With my daughter having a birthday in December, I don’t know if she feels like it’s a blessing or curse. I don’t think she really thinks about it a lot at 5 years old, but it can be challenging to us financially if we don’t have a good plan. No matter what event or purchase you have to plan for, it all goes back to having a monthly budget (which we will be talking about in January). We’ve had to make some major adjustments to our budget lately trying to save up for some things and pay off some things so we had about $30 to work with for the party, not including gifts. That didn’t really bother me for a few reasons:
- I’m pretty frugal because I have to be and I like to be.
- I’m not a great hostess and don’t really get into giving parties and decorating and the frills that go along with it.
- My kids are young and don’t usually have expensive requests and party ideas. There are several reasons for this as well:
- We don’t watch television with commercials – only PBS for the kids, so they don’t know a lot of what’s out there.
- Only one of them can really talk well, so they can’t give a lot of requests anyway.
- There are 8 (soon to be 9) grandkids between me & my 2 brothers, so up to now, we have only had family parties.
So, I pretty much let Karis plan her party. Her favorite things right now are art projects and reading stories. So that’s what we did. We went to the dollar store with a twenty dollar bill and told her she could pick out 18 things for the art projects and decorations. She chose crayons, glitter glue, puffy stickers, pom poms, paint-your-own coin banks, a number five candle, and a pack of pink streamers.
So, she decorated my parents’ house with streamers (actually my mom did it with Karis’ directions):
The kids did their art projects. We brought a big stack of construction paper along with the supplies, my mom provided a washable tablecloth, and my dad provided several of his T-shirts for the kids to wear. Their completed art along with all the supplies also served as their party favors.
And Grammie read a story:
I made my brother’s doctored up cake mix recipe and he came over and iced it according to Karis’ exact design, a Princess, a bow, and a flower, complete with sparkles all over.
So, after the dollar store trip, the cake mix, icing, and ice cream, we made it under $30. I also have to add here that obviously, I have an amazing family who contributed so much to this. We had the party at my parents’ house and it was all a whole-family affair. It all turned out so great! I know the future years will probably involve more expensive parties, but during these years, my little ones are not hard to please.
Happy Birthday Karis!!
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Sandra's b-day is Friday and I share many of your sentiments! Last year was the first year she truly grasped the concept of delayed gratification, so we had a pool party (at our neighborhood pool) on her "half-birthday" in June. That was the best! This year she's having a sleepover with two friends. She set the menu and they'll be decorating gingerbread houses that they'll take home. Low-key, low-budget and fun…just our style!
And no one noticed that the party was low-budget….they all had a blast! Manny is constantly asking me to get his piggy bank down.
Awesome ideas. We've done tons of low budget parties over the years. We've decorated t-shirts, which actually was really low cost. We bought fabric markers and white shirts. We served pizza and cake. It really was not costly. We also did a make your own necklace party. I had fishing line and then bought colored beads. The girls loved it. There really are tons of ideas and way to go on a party under $30!!
I love that cake. She's so creative. A princess, a bow, and a flower…they don't sell those in the grocery store, yet it's so authentically 5 year old girl.
Melanie, I love the half-birthday idea! Hope the party is great this week.
Great ideas, AudreyO! I love the fishing line & beads instead of buying the necklace kits. I'll have to steal that in the future.
I agree, Meghan! Her cake is so 5-year-old & so Karis! I'm thankful to have a brother who can decorate it because I'm hopeless!