Cost Saving Tips for Your Child’s Birthday Party
My son recently turned 4 and we wanted to have a special birthday party for him and all of his friends. Being on a very tight budget meant that we had to be extra thrifty, but we didn’t want to skimp on the fun. We had some ideas of places we would have liked to have the party, but once I called and got the information on the locations, I sat at the desk thinking how absurd it was to spend $200 on a birthday party for a 4 year old (just for room rental and maybe 2 hours of playtime). The days of the $50 all inclusive party at McDonald’s are no more and parents are now faced with growing pressure to have the fanciest and most extravagent parties for their children, even toddlers and preschoolers.
We opted to have Andrew’s party at our home and just tried to make the best of it. He had more fun than we could have imagined. He was just so excited to have his friends over to play and show off the Mickey Mouse cake that I made for him, he didn’t even know that it wasn’t a “cool” party!
Here are some money saving ideas to remember when planning your little one’s next party:
1. Have your party at home or at a local park - Parties at home or the park can be just as much fun as those at more expensive venues. Parties at the inflatable rooms can cost you hundreds of dollars and don’t include cake or snacks. Your party at home (or the park) can be as cheap or as pricey as you are comfortable with. A home party provides comfort for your guests and a park give you free entertainment!
2. Not every decoration has to be themed – While it’s tempting to go buy out the party store of all the cups, plates, napkins, table coverings, etc of your child’s favorite character, it’s just not necessary. Buy a few select items at the party store, then stop at the dollar store for coordinating solid colored plates, napkins and utensils. A few accent pieces are fine, but there is a such thing as overkill!
3. Party favors don’t have to be store bought – Consider buying clear treat bags from the craft store and baking cookies as party favors. Simple cut-out cookies in the shape of your child’s favorite character or a cookie with the guest children’s names on them are more special than the junk trinkets that usually find their way home from parties. Another alternative is to print out coloring pages from the internet and give a small 8-count box of crayons as a party favor.
4. Bake your own cake – A simple dollar white cake mix and your favorite homemade buttercream icing make for a delicious treat. Go to websites like Wilton to learn simple decorating techniques that will impress your friends and make your child’s cake extra special. Also, you can always find small figurines at the dollar store or party supply store that can make your child’s cake really special and tailor made. Let your child help you stir the icing or place the figurines to get them more excited about their special cake.
5. Your love, not your pocketbook are what your child will remember the most – No matter how much or how little you spend on your child’s birthday party, the most important thing you can do for them is show them how much you love them. THAT is what they will always remember!
What are some of YOUR favorite childhood birthday party memories? Do you have any tips you would be willing to share on having a fun and relatively inexpensive birthday party?
Photo Courtesy of martin_kelley
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Interesting post. I like the idea of the cookie favors.
To offer a different perspective – I actually decided to have my son’s upcoming 3rd birthday party at a kids’ gym type place for budgetary reasons. You’re right that it’s $275 for 2 hours, and I still have to bring cake and other food, but because the focus is on the playing and the activities, the food is going to be kept super simple – just pizza and fruit. Everything else is included, though, from paper goods to juice boxes to invitations.
The main plus for me is that by having it outside the home, I do not have feelings of inferiority about my house that lead me to doing things like renting a carpet cleaner or buying side tables for the living room or repainting the downstairs bathroom – all of which I did last year before his 2nd birthday party. This year I knew we wanted to invite more kids since he’s more aware of his friends now, which led to me thinking I’d like to be able to have people in the backyard (since we have a very small living room), which led to thoughts of “that deck isn’t safe for lots of kids, we need to replace it.” It’s like those “Give a Mouse a Muffin” type books in my head. All those things cost way more money than the play place will. Not to mention that I would’ve gone a lot more elaborate on food and decorations if that’s all there was, you know? I did actually originally have a local park booked, but it was still over $100 JUST for the shelter, and my husband convinced me that AC is a must in mid-July. Anyway, just an alternate view.
Christy,
Great post! Parents are pressured to keep up with others and throw elaborate parties that kids may or may not remember.
One of my favorite childhood bday party memories include the Mummy Game. My mom paired the kids up and gave us a roll of toilet paper; the fastest to wrap there partner wins. At the same party, we also played Hot Potato, however since there wasn’t a potato on hand, we used a head of cabbage my mom had in the crisper. Can you imagine cabbage leaves flying around as were all trying NOT to get caught with it?!
I think the biggest thing to remember is that we aren’t stuck into doing the jumping rooms or play areas and that there are alternatives out there. Our original plan was to have Andrew’s party at our church… they have a huge indoor play area we could have rented, but overall the costs just weren’t feasable for us. But Julie, I completely understand what you mean about the inferiority issues… I am totally OCD about my house being clean, so imagine my stress over having it clean for all of Andrew’s friends and their parents. We live in a small condo, so I guess we are lucky that we didn’t have to worry about any repair issues!
And Monique… I totally remember having bday parties in our garage growing up. Games of hopscotch and hot potato were the “in” thing then… Oh the memories!
We have never tried to compete with friends’ parties.
Every party we’ve ever had is in our own backyard.
No big party favors.
We just find a theme and find ways to make them fun…
We’ve had a treasure hunt for a pirate party, a ladybug release for a bug party, stickhorse races for a cowboy party, and a mock “Monster Jam” for a monster truck party. That’s what they remember- the fun they had.