The budget (and not-so-budget) Birthday Party Thread!

[Vacation Lover]

Post your birthday party ideas and budget here!

5th Birthday party for my DD
PAJAMA PARTY!
Kids came to our house in their PJs from 5:30-8 on Friday night.
Number of kids attending: 15

Here's what we did:
We had pizza for dinner
My DD10 and her friend set up a "make-over station" and painted the girls nails
My DS11 made animal shaped balloons
The kids did a craft--decorated a picture frame and I printed out a group pic of the girls to put in the frame
They iced & decorated their own cupcakes
They danced

Cost:
Pizza: 4 Little Caesars--was more than enough--$20
Drinks: Capri Suns--$6
Nail Polish & glitter hair spray--found on clearance--$6
Craft--Foam craft frames & decorations--$15
Balloons--from the Dollar store--$5
Cupcakes, icing, decorations--$5
Gift for DD10 & friend for helping with the nail polish--clearance jewelry set--$5
Goodie Bags--I found some "My Little Pony" & "Littlest Pet Shop" activity books & markers on clearance. Wrapped them in birthday paper & placed in a basket for them to choose when they left. Regular price $4.99 on sale for $1.25. Bought extras since I wasn't sure how many kids would be there. Total--$25

Grand Total: $87


We're having a "DANCE BIRTHDAY PARTY" for her 6th birthday this weekend. That one won't be quite as budget as the PJ Party, but I'll post about that one after I have all receipts.

 

[poohfriend77]

I just had an American Girl tea party for DD's 8th birthday a couple weeks ago. We had 11 girls total, and they each brought an AG doll.

I served sandwiches (PBJ and ham, cut into hearts and stars), chips, carrot sticks, fruit kabobs (these went over REALLY well!), cheese cubes, and crackers. We had "pink tea" (lemonade) and "apple" tea (juice). Then for dessert, we had chocolate cake, pink cupcakes, sugar cookies, and candy.

I also set up a doll table, using a 2x4 ft. board resting on boxes, so it was only about 6 inches off the ground. The dolls sat on the floor around the table. I bought small tea sets from Walgreens (buy 2 at $5.99, get 1 free), so for $12, I had a cup and saucer for each doll. I also bought CrazErasers from Wal-Mart (4 in a pack for $1) shaped like cakes/treats, so each doll had a treat on her plate as well. I wrapped these in tissue paper and sent them home as their treat bags.

We played two games, "pass the teapot," like hot potato, with candy for the prizes. And they tossed tea bags into tea cups on the floor, like Bozo Grand Prize game, and won lip gloss (purchased for 1/2 price in gift sets after Christmas).

I didn't keep track of how much I spent because I wasn't too concerned with keeping it "budget." I probably spent $60 or so on food ($25+ on fresh fruit... it's Jan. in Illinois ). You could always to a mid-afternoon party and stick with just cupcakes/cookies and keep the cost down quite a bit. I used my china (supplemented by a few Goodwill purchases) and silver. The girls liked being "fancy," and I didn't have to buy any overpriced, themed paper products.

 

[bridget]

We are doing a Luau in Febuary.

We are doing 6-9pm. We'll serve dinner and do crafts and play games. I'm excited. I'm figuring about $80. It is cheaper to do it during a non-meal time.

My daughter can't have gluten and I think she is most excited to share her gluten free cupcakes with everyone (they are yummy).

 

[MEM]

I just had an American Girl tea party for DD's 8th birthday a couple weeks ago. We had 11 girls total, and they each brought an AG doll.

I served sandwiches (PBJ and ham, cut into hearts and stars), chips, carrot sticks, fruit kabobs (these went over REALLY well!), cheese cubes, and crackers. We had "pink tea" (lemonade) and "apple" tea (juice). Then for dessert, we had chocolate cake, pink cupcakes, sugar cookies, and candy.

I also set up a doll table, using a 2x4 ft. board resting on boxes, so it was only about 6 inches off the ground. The dolls sat on the floor around the table. I bought small tea sets from Walgreens (buy 2 at $5.99, get 1 free), so for $12, I had a cup and saucer for each doll. I also bought CrazErasers from Wal-Mart (4 in a pack for $1) shaped like cakes/treats, so each doll had a treat on her plate as well. I wrapped these in tissue paper and sent them home as their treat bags.

We played two games, "pass the teapot," like hot potato, with candy for the prizes. And they tossed tea bags into tea cups on the floor, like Bozo Grand Prize game, and won lip gloss (purchased for 1/2 price in gift sets after Christmas).

I didn't keep track of how much I spent because I wasn't too concerned with keeping it "budget." I probably spent $60 or so on food ($25+ on fresh fruit... it's Jan. in Illinois ). You could always to a mid-afternoon party and stick with just cupcakes/cookies and keep the cost down quite a bit. I used my china (supplemented by a few Goodwill purchases) and silver. The girls liked being "fancy," and I didn't have to buy any overpriced, themed paper products.

You might consider posting this on the website birthdaypartyideas.com

 

[labdogs42]

I don't like to have parties in my house, so my budget is a little higher, but I'm OK with that!

For DS's sixth birthday, we are renting the multi-purpose room at the YMCA (much cheaper than other halls I called) and having a "Mad Science" guy come and do experiments with the kids. They will get slime to take home and I'm doing some goody bags. We're having a Phineas and Ferb theme and I'm making the invitations myself on the computer. It will be mid-afternoon, so we're having some snacks, juice boxes, and cake. The whole thing will probably cost me about $400, but that's worth it to me to not have it at my house!

 

[JamesMom]

I just had a birthday for my son at Great Wolf Lodge this past weekend.

Bought a $500 gift card when they offered $100 bonus certs at Christmas. Used gift card to pay for room on a Thursday night ($325 with tax)
Room included 6 water park passes. Our family of four enjoyed that afternoon and evening (got kids early from school). Brought hot dogs to nuke, mac & cheese cups to nuke and soda & Capri suns with chips = dinner ($10)

Next morning 2 friends come for breakfast (cereal, donuts & juice $10) and used the included water park passes. Three were invited, but he stayed home sick Snacks for kids (chips, cookies, fruit, trail mix = $20) and pizza, salad & sodas (free with bonus bucks - used $40 worth) for lunch. Target made a photo cupcake cake (Mario Bro) for $21. Boys had ice cream cones with bonus buck (Free - worth $10 for 5). All went home that night. Also paid $25 for Mario party supplies.

Saturday morning, brought 2 boys back to lodge to play MagicQuest - all free - paid with bonus bucks - got 2 games (already owned wands), t-shirt for b-day boy & 2 dragon toys. Now, to be fair, that $50 was originally reserved for the third boy who was sick.
So, three days of fun for about $400. Not a bad birthday, I say

 

[Samandmom]

I just had a pretend sleepover party for my daughter on Sunday. (her real birthday is tommorrow the 20th and she will be 8)

We decorated pillow cases ($24.00 for the pillow cases and $6.00 for the fabric markers)
2 sheet pizzas $52.00 (had plenty left over for the cousins for lunch next day that had a real sleepover with DD)
Two bags of chips $6.00
Girls decorated their own cup cakes ($10.00)
The girls played Just Dance and we borrowed a karaoke machine from a friend (free)
Found popcorn containers @ Target dollar spot for 75% off so .25 cents each ($3.00 total plus popcorn $3.00)
Found a 25 pack of single serve M&M's for $3.00 in the clearance section of my grocery store
Capri Sun packs $7.00



Just also wanted to add that last year for her 7th we had a tea party. We served uncrustables, mini bagels with cream cheese, fruit, chocolate covered strawberries, cupcakes, cookies and ice cream. For the "tea" we had apple juice served in espresso cups. I borrowed from my sisters and they both had different sets and girls picked what cup they liked. My 13yr old niece did nails, a friend of mine braided all the girls hair. I gave her a gift card for the grocery store. We also had princess tatoos and the girls came dressed in fancy dresses. I had cheap jewelery for the girls also.

