WFMW: Inexpensive Kids’ Birthday Party Ideas
I know why parents have parties outside their home. I’ve had a few myself. You just can’t beat the convenience of making one phone call to the evil rat (ie Chuck E. Cheese) or Bouncy Gym from Hell place and have them take over everything. Trust me, I get it.
There is only one problem. Like many other things in life, convenience comes at a price. These types of shindigs tend to cost a small fortune. Since I’m not in the possession of any sized fortune, I have opted to have many of my kids’ parties at home. It may take a bit more effort and planning, but overall home parties can be just as fun.
One easy way to save some money is to bake your own cake. I was shocked at how much it would cost to purchase a sheetcake from the bakery. There was NO WAY that I was going to spend that much on something that would just be eaten up or thrown away.
There are so many ideas online and most don’t really need any special skills or supplies. I usually ask my kids what kind of cake they want and then hunt the internet for an easy variation.
Have I mentioned how obsessed my daughter is with pandas? I wasn’t surprised when she asked me for a panda cake. Specifically, she wanted a pink cake with a panda on top. I stepped up to the challenge and came up with this masterpiece.
(By masterpiece I mean pathetic attempt at cake decorating. Can you even tell those creatures are pandas?)
Even though I was disappointed with the way the cake turned out, the bottom line is that the cake was for 7 year old kids. Luckily, I have found that kids are pretty much forgiving and will be impressed with anything you do.
I made a controversial decision for this party. I decided to forego the handing out of goody bags. Shocking, I know. How on earth would the kids ever be able to go on living without all those quality crappy toys and nutritious teeth rotting treats?
Don’t worry-the girls didn’t leave empty handed. I had them each make their own party favor. I picked up $1 frames at the craft store and each girl got to paint them the color of their choice. After letting them dry a few minutes, we decorated them with sparkle foamy stickers. I then took a picture of everyone and printed it out on my home printer. Before the girls left, I inserted the picture in the frame. They were thrilled with this favor. The best part is that I’m sure they will treasure it for way longer than a junky plastic toy.
Here are the finished favors:
What are some of your best frugal party tips? How do you feel about goody bags? Do you bake your own cakes? Tell me your philosophy on kids’ parties.
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19 Responses to “WFMW: Inexpensive Kids’ Birthday Party Ideas”
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There’s a time and a place for goody bags, but I love what you did instead. I bet they really enjoyed making them, and were proud to display them because of that. I hang my head in Shame over birthday cakes, because I usually leave them up to… the Bakery. Pick your battles, eh? Blessings, Whitney
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My son’s b-day party is Sunday. I am not a fan a kids parties at expensive establishments. Although, sometimes the stress of entertaining a bunch of kids doesn’t thrill me either. As for goody bags, I agree, who needs more little plastic toys? We have fruit juice fruit snacks with a silly straw and a cool pen tied together with a ribbon and a little tag that says thank you.I figured, one consumable, and 2 usable items.
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I love that cake! And great favor idea – thanks!
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With the exception of two parties, I’ve done all of my daughters at the house. I ALWAYS bake our own cake (or cupcakes). We do goodie bags but only because I like to, not because I think they’re expected.
If you want to check out my daughter’s 8th b-day party, here’s the links.
http://twodogsrunningsouth.blogspot.com/search/label/party
there’s 3 posts. 1 for the party and 2 for pics.
It was Alice in Wonderland themed
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I am on the “no-junky toys goody bag” bandwagon. Mine were not actually that cheap, but seeing as it is practically the only thing I spent much money on I didn’t mind.
I waited until Hobby Lobby had a sale on those canvas tote bags ( I got them for .60 each) and then decorated them. I just put in some cookies, cheddar bunnies, containers of PlayDoh and crayons. The kids loved it and so did the mommies.
If I am going to spend my husband’s
hard-earned money on goody bags- I don’t want to see them head straight to the trash!!
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I think these ideas were way better than you would have gotten at a Chuck E Cheese or from a store bought cake. I totally got the panda reference before I even read your post (is it weird that i always look at the pictures first?) and I LOVE the picture frame idea for party favors – So cute.
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For the cake, one word: Costco.
$15.99 and it feeds a small army.
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I like the idea of them making their own favors…it’s a time eater upper and a goody all in one fell swoop. My kind of activity.
I have a 5 year old and a 3 year old and have yet to have a party…that definitely works for me…
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I love making your own goodies to take home . . . I have done craft stuff for kids to take home too – and even sent bags with craft stuff to do at home – paints, markers, small things. I DESPISE those plastic bags of CRAP and PLASTIC. And go figure – kids LOVE THEM.
