This is a guest post from my friend Kyle over at Rather Be Shopping. He has some great tips for saving money on birthday parties.
Birthday’s that don’t Break the Bank
My little girl is going to turn 1 in a couple weeks. Wow, how time flies when you have dirty diapers in your hand and spit-up on your shirt! She is our third child and probably our last. It goes without saying that my wife and I have gotten pretty good at throwing a fun and memorable birthday party without breaking the bank. Here are a few tips followed by some online coupons that can help you get ready for your next birthday party and save some money.
~ Skip The Chow. Have the birthday party start mid-afternoon to avoid having to cook or cater food for the party.
~ Don’t Pay For The Site. In the town we live in, there are around 5 parks with shade, picnic tables, and jungle-gyms where you can set up your child’s party for free. If you don’t have these where you live, the backyard is always a free alternative where kids can run around and play games.
~ Do-It-Yourself. This one is pretty obvious. You can save a lot of money if you make the cake yourself, along with the snacks and drinks. Also, try to incorporate the theme and decorations of the party with toys you already have. For example, if your son loves cars, use his toy cars as party decorations and centerpieces.
~ Create Your Own Entertainment. Our kids love the old stand-bys. Duck Duck Goose, Red Light/Green Light, and Pin The Tail on the Donkey to name a few. Musical chairs is always a hit as well, have small prizes for the winner. Here is a chance to be creative and come up with your own games as well!
As a father of 3 kids, I have come to realize that kids just want your time. Special days like birthdays are no exception. I would much rather spend less money on a fancy birthday party with all the bells and whistles and use the money saved to buy a gift, like a bike, that the child will be able to use all year long.
Excellent guest post! We have done Do-It-Yourself birthday parties for over a decade. Our best effort was a Star Wars party for our son…that’s how I discovered that my husband is a very talented cake decorator. He took a drawing of R2-D2 and turned two boxed cake mixes into a professional, foil-accented birthday cake. Wow.
One of my son’s friends had a pirate party; they used fabric remnants for pirate bandannas and eye patches, had a pirate treasure scavenger hunt in the backyard (run by the birthday boy’s older brothers), and enjoyed junk food “loot” – I’m pretty sure the whole affair cost about $50. It was incredibly cool.
Don’t forget pinatas (sorry – can’t find the tilde!) as a cheap and fun party activity. Our Wal-Mart sells them empty; you just buy el cheapo candy and fill them up.
You can re-tool classic games to match your party theme – pin the tail on the donkey can be pin the smokestack on Thomas or pin the tail on Pikachu. The excellent website dltk-kids.com has invitations you can customize and print out – we’ve used them for the last five or six parties here. They have cool craft ideas, too.
Girls love craft activities at birthday parties, so you can let your imagination go wild. One of my daughter’s friends loves the princess theme so much she has a princess dress-up party every single year. They all come in pretty dresses, eat homemade pigs-in-blankets, do a craft project, sing over cake, open presents and go home. Perfect. Totally fun. Incredibly cheap.
Thank you for injecting a healthy dose of reality into cyberspace this week!
Nancy, some great tips!
Glad you enjoyed my guest post. I had to laugh at your retooling pin the tail on the donkey. We actually did exactly this a couple years ago, my son wanted a space shuttle birthday party and I drew a picture of a space shuttle on poster board and the kids ‘pinned the flame’ on the shuttle! It was great.
my children birthdays are in the winter. any ideas