Birthday Party on the cheap!!

[j9_shooter9]

I TRY to be frugal with parties, but never end up spending under $100 for supplies and stuff. I'm SO proud this year!!

Aidan is turning 4 and we're having a Pirate Party. Kids coming were asked to dress up.

I am still awake because I'm in the middle of constructing a pirate ship out of old moving boxes (big ones). No cost for these. Got them from a friend. I'm also cutting swords out of the cardboard and covering the "blade" with tinfoil. I'm making some palm trees (also out of the cardboard).

Aidan's going to help me paint the ship tomorrow. He's SO excited. Then I'm using a big side of a cardboard box to make a "Pin the Pirate on the Treasure" game (like pin the tail on the donkey) but I have a treasure map with an "X" and whoever gets closest wins a prize.

I went to Jo-Anns and got two sheets of black felt for $.30 each and some tiny elastic for under $1 for 3 yards. I'm going to make eye patches for the kids and paint jolly rogers on them.

Food: although I hate them, Aidan LOVEs hot dogs, so we're doing that, a huge bowl of goldfish crackers, and a big bowl of grapes.

The cake was what I spent the most on because it required a variety of different candies for decorations (I'm making a pirate boy cake)

I'm asking a couple people to bring drinks for adults and for the kids I got something Aidan never gets -- Capri Suns. He LOVES these.

Total cost: So far about $40. There are always last minute things to do.

I'll post some pics later of how it all turned out.

[lilmama2dsndd]

way to go mama! Another idea for food is to make bagel pizzas, a couple bags of bagels, some pizza sauce, shredded cheese (cheaper if you shred it yourself) and maybe pepperonis if your crew like them. Those also go over well for the non-hotdogs lovers (my kids eat the bread and leave the dog :giggle: )

You can also do a treasure hunt (aka scavanger hunt)

Booty dig - hide several small pirate type toys in a sand box and let each kid take a turn diggin up a toy

Sounds like your party is going to be lots of fun! BTW- where do you get kids to come, for my DS's b-day we invited his daycare class and no one responded (out of 18 kids), the year before only 4 out of 20 came.

[Sanche]

Awesome!

[kocho]

Sounds like so much fun!!! What time should we be there?? lol

[sandrc]

wow! i have alot to learn! i didn't know birthday parties get more complex and expensive the older the child gets! DD is 2 today and the only thing i've gotten for her party is a pack of winnie the pooh plates and napkins. had cups left over from last year, cake mix and icing, candy to go on the cake, drinks, chips and dips, tablecloth. i will be going out later today to get icecream and a bag of ice and i think my parents are getting helium balloons for tomorrow. i also got some of those blower things that has the rolled up paper that whistles. i think the drinks were the most expensive things! of course there will only be 12 adults and 5 children at the party and we can eat leftover food and drinks later and save the leftover napkins, plates and tablecloth for next year. use silverware to eat with.

i have no idea what to do as far as decorations.

sounds like you have a great party going. i love the pirate ship idea. sounds like lots of fun!

[syfitz]

So glad to see this thread. B-day parties always cost me a fortune!

[football_cheer_mom]

I saw a special on I think Discovery Health, and this lady with 13 kids fed $150 people with $120 !!!!!!! Can you belive that??? She bought like 3 or 4 turkeys for $4-$5 each, and made barbecue shredded turkey sandwiches. I know she had some other stuff, but wow !!!



Nikki

[jeanieande]

Wow, I always break and pay $$ to have a birthday party elsewhere so I don't have my house invaded and get stuck with massive amounts of work and clean up! last year it was at the YMCA and this year at the Kid's museum. My rationalization for last year was that I had just had the baby and this year is that I'm in the last month of the semester (graduate in may!) and I don't have the time to do a bunch of stuff around the house in prep for a party. But kudo's to you, I wish I had the time/motivation to do it. I'll be watching this thread to get ideas for next year!

[LessonsInLife]

Wow, I always break and pay $$ to have a birthday party elsewhere so I don't have my house invaded and get stuck with massive amounts of work and clean up! last year it was at the YMCA and this year at the Kid's museum. My rationalization for last year was that I had just had the baby and this year is that I'm in the last month of the semester (graduate in may!) and I don't have the time to do a bunch of stuff around the house in prep for a party. But kudo's to you, I wish I had the time/motivation to do it. I'll be watching this thread to get ideas for next year!

I can't afford to shell out for parties in a business so we try to do park parties each year. The weather has been really bad this april so we gave dd a mini party, just us, yesterday and then she'll have a big party next month with her brother, his b-day isn't until june so his party will be a little early. So two parties for the price of one and it's outdoors at a park so no one is seeing my tiny messy house.

[shell015]

Awesome mama! I am going to do a S/O this thread... look for it and help me. LOL

[Ali]

Wow, I always break and pay $$ to have a birthday party elsewhere so I don't have my house invaded and get stuck with massive amounts of work and clean up! last year it was at the YMCA and this year at the Kid's museum. My rationalization for last year was that I had just had the baby and this year is that I'm in the last month of the semester (graduate in may!) and I don't have the time to do a bunch of stuff around the house in prep for a party. But kudo's to you, I wish I had the time/motivation to do it. I'll be watching this thread to get ideas for next year!