 

[QVCshopper]

Can someone help me with my DS's 5th b-day? I have lots of Cars stuff bought from Target on clearance for invites, goodie bags, etc. But, I don't have any ideas. He is really into dinosaurs and animals, and more recently Hot Wheels. He goes to a preschool with about 8 other boys. I thought about have it at Chuck E Cheese, ChikFilA, and my house, but I haven't gotten much further than that. B-day parties are not my specialty. Thanks!

 

[lucyem]

Star Wars Birthday party at home for my 6 yr old. At the time we had a large barn. Entire class of 16 came plus some siblings and all parents stayed.

Made our own invitations on the computer. Used Photoshop to put my son's head into a young Anakin photo.

I made the cake.

Snacks were all labeled with Star Wars names like "Jedi Juice". Had a little Han Solo toy frozen in ice in the punch.

Prizes for games were star wars character toys I bought on sale for $1 a piece at Target. Played games I found online. For example blew up 200 cheap balloons (FIL did with a air pump we own) and the kids had to "rescue" a princess Leia doll hidden in one balloon. Who could fly the space ship the furthest (using those little inexpensive balsam wood plane kits you can pick up for $1 apiece). One game was to use your lightsaber to see who could keep a balloon up in the air the longest. This was done before the big balloon pop.

Made homemade lightsabers. This was the most expensive part. We bought 2 colors of duct tape and a bunch of 2" foam pipe insulation from Home Depot cut into 4 foot lengths. Kids each with the help of their parents wrapped the color of choice over the foam and made a lightsaber.

Made a Death Star pinata with wallpaper paste and newspaper, spray painted it silver and used a sharpie to draw the lines. Filled with a bag of variety candy from BJ's. It was amazingly strong, well I guess it was the death star. Each child had 2 swings at it and not blind folded. We finally had a couple of older kids take it down. My husband had it on a rope he could move up and down and swing. That way at the start the bigger stronger boys had to work to try and hit it and the little kids had it much lower and not moving.

Kids each got to keep their plane, candy out of the pinata and their lightsaber.

Had a ball

 

[Vacation Lover]

Wow! There are some GREAT ideas on here. Thanks for sharing. Here are a couple more we've had...

Construction Party for my DS when he turned 4
His birthday is in April and we had it in our back yard. We decorated the entrance to the yard with construction cones tied with black and yellow balloons. We have a big garden and we waited until after the party to plant. My DH tilled it up and put a bunch of toy construction vehicles in it--HUGE hit. The boys LOVED this. (I had told them to wear clothes that could get dirty in the invitation.) Other things we did, put out a bunch of sidewalk chalk for them to use on the driveway, set up a table with a craft/coloring area, did a truck pinata. This is one of the cheapest parties we ever had, but I always remember it as one of the best.

We don't always do at-home parties! Sometimes We definitely go for the convenience of outside venues. We have...
*Rented out the local gymnastics gym. (Saved on this one by doing a double-party with DD and her best friend)

*Build-A-Bear. This was relatively inexpensive, compared to renting out a place. I did $15 per child and I had a coupon for one free $15 bear. Also, you get the BAB rewards from the party so we got a lot of bonus bucks afterwards. Our mall has a carousal in the food court and the birthday party gets a free ride on it with BAB parties, which was an extra fun activity for the kids.

*Pool party. Our neighborhood has a pool which residents can use for parties so that really helped on the budget! I bought pool toys (noodles, squirters, & balls) for them to play with at the party and take home as favors. That year, his birthday was a couple of weeks after Easter and I happened upon a bunch of Easter baskets on clearance for 90% off. I bought about 20 baskets for $20 and used them as prizes for games. Obviously each kid "won" a basket, but the ones who won games first got first pick for their basket. We also did a money dive, and threw about $15 worth of change into the pool for the kids to search for. Basically, my entire budget went into party favors! I made the cake and used blue icing to look like a pool and put gummi bears floating on gummi lifesavers on it.

 

[Snappy in OK]

Can someone help me with my DS's 5th b-day? I have lots of Cars stuff bought from Target on clearance for invites, goodie bags, etc. But, I don't have any ideas. He is really into dinosaurs and animals, and more recently Hot Wheels. He goes to a preschool with about 8 other boys. I thought about have it at Chuck E Cheese, ChikFilA, and my house, but I haven't gotten much further than that. B-day parties are not my specialty. Thanks!

