Does anyone have any frugal ideas for kids birthday parties?
By Mary Frances
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
I just had a party for my 11 year old. Instead of water balloons, I bought 4 long car washing sponges at the dollar store, cut them in half, filled up a couple pots of water, left the sprinkler running and they had so much fun!
Another is a scavenger hunt, either door to door or at the park.
The dollar store is a great resource for crafty ideas, goodie bags and games.
We also baked cupcakes the night before, and let the girls decorate them with homemade icing, candies, etc. - Jackie
I love dollar stores because you can pick up party
favors as well as accessories for a dollar. They often have any color you may want. also they sometimes carry Barney or Batman stuff. If not you can always dress up the party with streamers and balloons, cups, plates, tablecloth, etc from the dollar store in your child's theme colors and then spend the money for big ticket items like pinatas or certain decorations with your child's theme at the party stores you frequent.
Depending on the age group-
Let them make place mats out of paper sacks and crayons
Let them frost and decorate their own cupcake or cookie (sprinkles of assorted kinds, etc.)
Let them shave a balloon with an old bladeless razor
Play pin the nose on the clown (draw a clown face on a piece of posterboard/oaktag and cut our red circles for noses- put the child's name on the back of the nose so you can tell who came the closest)
The library has a ton of "cheap party" books that you can tailor to your age group and you can get the ideas without even leaving the library
Try old fashioned games that the kids have never heard of - mother may I - pom pom pull away - blinds man bluff
Get some face paint at the store and paint a butterfly etc. on their faces - let the bigger kids take over this job - they love it
Get several shapes of macaroni and let the kids glue them on to shapes that you have cut out of poster board/oaktag - such as a chicken, flower, boat
This should give you a start. Most of all have FUN giving this party. - Judy
Here are some ideas:
Make the cake yourself and then go to the toy store. For a few dollars you can pick up a little figure and or playset of whatever character your child is fond of. Wash these and then arrange them on the cake. Using a toothpick trace out the words you want on the cake before using the icing. Mistakes are much easier to fix this way. One year I got a complete plastic Winnie the Pooh party set and put it all on the cake. My little boy loved it and he got to keep the toys after the party.
Make a Happy Birthday Banner yourself. Find a simple shape about the size of your hand that is in the theme of your party. We used rubber ducks for my daughter's first birthday (put a rubber duck on her cake too!). Trace and cut out many of these. You can trace on the top and then cut through a stack of construction paper with a good pair of scissors. You then hole-punch twice and thread on curling ribbon (you could staple too). Before you do using glitter glue (or glitter and glue) you write out HAPPY BIRTHDAY (Child's name) one letter on each shape.
Helium balloons are a must but don't go to the Party store unless they are having a sale. Call your local rental center. Many of these rent out helium tanks for parties and often will let you come in and fill your balloons there for very little. I bought good balloons at the dollar store and filled them for $.23 a piece. Also get your party favors at the dollar store. We found a amazing set of hair accessories in one pack for $1.
Think about having the party at a local park that has a good play ground. This took care of the entertainment for us for the most part. We still played some games but the kids enjoyed the "big Toy" the most. This time of year having the party at the local wading pool for the younger kids would be thrilling for all concerned.
Some might disagree but I think children younger than 6 should not open presents at the party. They tend to be just a bit too honest about presents they do not like. If the guests are also under 6, they don't quite understand the concept of giving away that marvelous toy that mom wrapped. You'll find fewer tears if you tuck the presents away until after the party.
One more thing, I'm a Brownie leader and I've gotten into the habit of having parents sign out their kids with me. At my daughter's party in May, I printed up a quick permission sheet and had the parents sign it before I would let them leave. It gave me an emergency number and permission to seek treatment in the rare case of an accident. Nothing happened but it made me feel more comfortable. The other parents thought I was brilliant, but it was really just common sense. I did not know all of the children present very well and certainly would have had no idea on how to reach anyone if I needed to.
Hope this helps. - Christine from Spokane, WA
Add your voice! Click below to answer. ThriftyFun is powered by your wisdom!
