Birthday parties for young children can be quite costly. From decorations and supplies to games and activities to sometimes even leasing an event location, the expenses quickly add up. But, it doesn't have to be this way-parents can choose to slash their party budget...without cutting out the fun. In fact, you can plan an enjoyable and entertaining birthday party for less than you may think.
By being able to keep the party costs so low, parents may be able to buy their child some really amazing gifts that would have otherwise been too pricey. Or, by saving on the party, parents might end up having more money to use toward another financial goal. Either way, it is a win-win situation.
So, just how can parents design a fun birthday party with a reduced budget? It takes some advance planning, but it can easily be done. First of all, scratch the idea of renting an event location. Sure, kids have a blast with parties at places like Chuck E. Cheese's or Build-A-Bear. And it can be a lot of fun to arrange birthday activities like make-it/take-it bead classes or pottery painting. But, all of those are very expensive, especially if your child would like to invite several children to the party. So, here are some ideas of what you can do instead, along with estimated costs:
--Hold the birthday party at a nearby playground (not your child's school playground, though-that would probably not be much fun). If possible, try to find a playground that your child has never been to or one that your child likes and does not get to go to very often. Children at the party will get to run around and play and have fun in a new setting; everyone will have a ball! Estimated cost: FREE
--Hold the party at your home or a relative's home. Plan your own painting or bead or other such art activity. (The type of activity you choose will depend upon your child; actually, it may be a good idea to ask your child to help choose an activity.) If you and/or your child cannot come up with a suitable activity, visit a local craft store for some ideas. A great deal of activities can be costly, so be careful to select one that is budget-friendly. Estimated cost: $10 - $15
--Hold the party at your home or a relative's home. Instead of planning an art-type activity, let the children work on a food-type activity. (Again, your child can help choose the particular activity). Party-goers can make their own pizzas (you provide individual-size pizza dough; let the children shape it and add sauce, cheese, and other toppings). Or, make a cupcake station, where you have plain cupcakes and various types of frosting and sprinkles for the children to decorate. You could even choose to have a sundae bar with a few types of ice cream, whipped cream, hot fudge, ice cream syrups, nuts, and sprinkles. Estimated cost: about $15
Ok, now that you have a location and an activity, what about decorations and supplies? This is pretty simple. Head to a local dollar store and you can probably find everything you need. Most dollar stores will have balloons, streamers, plates, disposable utensils, napkins, and other decorations. And, best of all, each item is only $1! Of course, your cost here will depend upon how many people are coming to the birthday party; if you have a lot of people coming, you may need several packages of plates and napkins, for example. But, you should be able to get everything you need for less than $10.
You still need to feed the party guests, right? Unless you chose to do the pizza-making activity, you will need some kind of food for the party-goers to munch on. So, what are some inexpensive eats? Here are a couple of ideas, along with the estimated costs:
--Make your own submarine sandwiches. Get a 6-pack of foot-long hoagie rolls, along with about a half pound of whatever lunchmeat you like (turkey, chicken breast, chip-chop ham, etc.) and an 8-ounce package of sliced cheese (whichever type you like-cheddar, Swiss, American, etc.). You probably already have condiments at home. Assemble the sandwiches and then cut each hoagie roll into six smaller pieces. This will give you 36 miniature sandwiches. Place on a platter; serve alongside a bowl filled with cheese popcorn. Estimated cost: about $10
--Cook up some crescent dogs. Purchase four 10-packs of crescent rolls (buy generic rolls so that they are cheaper) and three 8-packs of hot dogs (any brand, whatever is on sale is fine). Also pick up a package of American cheese that contains 24 slices. Cut the cheese slices in half diagonally so that you have 48 triangles. Slice the hot dogs in half widthwise. Place the crescent rolls in rows on baking sheets. Put a cheese triangle on each crescent roll; put a hot dog on top of each cheese slice. Roll up the crescents from the small end. Bake according to package directions. (You will have extra cheese triangles and hot dogs.) Serve with potato chips. Estimated cost: about $10
Party favors are usually important for younger kids; however, that doesn't mean you have to spend a lot of cash on them. You can build nice party goodie bags inexpensively; here are some suggestions, along with estimated costs:
--The actual bag is not the important part of the party favor; the contents are what kids focus on. So why spend a lot of money on the bag? You have two options here, both of which involve a purchase from the dollar store. You can purchase a box of zipper-seal bag or purchase a package of cellophane gift bags. Personally, I would choose the zipper-seal bags because the cellophane bags tend to be rather small, but the choice is yours. Either way, the cost is minimal. Estimated cost: $1 -$2
--For the contents of the goodie bags, shopping at the dollar store is, again, a good choice. Look for packages that contain multiples of items. You might be able to find multipacks of items such as activity books, bracelets, action figures, hair accessories, jewelry items, children's lip balms, water guns, bubble toys, die cast cars, and more. Purchase a few of these, and kids will love your birthday party favors. Estimated cost: $4 - $5
--To finish filling the bags, adding a few candies is definitely a popular idea. So, skim through your local grocery store advertisements and see if there are any bagged candies on sale. You can usually find some kind of fun-size chocolates at a sale price, especially if you check the ads for Walgreens, Rite Aid, and CVS. Quite often, at least one of these stores will have selected candies on promotion. If not, you can check at the dollar store for candy, though sometimes the bags sold there are not as good of a value as they might seem since they are smaller than those sold at other stores. Estimated cost: $4 - $5
Obviously, depending upon which of the above suggestions you and your child choose for the birthday party, your actual budget will vary. But, you can certainly see that using these concepts (or by brainstorming your own, based upon these ideas) you will save a great deal of money. And, you won't be cutting out your child's fun when you slash the budget for the birthday party, either-and that is the best part about it.