If you want to stick with Cars since you have all that stuff, you might check the party area for Cars invites, bags for the goodies, etc.

We have done several parties at Chuck E Cheese. DD's bday is 12/23, and DS's bday is 2/2. We did the 1st bday parties at the house, but starting with the 2nd or 3rd we started doing the parties elsewhere. There is just too much going on before xmas & I don't have a lot of "common area" for kids to play in our house.

DD's parties have been at CEC - her choice again this year (4th bday). DS's parties have been at CEC & the bowling alley, and he wants CEC again this year.

I don't do the party package at CEC - we like to go on a weekday evening when it is quieter. We just get a group of tables for our group, order a bunch of pizzas & let the kids play. We also bring in a cake/cupcakes. I generally try to have the tokens for the kids ready to go in either a baggie or a small dixie cup.

I may have to check out Chick Fil A for a party though - the kids would have a lot of fun there too!

Good luck!

 

[SoonerSarah]

This past year was really the first time we did a party. It was my daughter's 7th Birthday.

She wanted to do painting at a local store that you pick out your ceramics, paint and leave them to be glazed. It was going to cost $25 for a small space, plus the cost of whatever the kids picked out, assuming I only let them do one, most of the cheaper ones are around $8-10. She wanted to invite her entire class plus friends from church.

I decided to do it at home, which she was more than fine with. We went to Hobby Lobby and bought a ton of Christmas ceramics that were 50% off, bought paint brushes and paint, the paint being the most expensive part. Also bought a spray glaze to protect the paint. We had pizza, veggie and fruit and kool-aid. We had 12 girls that were 1-7 years, a boy that is 4, 3 teenage girls and 6 adults total. All together, including the cake (I made that), it was about $150, but I had quite a few ceramics left over, tons of paintbrushes and tons of paint that we will use for other ceramics as well.

Here is the cake I made...second cake I have done, I ran out of the turquoise & green fondant (which is also homemade), and I put too much buttercream on the cake, which ends up making the fondant lumpy, so I have a lot of improving that I need to do, but my daughter liked it.

 

[chellewashere]

My DD's birthday is at the end of Nov, but we always have her birthday party the first weekend of November. We do a costume party. We have it at night and have all the kids dress up in costumes. The adults who wish to stay must also be in costume. This year my family dressed up as superhereos (last year we were vampires). We always do a matching costume theme. The decorations we dont have to pay for cause we decorate our house all out for Halloween. Then I go the day after and pick up things on clearance. We serve "spooky" treats (wrapped up hotdogs that are mummys, finger sandwiches things like that) I make different kinds of punch with floating hands in them (frozen ice that I put in gloves in the freezer)
We play lots of games cause I always want to make sure every kid leaves with a prize. The prizes are usually costume things that are on cleaarance after Halloween. I have so much candy (that I buy for 1/2 off after) all over the house. Kids have gotten smart and started to bring trick or treat bags over to fill them up with candy. We do a pinata that is stuffed with candy and halloween trinkets. Our goodies bags are filled with stuff from the clearance aisles (Halloween theme pencils, candy jars, puzzles, notebooks) and tons of candy.
Parents love it cause the kids get to wear their costume again instead of only once. Parents hate it cause we try to get rid of all our candy and pass it to their kids
Total cost is around 100 bucks or so since we usually have everything to decorate with and the rest is just for clearance items and the food and cake.

 

[minnie1928]

We did a bubble party for my DD7 last May. I bought a bunch of different style bubble wands, I got plain bottles of bubbles to decorate and a bubble machine for the back yard. Then we also did a ice cream buffet where I bought vanilla ice cream and then had a buffet of every conceivable topping you could think of. I'm not a big fan of junk goody bags, but I found a good deal on webkinz stuffed animals so everyone when home with one of those. Total cost of everything was probably in the $100-125 range plus the cost of some pizzas.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

When my DD turned 7, we had a garden party with approx. 12 girls.

