This, of course, sounds like a funny topic for me to write about given that I have recently posted about having a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese for our boys that had 23 guests. That being said, even though Molly’s birthday is about to roll around again, here are some party tips from last year that helped her to have a fun party and didn’t leave me crying (like that 23 guest party).
This photo shows several of the ways that we went less expensive with Molly’s party. She loved the idea of each girl having her very own tea cup to not only use during the party, but to take home as a party favor. We purchased all of the tea cups at Goodwill. I didn’t buy any tea cup that cost more than $1.00 (most were less). Each young lady picked out her tea cup from all of the choices when she arrived.
We also used plain pink napkins and plates, rather than character laden ones. I also made a batch of sherbet punch, which we called “Princess Punch.”
In the background, you can see a card table set up. I bought some bottles of nail polish and some face paints, and then I paid the older sisters of one of our party guests each $10 to do their girls’ nails, as well as to give them face tattoos. (Each party guest was able to have time to go to this table and pick what she wanted to have done.) As an extra bonus, the big girls (at that time, they were in 4th and 6th grade) also helped throughout the party.
Rather than buy a decorated cake, I made cupcakes and colored the frosting to be more princessy. I did, however, purchase some cupcake picks, to make them more festive. (This could have easily been skipped though.)
The girls were all told to either wear their favorite princess dresses or costumes, or they could dig through our dress up box to get dressed up. (We also had some girls that didn’t want to dress up, and that wasn’t a big deal at all. We were pretty flexible.)
The girls all had some time just to play, which they really enjoyed.
When the girls weren’t busy playing or getting made up, they decorated crowns that we had cut out of poster board. I bought one extra package of self-adhesive foam shapes, and otherwise just put out craft supplies that we already had here at home. The girls loved to create their own unique crowns.
Molly and all of her guests had a wonderful time, and I didn’t spend more than $20 – $30 on the whole party. If I had really wanted to, I could have cut out a few of the costs and definitely got it in under $20.
What are some of your favorite cost effective birthday party tips?
This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday and Frugal Friday.
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
When Beka was 4 we did a “yellow” birthday party! It was and still is her fave color. We asked the guests to wear yellow, made a yellow pinata, yellow cupcakes, lemonade to drink and it was SO much fun!! Not to mention colorful!!
It was one of the cheapest bday party we ever had!
@Melissa B.,
Oh, Melissa — that sounds so fun! We may have to try that sometime!
I love your idea for the crowns. I think I’m going to try that out when I do my kindergarten class for Epiphany this year.
I’m impressed by how much you were able to do for so little money.
I love the idea for the tea cups! I may have to snag that idea for Mustang’s party. I am looking for ways to make her party just as special as Mini Cooper’s. Thanks!
@Our Country Road,
The girls were all crazy for them too! And, they were shocked that they got to take them home. It was like a little treasure for each of those girls, and most cost me about $.50.
If you need to get several, I would suggest going to Goodwill a couple of months ahead of time, so you have time in case they don’t have much in the way of tea cups.
My biggest cost saving tip is: don’t have a kids party. When you just include family in the celebration, you don’t need all the “extras” – just cake & ice cream! I didn’t grow up with having “kid parties” (I had ONE in all of my years of being a kid, and it was a surprise party), and my kids won’t either. Not introducing them to “kid parties” will save a lot of time and money and unnecessary stress over the years. They’ll probably each get one surprise “friend” party when they’re older, and that’ll probably be it.
@Ashley,
That’s very true. However, it doesn’t typically cause me much stress and we’ve generally tried to keep costs down. We don’t have a lot of family close, so family parties are typically kept for big events like First Communions and the like. (When we think people will be more apt to travel. Though, we do invite friends to those too.)
I can guarantee that we couldn’t do those crazy Chuck E. Cheese birthday parties every year, that’s for sure.
I need a lot of these $20 parties to even it out. LOL
I suspect it may be some homeschooling over compensation on my part. We didn’t really do friend parties until we started homeschooling (even though they had plenty of friends when they were in public school). Then again, maybe I just like all of the kids that my kids are friends with better now.
@Angie, I understand. Our family is 2.5 hours away, so we usually just go to them for birthdays and such (since they all live close together). I grew up with all my family living on the same corner (all bought lots from the family farm), so I’m just used to that. And $20 is really NOT a bad price for a party – I think I spent more than that for my husband’s birthday party one year (I threw him a “kid” party w/ our families).
@Ashley, That totally makes sense, especially when you can go to one area and be with everyone. Most of our family is spread out (my siblings and their kids, for instance). About the best I can say is that everyone is east of the Mississippi.
Lucky for us, my parents live very, very close to us. But, we have them over all the time, so it’s not really a party even when there is a birthday. Then again, the kids always call it a “feast” when we have them over for dinner, even though we sometimes have them over 2 – 4 nights a week. LOL (I like that they still think it’s special to have them over.)
Very fun that you had a birthday party for your husband! I have that on my list of things I want to do before I’m 40. He never had many birthday parties with friends and I thought it would be fun to have a friend party for him. I wanted to do it this year (for his 35th birthday), but then when my Grandma passed in May, it made me tired for thinking of doing that for him in July, which was just as well, because then my Mom had to have emergency open heart surgery in July. It just wasn’t Eric’s year this year for a party.
Luckily, he’ll turn 40 before I do.
I love this…and needed to read it! I tend to go a bit overboard with food and whatnot for birthdays. Dinner, cake and ice cream for 45 family members? Sure no problem LOL. I love the tea cup favor idea. I need a girl!!!!!
@Cheryl@SomewhatCrunchy,
I’m really bad when it comes to big family gatherings. You should see what I ended up doing for things like First Communion. I’m of the mentality that I would always rather there is too much food (way too much, apparently) than not enough.
Heck – now that I think of it, I even do that if I’m only having a few friends over. I was proud of myself for how conservative I managed to be with this party. LOL
You did a beautiful job. The tea cups were inspired! The cupcakes and Princess Punch look delicious. I appreciate your desire to celebrate a special day without breaking the bank. It looks like you were able to do just that!
Now, fellow homeschooler, I’m off to check out the rest of your blog. I’m glad I stumbled upon it!
What wonderful ideas! I love the idea of the nail polish/face paint table, and the teacup favors and dress up time….oh, let’s face it, I love it all! Great party!
I’ll have to remember these ideas…my daughter is still too young for this!
@Alison,
Thanks so much, Alison!
It was a fun party, and Molly still occasionally talks about it.
love the little princess tea party such a cute and quaint idea
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