We celebrated my daughter’s 4th birthday with family a couple weekends ago and I am now starting to plan my son’s 2nd birthday party, so I figured why not share some tips and thrifty tricks I use for every party/celebration. These are things I do pretty much every party we have and they have helped me keep things cute yet very budget friendly because seriously you could drop quite a bit of dough on throwing a kids party!
Throwing a Party? Use these tips to help!
Tip #1: Pick your theme, search for inspiration and map it out
When Audrey told me she wanted a Frozen birthday party I went straight to Pinterest to pull certain ideas that I liked and mapped it out in my head. I picked things that I knew I could do myself and obviously things that I could recreate for cheap!
Tip #2: Keep party décor generic – accent with a couple “theme” items
Depending on what type of party you are throwing – for example, Disney or another licensed/branded item – things can get pretty expensive. I will generally pick just a couple of those items out to highlight instead of dropping a lot of money solely on those decorations and supplies. This is where I will branch out and purchase decorations from Walmart, Target, Etsy and even Party City.
What I like to do is purchase my tablecloths, plates, cups, napkins and silverware from the Dollar Tree (sometimes Walmart if Dollar Tree doesn’t have what I am looking for) in the colors that match – keeping things generic as possible.
Leis, “3” balloon, plates, lanterns, straws, napkins and cups – Dollar Tree
Aloha sign – Amazon
Tablecloth, football balloons and 1st Down balloons – splurges from Party City
Plain & You’re #1 balloons, blue & black plates (under sturdy seperated plates) – Dollar Tree
The other nice thing about this, you can reuse these items again! I have used a lot of the leftover supplies for other gatherings we have at our house and keep them close in my party cabinet in the kitchen.
Note: The plates at the Dollar Tree are smaller and not super heavy duty, so I will purchase big sturdy plates (like the one pictured above) for our main meal and mostly use the Dollar Tree plates for desserts and apps.
The Dollar Tree balloons are amazing – ONLY $1 – we use these for every party we have honestly. Again, we find the balloons that work best for our party/theme and it is normally their solid colored balloons!
Tip #3: Get thrifty
The first two stops I make after the theme has been mapped out in my head are almost always Dollar Tree and Walmart. I obviously love Amazon as well, but I do like seeing certain things in person and once I have scoped those stores out – Amazon will do the trick for things I can’t find in store that will complete the party vision.
When you are at the stores, you do have to get creative and think of how you can utilize different things that may not necessarily be party décor. For example, the beachy looking placemats and the colored vases – I used those for Audrey’s First Birthday Boardwalk Bash!
Florals and Leaves from Amazon
Tip #4: Pick out inspirations that you can do easily execute yourself
I love to get creative and crafty – I think family wonders why I make so much more work for myself – but I honestly love hosting parties, creating and making things! If you can, DIY it! For example, I have done all our kids birthday invites, most of their cupcakes and cakes, and crafted certain things using the Cricut machine. You can save a lot of money by being creative in your own way. Your kids probably wouldn’t remember a “Pinterest fail” anyway, ha!
Tip #5: Make food ahead of time
Okay, this is a super big deal for me…I feel like I have spent so much time in the kitchen during my kids parties in the past. My husband literally gave me an ultimatum and told me to start picking foods that can be done in advance with minimal work for me otherwise, he would start getting parties catered…
The money saver and DIYer in me says, “Ahh heck no” (which I wish was not the case cause goodness that would be amazing!) I have started doing a lot of crock pot recipes (Chili, french dip beef sandwiches, buffalo chicken dip), casseroles (such as cheesy potato casserole, corn pudding, chicken fajita casserole) and do a lot of the cutting and major prep work a day before so it’s ready to go on party day!
It is also extremely important to have your meal thought out a couple weeks in advance – this will give you a chance to check any store ads and get the best possible price for the food you plan on serving. Sometimes, I will even gear a menu around things that are sale (meat in particular).
Tip #6: Make a designated party bin at your house and store items for future use
Last but not least (I may sound like a hoarder here) but save any décor or supplies from your parties in a “PARTY” bin. Like I mentioned above, I have reused certain décor before and it has been so handy. I highly recommend doing this because you never know when it will come in handy! I store my bin in my basement. Certain foil balloons can be saved and blown up again in the future, but honestly since we use the Dollar Tree balloons most of the time, there is no need to do that! I hope these tips are helpful for you when planning your next party! It is so easy to make a “Pinterest-worthy” birthday party easily and on a budget.
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