From Dollarama, purchased pretty sunhats with ribbons - $1 each ($12)
Purchased small painted flower pots - 2/$1, a flat of flowers and some soil. ($15)
Fun foam & magnets to make garden themed magnetic picture frames. ($5)
Purchased a couple of packs of those Shrinky Dink things - they had flowers and lady bugs, etc. to make necklaces out of. ($4)

Garden "accessories" to place on top of cake ($2)

Served chk. fingers & fries, home made cake, fruit & veggies, chips.

We had different stations throughout the house for the kids to make their necklaces, picture frames & plant their flowers. I know we played a couple of games, but I can't remember which ones - that was a few years ago.

Kids took home their hats, flowers, necklaces and frames with a picture of the birthday party gang home as their loot bags, along w/ a small bag of candy.

It was approx. total of $60 for everything - food included. I was pretty impressed with myself, I have to say! LOL

 

[RadioFanatic]

this year on 2/5 we are having a 3rd Birthday superhero party for DS (30 adults/kids):

-party in home
-we will have lunch for all - local italian place had a deal for $160 sausage, peppers, onions, roasted chicken, ziti, potatos, salad and bread for take out. I got soda on sale at the CVS sale this week so $10 for six 12 packs and will have water, coffee and lemonade - $22
-I bought at walmart the day after halloween all superhero costumes for 90% off so they were $1.20 each - for kids to put on there and as keepsake - $20
-batman cake from grocery store (it's pretty cool looking) $28
-bought batman costume for dh and joker costume for DS's godfather - $50
- bought silly string for all of the kids to get joker - $15
-bought police action figures to hide for kids to find bc Joker kidnapped all police force - $2
- made a batman birthday banner with DS's picture as batman on it, bought ironman/spiderman/batman streamers and dangling things and balloons - $25
-gift bags - bought the superhero trick or treat bags at walmart day after halloween for 10 cents each, various halloween things and dh is making superhero music CD - $15 total

last year was not so budget, but for his Second year, we did a Disney Playhouse Dance party bc that was his favorite thing at WDW to do

-at home
- I made ziti, meatballs, hotdogs, salads, rolls - $50
-we made a dance party area with disco ball banner, disco dangling things from the ceiling and balloons - $25
-we hired mickey mouse and buzz to make appearances - $250

-we had a disney disco ball cake shown here - $75

-found great disney favor boxes with all favors in it on sale at disney store.com 4 for $5 - so spent $15 on that and dh made disney playhouse party mix cd

for his first birthday party, we did a circus theme:
-at home
-I made sausage, peppers/onions, mac salad, pot salad, rolls, hotdogs, chips, drinks - $75
-made carnival games such as throw bean bags into clown's mouth, pin tail on donkey and carnival decorations, including buying disposable cameras for pix where you put your head in a hole. I also found a kid's circus tent for $25 on oriental trading the kids loved which I just threw out at christmas - my DS loved it so much - also had balloons/streamers - $60

-circus cake - $75

-hired a clown/magician - $120

What can I say? I'm a party freak!

 

[leagirl12]

My favorite party for DD was when she was 5 and we did a Barbie Tea Party that included a coworker of DH's coming dressed as Barbie. By the time we bought everything for the party, rented the location (our house at the time was too small), and paid Barbie we had spent close to $500.
That was the most I have ever spent on a party....luckily it was spread over several months of buying decorations. She loved it and we have great pictures.

DD's birthday is next month and we are doing a Glow In The Dark Dance Party!! Very excited!!!

My favorite party EVER was for DS when he turned 11. We had a Wii party and it was AWESOME! We had our own Wii but we borrowed 3 others from friends and had them setup throughout the house. The kids were broken up into groups and they traveled around to the different Wii stations. I baked a cake that looked like a Wii remote. I also found white jewelry boxes the size of a remote, I printed out the face of the remote and glued it to the boxes..punched holes in the bottom and ran white elastic through it for the handle and then filled them with small candy pieces.....these were in place of goodie bags.

 

[msmama]

I think this year is the first year I'm going to go all out with the theme (1 was Pooh, 2 was Curious George).

