Birthdays on a Budget
My youngest child turned six this week, and my oldest turned eleven last week, so I’ve had Birthday on the Brain for some time. Birthday parties can be quite expensive if I let them, but I don’t like to spend a lot of money on parties—I’d rather spend the money on my child’s gift. I also don’t like to stress out over throwing a party for preschoolers, so over the last few years I’ve done my children’s birthday parties a little differently to cut down on both the cost and the stress level.
1. Forget the cake! Well, there’s actually still cake, but just in a different form—cupcakes. And now here’s the low-stress part…I don’t frost the cupcakes! Nope, I leave that to the kids.
During the party I set out paper plates for each child (the little Zoo Pals plates work really well since they have the two bowl-like ears) and put a spoonful of frosting in one ear, and an assortment of sprinkles in the other. Then the kids get to frost and decorate their own cupcake. Not only does it save time and money doing it this way, but the kids really enjoy decorating their own birthday cupcake.
And since you’re using cupcakes, you can also put a candle in each cupcake so all the kids have a candle to blow out.
2. Scoop out the ice cream into individual cups before the party. Stick a plastic spoon in each cup and place all the filled cups on a tray in the freezer. When it’s (cup)cake and ice cream time, it won’t take much time at all to serve the ice cream to all your hungry guests. A twist to this that a friend of mine just did a couple weeks ago for her daughter’s party is to fill a cupcake tin with foil cupcake liners, and then fill the liners with the scoop of ice cream.
3. Don’t make goody bags ahead of time. Instead, purchase a package of colored “lunch-sack” gift bags and then let the guests decorate the bags with stickers and markers during the party. This takes the stress out of having to know exactly how many kids are going to attend so you can make sure you have enough goody bags. The next step will explain what goes into the goody bags.
4. Make a paper bag pinata from a large gift bag, decorate it with streamers, and then fill it with the candy and party favors. During the party, the kids can take turns hitting the pinata with a stick (we use a lightweight plastic kids’ golf club). When the pinata is broken open, the kids can use their decorated bags to pick up the goodies.
We usually begin the birthday party with the kitchen table set up for decorating the goody bags. I also put out a coloring sheet or two so the kids won’t run out of activities while they are waiting for the rest of the guest to arrive.
After the bags are decorated, we bring out the cupcakes for decorating. The kids finish up decorating, eat their cupcakes and ice cream, and then move into the living room for the pinata.
The final phase of the party is the presents, after which the kids just play with each other (and with the new gifts), and by that time parents are usually arriving to pick up their kids.
Low-stress, low-cost, and low-fuss!
As for my older children, they usually choose to forgo the standard 2-hour party and opt instead for a sleepover. I provide dinner for the kids and their guests, and of course cake and ice cream, but other than that, I can sit back and relax while the kids entertain themselves. And the added plus is that no decorating is required.
Make sure you stop by Biblical Womanhood for more Frugal Friday tips.
AUTHOR | Joy Miller
Joy, one of the original 3 Moms at Happy to be at Home, is the wife of a music minister and spends her days homeschooling her three children (ages 6, 9, and 11), teaching piano lessons from her home, and trying to improve her cooking skills. You can read more about Joy on her personal blog, Five J's.
Only problem with that was that the balloon would some times burst before the party for whatever reason and that could really be a party killer! :p what with me wailing away …….
That is easy peasy!
Thank you for sharing! I know so many that get so stressed over birthdays and trying to go ALL OUT, when really a simple birthday is probably easier on everyone. Thank you for sharing!
What GREAT ideas!!!! I am definitely going to try these ideas at my next kids party.
good ideas. we don’t even do goody bags. my 4 yo had his first ‘kid’ birthday party 2 weeks ago and he had 3 friends come over. i took them to the beach, they played for a while, we came home and had sandwiches and cake, then opened presents and played. each child got to take home a helium balloon bought at the local variety store for $1.
my now 9 yo (today!) had 2 friends over for a slumber party and they played legos the whole time. my 12 yo stopped having parties when he turned 10 — he didn’t want them anymore.
simple IS best — all the kids really want to do is play and eat cake anyway.
(i forgot to add — we live right by a beach, so we walked, it makes things SO easy!)
Great ideas! Thanks for sharing.
~Luke
We’ve always just had family “potluck dinner” parties, but now that my daughter is in school and has been invited to a few kid parties… I’m thinking I’ll be using these ideas soon. Thanks!
Great ideas!
I love the decorating the cupcakes on zoo pals plates. You’re a genius! Mine are older now, but our 9 year old would still enjoy “decorating” things. Thanks for sharing.
Great tips! Birthdays can be tricky to keep inexpensive, but these are some great ideas! And the lunch bags idea is a great way to entertain the kids too. Thanks for sharing.
Very good ideas…. I think cupcakes are the way to go most times there is cake…alot less goes to waste
My daughter’s bday is in 2 weeks, so these are great ideas. I esp. like the ice cream and pinata ideas!
Love the pinata idea! We have had actual pinatas many times, but they are a pain to try to break.
Great ideas!
This post has been included in the 141st Festival of Frugality at Almost Frugal, going live September 2, 2008. Please link back to the festival when you get a chance!
I’ll second the cup cake idea. Decorate-your-own is always a big hit with the kids.
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