Yeah, we did chuckie cheese this year. But I only spent $90 and that included decorations and cake. My girlfriends daughter turned 5 two days before my son so we actually threw a combined party and split the cost. We also didn't buy the chuckie cheese package and got our own gift bags, staked out some tables and decorated them, brought our own cake/balloons in and ordered lots of pizza for everyone. It ended up costing way less that way. But the key was splitting the party w/ my friend.

[cajsmommy]

Way to go! Sounds like a great time too!

[windsong81]

For my son's 6th birthday we had a sledding party for all 14 kids in his class and several of their siblings. We had 16 kids show up. After Christmas I picked up clearance mugs ($.25 each) and pencils ($.25 for 12) featuring penguins and snowflakes. I also picked up snowflake paper plates on clearance after Christmas. We went sledding (free) and had angel food cake (from a mix) with whipped cream and frozen raspberries with hot chocolate for treats. The kids took the mugs home for favors. No games, no decorations, nobody noticed. We asked for guests to bring a homemade snowflake to decorate the birthday boy's room instead of gift. DS made invites out of blank cards and envelopes ($5 for 50) and glitter. Printed the inside information on address labels and stuck them in the cards. The whole thing cost $20 or less.

[frskulls]

Wow, I need some ideas because Stella's 5th birthday party will be a big one maybe around 60 people or so but I want to go real cheap.

Her theme will be Peter Pan which it could be for both boys and girls because of pirate things for boys and tinkerbell for girls.

Tinkerbell is the main character for the cake. The decoration will be pirate theme and I'll look to find Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, and Captain Hook posters or something.

I found pirate decoration from Dollar Tree store! I also found Tinkerbell pencils and crayons for goodies. I need to find some more for boys. I try to avoid the candy

I am not sure about the food. We will get jumper, 5 tables and 40 chairs for $50 which is a family discount from BIL's girlfriend's family's business. They charge $100 to other people.

We're trying to spend at least $300. The main reason is that Stella's 5th birthday party is on her actual birthday, Oct 3rd. :)

[frskulls]

I TRY to be frugal with parties, but never end up spending under $100 for supplies and stuff. I'm SO proud this year!!

Aidan is turning 4 and we're having a Pirate Party. Kids coming were asked to dress up.

I am still awake because I'm in the middle of constructing a pirate ship out of old moving boxes (big ones). No cost for these. Got them from a friend. I'm also cutting swords out of the cardboard and covering the "blade" with tinfoil. I'm making some palm trees (also out of the cardboard).

Aidan's going to help me paint the ship tomorrow. He's SO excited. Then I'm using a big side of a cardboard box to make a "Pin the Pirate on the Treasure" game (like pin the tail on the donkey) but I have a treasure map with an "X" and whoever gets closest wins a prize.

I went to Jo-Anns and got two sheets of black felt for $.30 each and some tiny elastic for under $1 for 3 yards. I'm going to make eye patches for the kids and paint jolly rogers on them.

Food: although I hate them, Aidan LOVEs hot dogs, so we're doing that, a huge bowl of goldfish crackers, and a big bowl of grapes.

The cake was what I spent the most on because it required a variety of different candies for decorations (I'm making a pirate boy cake)

I'm asking a couple people to bring drinks for adults and for the kids I got something Aidan never gets -- Capri Suns. He LOVES these.

Total cost: So far about $40. There are always last minute things to do.

I'll post some pics later of how it all turned out.

I cannot wait to see the pictures!!! If it's easy to make stuff from moving boxes, I'll have Matt and maybe his friend to make it, too!

[lunarain25]

I've had parties out and parties at my home. I enjoy both and wonder which is cheaper.....since I sort of go overboard at home. This year, YDS will be 3 and it is his turn to have a "big party". (I decided when YDS was born that the boys would switch years since their b-days are 4 weeks apart....I don't want to do two parties ever again! Agh! I also don't want joint parties as the boys are 7 years apart. It also saves $$.)

I am thinking that we'll have the party at the park district building (which is nice) and has a playground. Inside, I think it will be a "create" party....where I'll set up stations for the 3 year olds to complete....like finger painting, marble box painting, face painting, play dough, stamp art, glitter art, sticker art, etc. The favors will just be their art projects to lug home. I'll provide a "fancy" paper bag & rubber bands to roll up their projects. I may end up sending a cookie cutter and homemade playdough as well. I'm a big fan of cupcakes made by me at home as they are easy to pass out and I don't need to be a serious cake decorator to make them look cute. Simple and fun....and hopefully the kiddos will not be running around too much?

[purplevega]

Oh I really need this thread. We always spend way to much on our boys' birthday parties.

[cherylchoo]

These are great ideas! We always have a hard time for bday parties here. My girls have November and December birthdays, so it's too cold to have anything outside, but not cold enough for snow so there's no outdoor winter activities here. Our house is really not big enough to handle a dozen preschoolers/elementary kids. Everything else food, decor, games, etc we can do frugally, but a thrifty location has me stumped.

[utvol3]

Another one that could be done pretty cheapo is a camping party. We did this for DS's 6th. Hot dogs, chips, marshmallows (roast over the fire pit) tents set up in the living room, flashlights and glowsticks for goodies, let them turn off the lights and tell ghost stories! Easy too!:giggle: