If money is tight and you’re looking for some great options to celebrate your kids, check out these tips for celebrating children’s birthdays on a budget. Don’t worry about being the Pinterest Mom for every event. Your child just wants to be a star for a short, special get together with friends and family.
Children’s Birthdays on a BUDGET
All parents want their kids to have a good time on their birthdays. If money is a concern, try some of these budget birthday party ideas for kids.
Hold Birthday Party at Home
Holding parties at entertainment venues and restaurants can be very expensive. So slash the cost by having a home birthday party. Get wild with the decorations and balloons. If there is a big backyard, make the best of it. The kids can also have some outdoor fun and games if the weather permits. Another option is to hold the party at a local park. Many parks have picnic tables, barbecue areas and playgrounds – just the perfect venue for a child’s birthday party.
Bake Birthday Cake and Prepare Finger Food
Home-prepared food is always a money saver. Bake a cake and decorate it yourself. Borrow a cake book from the library or look for birthday cake recipes online for ideas. You can obviously use a cake mix, too. Buy a few food dyes and mix any color desired. For finger foods, think about things like home-made sausage rolls, mini quiches, veggie sticks, fresh fruits, chips and salsa, and other items that are often found on sale or are cheap to make. Preparing the food yourself also means you can control the sugar, salt and oil content of the treats served.
Choose Inexpensive Drinks
Children can live without soft drinks, even on birthday parties. When they have so much fun, the last thing on their mind is whether the drink is fizzy enough or not. So a large, value-sized bottle of juice or even some milk will do just fine. In fact, you can use the juice concentrates found in the frozen section of the store for an inexpensive juice option. If you want to get a little fancier, mix it with with some ginger ale and/or sorbet for a special punch!
Also, don’t forget to serve plain water. Kids can get dehydrated easily if they play too hard. There is no need to buy a bunch of little bottles of water. Filtered tap water or a large gallon jug poured into individual cups is excellent to quench the kids’ thirst.
Have Smaller Number of Guests
Be picky when it comes to choosing guests for the birthday party. Tell the child not to invite the whole school. Instead, keep the number small. There is no need to be apologetic if inviting all the child’s friends is beyond the family’s means. Limiting the guests to a few special friends also helps you to be more prepared with the food and entertainment, because you can easily track their RSVPs!
Combine Birthday Parties
Families can share the costs by holding birthday parties together if their children share the same birth month. Close families will probably have the same circle of friends, as will the kids, so this could be an ideal solution. One birthday party with two or three birthday stars will definitely cut down a lot of spending.
Provide Cheap Entertainment
Clowns and magicians at birthday parties are a big hit with kids. If there is no budget for it, get a relative or friend to dress up as a clown to entertain the kids. The newly recruited clown can learn some simple magic tricks to wow the crowd. Get a local teen to come help with face painting or making balloon animals for an inexpensive rate. Get creative! Alternatively, plan some fun and simple birthday party games. Musical chairs, mini treasure hunts, and mystery gift passes are popular choices.
Don’t be overly concerned with planning a grand birthday party for your child if money is an issue. Birthdays on a budget are totally possible, even in the day and age of Pinterest perfect celebrations.
A party can still be fun if it is held at home, offers home-cooked treats, has fewer guests, is a joint-effort between families, and provides cheap entertainment. What matters is that everyone has fun on the special day!
