group, the birthday boy’s day in the sun, that makes your child’s birthday party special. It’s not the paper plates or the goodie bags. Therefore, it is easy to control your party expenses if you keep this in mind.