This will be his 3rd birthday. I'll get him to choose closer to April but I'm thinking I'll urge him towards a Space theme (he loves Space Shuttles and rockets, lol).

I'm thinking hotdogs ("Spacedogs") for kids, Pulled pork in the crock pot for adults. Then just some veggies and snacks. I'll make a space shuttle cake (part of the reason I'm hoping for this theme).

April in NY is always iffy - could be snow, could be 80 degrees! So far, it's rained every year on his birthday so I have to plan it for inside (which usually means the kids just play with the toys and anything I actually have planned gets ignored).

I think my major budget buster will be "goodie bags." Although I prefer not to do crap filled bags (for the Curious George party I went to a cheap bookstore and got everyone a book to take home with them).

Question though - In years past I've mostly invited my friends with their kids and the whole family shows up. Now that he's in pre-school and I'm going to invite them, if the whole families show up - that's going to be A LOT of people (which I'm kind of fine with because I LOVE big parties and entertaining).

In your experience, when do parties stop being about the whole family? When do just the kids start coming (or kids with one parent)?

(ETA: This thread is timely because a neighbor just told me that if I wanted to have the party somewhere I better book now for April or they'd fill up. The MINIMUM for most places was $350!! Holy Moly!)

 

[Vacation Lover]

DD's birthday is next month and we are doing a Glow In The Dark Dance Party!! Very excited!!!

I would love to hear more about the Glow In The Dark Dance Party...sounds like a lot of fun!

In your experience, when do parties stop being about the whole family? When do just the kids start coming (or kids with one parent)?

I've found that it's somewhere around age 4-5 that siblings stop coming. I think people are more likely to bring the whole family if you have done a big party in the past. If you don't want the whole family anymore, don't do snacks/drinks for the adults this year; I bet they won't stick around next year! Around here most kindergarten parties are drop-off parties; some parents stay, some don't. Last year when we did the pajama party for DD5, all parents dropped off.

 

[tebi73]

DS is 9 and we have always had big parties for him. His birthday is in mid-July so it's usually warm. Sometimes we do inside parties, sometimes outside. I am almost always a budget party girl (which is not too hard with some creative planning).

- Ages 1 & 2 we just did at my grandparents house - they have a nice big yard and had a big swing set & playhouse for the kids already, so the biggest expenses here were cake & food

- Age 3 we did a "USA" themed party @ the local elementary school (where my mom just happens to work). I got all the decorations & paper products on clearance after the 4th of July holiday. Luckily my mom has keys to the school because it came a HUGE thunderstorm right before and during his party so we had to move inside!

- Age 4 was another party @ the grandparents

- Age 5 we had a big family party @ Texas Roadhouse for him & my nephew (there birthday's are 10 days apart). Everyone paid for their own dinner here, so we just had the expense of the cake.

- Age 6, his birthday was while we were on vacation in Pennsylvania, so we took him to Hershey Park - so no party

- Age 7 - we rented out his Taekwondo school & he invited ALLthe kids from the TKD school, plus some other friends & family. HUGE mistake!!!!! I ended up having to leave to get more food! This party was a major budget buster! The rental for the place was $250 by itself - not including the food. However, the kids had a blast, so I guess it was worth it.

- Age 8, he wanted an Army themed party. I had this one on the playground at the elementary school. The kids did an obstacle course, played "Army" and had a tank pinata. I had camo cupcakes and DH grilled hotdogs & we had fixins for them, plus chips & drinks. Pretty budget party.

- Age 9, we had a "Summer Cookout" party at the park at the elementary school after church on Sunday afternoon. The kids were told to wear old clothes and bring outside toys or waterguns if they wanted to. I had picked up a ton of cheap little summer outside toys (like frisbees, waterguns, kickballs, etc.) @ Target & AC Moore ($1 - $2 each). We had hotdogs, potato salad, chips, pork-n-beans & drinks. I have a friend that we trade off services (she does cakes for me & I take photos for her), so she made a totally awesome Hamburger cake for me for free. Very low budget party, but lots of fun!