How to throw a birthday party on the cheap (without cheaping out on the fun!)
How to throw a birthday party on the cheap (without cheaping out on the fun!)
For those of you who know me, know that I *love* to throw BIG parties for my kids’ birthdays– BIG on fun but small on budget is the key!
Please add your ideas by sending me an email (jodi@neverpayretailagain.net) or, better yet, leave a comment!
Invitations:
-use evite (it’s FREE!)
-add some text to a picture using photoshop with all the party details (and print them out for 10 cents a print or less at CVS, Walgreens, etc)
-print out invitations on your computer (use cardstock or colored paper if you’re feeling fancy!)
Food:
-buy frozen pizza when it’s BOGO and/or you have a coupon
-order pizza with a coupon– you can usually get it for $5-$7 per pie– and have it double-cut (so it comes with 16 slices instead of 
for the kids
-make your own pizza dough and have each kid make their own pizza
-offer snacks that you’ve found on sale– whether that’s chips, crackers, veggies, cut fruit, etc
-pop popcorn– it’s cheap, YUMMY, and healthy-ish too!
-bake your own cake and/or cookies
-make cupcakes and allow each kid to decorate their own
-cook or barbeque: bone-in chicken can routinely found for under $1/lb, make oven fries (potatoes can routinely be found for under $.50/lb) and salad/veggies can also be found inexpensively. You can likely feed people (and well!) for under $2/per person!)
Fun:
-buy (or borrow) a bounce house– we bought one over 4 years ago for under $200 and it’s a staple at all of our parties– it’s been used at least 20 times–which translates to under $10 per party– for each of our 3 kids’ birthdays and any of our holiday parties, too.
-arts and crafts– you’d be amazed at the volume of stickers, paper, glue and sparkles that you can get at AC Moore, Joann’s and/or Michael’s (with a coupon, of course!) to keep the kidlets occupied
-rent or buy a DVD and play it (we did a 3D movie and got 3D glasses!)
-treasure/scavenger hunt
-beauty shop– have your friends or your kids’ friends moms help paint nails, do makeup and do hair– what you lack in skill can be made up for by glitter content!
-carnival games– make your own!
-go camping– either outside or even in your living room
-mock or real sleepover– have the kids come over in pjs and with sleeping bags
-sock hop or dance party– but on a CD or hook up the iPod and DANCE!
Goody Bags:
-buy pails and fill with sand toys, decorate with paint pens (this can even be an arts and craft project that you give as a goody bag!)
-stock up on back to school supplies when they’re CHEAP– crayons, pens, notebooks, etc— to use as goody bag fillers
-Oriental Trading Company– stock up when they have a good coupon code (which you just know I’ll post as soon as another $10 off $10 comes out!)
-make t shirts, aprons, tote bags– you can buy blanks for cheap at any craft store and decorate them yourself or again have the kids do that as a craft– use fabric, ribbon, buttons, paint pens, etc
-make adorable crayon shapes out of broken crayons, see them HERE
-depending on when your kids birthdays are, stock up on Halloween, Valentines or Christmas candy (after the holiday when it’s on clearance, of course!)
What are your ideas? Leave a comment and share ‘em!
Happy partying! 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
jodi@hiddenauction.com
http://neverpayretailagain.blogspot.com/
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