Many parents are tempted to spend a
lot to celebrate their children's birthday party. Some even go as far
as hiring professional entertainers and gourmet caterers, and depending
on family traditions, there can also be a massive pressure for parents
to spend a lot for their kids.
While these annual celebrations
for your little-loved ones can get quite expensive, it need not always
be that way. In fact, you can organise fun and unusual birthday
celebrations for your little ones without spending too much at all! Here
are eight thrifty ways you can celebrate your child's birthday party,
and save a lot of money.
Save on the cake
Pre-made cakes you
find at the groceries may all look "tasty" and "fine," but they can
easily cost you anywhere between £20 to £50 and a customized cake can
cost you even more, depending on the design and flavor. Instead of
buying these expensive fine-looking cake, why not bake your child a cake
from scratch.
The best thing about this frugal child's birthday
idea is your kid will notice you spend time making a cake for them,
which will definitely make your effort all the more special.
If
you're running a small birthday party, you can use real (or paper)
plates and utensils at the nearest local store to save on serving costs.
Decorate on a budget
Think of creative (and inexpensive) ways to
decorate your kid's party. One of my favorite ways to decorate the
party and make my kids feel special is to print photos of them
throughout the year and put them on throughout the house - this is
something I did for Tyler's 1st birthday and it was really lovely
looking back at all his older photos. You don't need to put the photos
just in frames either - instead you merely tape them on the walls, in
fun patterns or peg them on lines of string - I did the latter. I bet
almost all your guests will be talking about all those fun memories for
weeks to come!
Here's another creative idea you can use. Take
some paper plates used for serving cakes and on each one of them write
one letter of "Happy Birthday." Include your child and color the plates
together, and make fun patterns. Then, hang those newly created paper
decorations to make a homemade birthday decoration.
Use party stickers and/or free printables for decorations
Instead of purchasing those expensive themed party equipment, decorate
those colored (or plain-looking) plates and cups with party stickers.
Make sure that these stickers match your child's birthday party theme.
Pinterest is also a great resource for finding lots of free printables
in a whole host of themes and these can then be used as party
decorations too. Sarah from Whimsical Mumblings had a DIY Moana themed birthday party for her daughter and it looks fab!
Start planning as soon as possible
The key to saving money on
special occasions like these is to start planning as soon as you can.
When you plan the event early, you don't risk exceeding your party
budget.
If you have two children with birthday's quite close
together it's a great and thrifty idea to throw them a joint birthday
party. Kellie from My Little Babóg, who has two children with birthdays
less than two weeks apart says - "My two eldest children's birthdays are
ten days apart so I combine the celebrations and give them a joint
party. I basically get two for the price of one. We usually book a hall
with bouncy castles and allow them both to invite their whole class".
Spare the trees
You can quickly and easily create and send digital (electronic) party
invitations to your guests to save money as well as time. You'll save
extra bucks on the cost of postage.
If you want to thank all your
guests for showing up at your kid's party by sending a thank-you card,
grab a free, fun e-card. There are sites that offer great designs, and
again, you'll save your time and costs on postage.
DIY or recycled party bags/favours
A party bag is always a lovely thing to be able to give your party
guests when all the fun and games are over and it's time to go home, but
depending on how many people you have at the party, these can also be
quite costly too. Here's a great post on how to make quality party bags at a fraction of the cost (under £1 each!) if you want to go the DIY
route.
Lauren from Scrapbook Blog also had the ingenious idea of buying
kids books in bulk from pound shops or immaculate ones from charity
shops and carboots, and giving them as a party favour rather than a
party bag - I personally love this idea as both of my boys love books.
Use craft as entertainment
The best part of these crafts is you
only need a few low-cost pieces of equipment, most of which you can
easily find lying around your house, like paper plates or egg cartons.
These crafts need not require anything more than a paper grocery bag,
scissors, and coloring equipment you prefer.
Craft making is a
beautiful and engaging way to celebrate your children’s special day.
And, the guests can take these crafts as nice souvenirs.
Ask your friends and family for help
Don't just be content with the ideas shared above. Your family and
friends can help you with your saving too. Ask your family members and
friends if they have some frugal birthday party ideas to share with you.
Who knows, you might be blown away by few frugal ideas that'll you
might not have considered before!
I am all for saving money when I can - especially on kids parties because they can sure add up quick. Loving all your tips 🙂
All of these ideas for a kids birthday party would be fun and not to expensive. Will have to share with my daughter since she has two boys and one girl.
The parties I host are always DIY parties. These are all great ideas and I love the idea of sticking to a budget when planning a party.
Planning is always helpful and I do find that planning early generally makes more sense as it allows you to make decisions and look for sales. I almost always paper plates for birthdays, they are less expensive than the time and energy it would take to do those dishes.
These are some great tips! We're having my daughter's birthday party at Main Event this year because it's easy. No clean up! Woohoo!
What a great idea - using craft as entertainment. Kids absolutely LOVE that kind of party and then you get to bring your craft home as a favor!
It's really important to set a budget for parties. I think these tips are perfect for people who would like to plan a good party without spending too much!
These are all great tips! I have used free printables for many of my kids parties and they work perfectly. So appreciative of the bloggers that make them, it has helped me decorate but not go crazy with a party budget.
These are great tips for keeping party costs low. Arts and crafts are excellent activities to keep the party guests entertained. We often have a craft the kids can make and take as a party favor.
This is such a great post because so many people try to throw beautiful and fun birthday parties on a budget. We are in the midst of party planning right now and will definitely use some of your tips.
These are all such great ideas! Birthday Parties can be so pricey, it is great to save money where you can.
Good ideas to save some money while still providing a fun environment. The idea of using plates as a sign is a resourceful one
I just ask my sister for help. She is so good at throwing some thrifty parties. She uses most of these techniques!
I just love your tips - so very helpful! Love sparing the trees. Also, that cake looks amazing!
I love the idea of sparing the trees and using the technology instead. And easy-to-do craft related to a birthday theme can keep the guests entertained too. These are brilliant ideas!
Indeed such great tips! We are currently checking and canvassinh items for my colleagues baby’s party. This will be of so much help. I’ll share it to her so we could both learn the tips. - Anosa Malanga