We make our own cakes. Last year for my two year old’s birthday I bought a Diego cake, b/c my cousin (who is awesome and talented and makes all our birthday cakes for us for FREE, as a hobby) couldn’t find a Diego mold. It was so much money and the kids barely ate any of it. Bleck. Never again – his birthday is next month and we have already requested our Scooby Doo cake from her and she is ready and willing to make it!
Another plan of mine is to request kids don’t bring a gift, that instead they make a donation to their favourite charity. We are trying to reduce “stuff” in our house, and there’s no way my kids need more toys. I’m not totally mean, they will receive gifts from grandparents, us, and aunts and uncles, which I feel is plenty of new toys. I’m finding this a bit controversial though – some people are apparently offended by reading this in a birthday invitation. So last year I didn’t do it, but I’ve decided I don’t care who I offend this year, they’re my kids and they don’t need more toys!!!! That’s not really a frugal tip, but I thought I’d share it anyway
The pandas are cute and totally look like pandas, BTW.
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I think the cake looks a thousand times better than anything I could crank out! And I LOVE the frames! Perfect idea!
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I totally agree with you on this topic… as I do most. I’ve baked and decorated all of my kids birthday cakes. Thankfully, my kids are just as easily impressed as yours are. And guess what? I’m getting better! You can find a wealth of ideas and how-to’s on the internet. My youngest is turning two in a couple weeks and I’m deciding how to decorate his cake. He has a puppy theme which is easy but since I did a puppy-themed birthday and cake for my third child when HE turned two, I’m trying to give #4 an original. What can I say? My kids love dogs.
(by the way, your cake is so cute! And yes, they DO look like pandas. Good work on the bamboo too)
I think next year we’re going to switch to my parents method on birthday parties: a friend party on even birthdays and just a family one on the odd. It really helps to cut down on expenses and also makes the friend parties even more special, not routine.
Great tips!
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I love the idea of making their own frames! That is perfect for that age and acts as something to do at the party. I will store that away for future use!! Next month is Sophia big 1 birthday! I really dont know what I am doing other than having a butterfly cake that I am making…god help us all!!
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oh hi… me again….I meant to tell you I adore your panda cake. you can totally tell that those are pandas on the cak…and I love the bamboo. Way to go Jen!!
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Totally ironic you write this on my son’s 6th birthday. We’ve done the park/picnic thing, we have done the at home thing and we’ve done the birthday party at a pool/jumpy place/gym. Some things we’ve done to keep down costs:
- Have it at a location but then do a joint party with someone with a close birthday (we do this with my son’s class there is a boy just a week older and invite all the boys from the class — there are a lot of boys in his class). It really makes it reasonable. You can then have a lot more kids come and you just have them bring one gift and they split the gifts.
- I do homemade cupcakes. They travel easy, there is no need for plates or forks or knives and they can be made cute really simply.
- I’m not a fan of the goody bags. But I have sent them out. I like personally doing something more like you were talking about, which I have done, or I find something that’s $1 at the store to give out that is more functional (summer = water guns, buckets with shovels). This last party I ended up finding clearance items at Target for a quarter and got a couple things and threw them in a bag, even though it was against what I usually do — but it was so cheap, I had to!!
- If it’s an ok time of year, the covered picnic area at a park is good.
- An idea I’ve had but never been able to use is finding really cheap t-shirts and putting their names on them or decorate them as the party favor. When I think of it I don’t find the tshirts cheap enough.
- Keeping it simple is always the best! Kids just have fun being together.
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Elizabeth had her 11th bday party friday night… spend the night… took the girls to the hs football game (free tickets for jr. kids, we had extras at school so I grabbed some and they passed for 6th graders), I sent them home with a cd of Lizzie’s fave songs and a picture frame with a pic of them all! Glad when 10am came around and they all went home!!!
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Cute cake. Awesome frames! Haven’t had a kid’s B-day yet, but not a big fan of the junky goody bag.
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What a brilliant party favor idea. I too hate the whole goody bag thing – such a waste of money. I may have to use this idea in the future. Thanks!
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GREAT idea on the favors! They are so cool! I have to laugh about the cake. Not because it’s bad. Your cake is actually quite cute! I just made a cake for my daughter’s first birthday recently. It turned out ok, but I totally screwed up and used what I thought was icing. It was, in fact, food coloring in gel form. Looked like little icing tubes to me! We had to go buy a pre-made cake and decorate at the last minute. It was pretty hideous. I’ve got photos on my blog if you want to see it! This is my first child, so I’m new. I’m sure I’ll be a cake pro in a few years! I may steal this favor idea when she’s older!! Thanks
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There is a great website, http://www.birthdayswithoutpressure.org, that backs up the idea of having simple birthday parties. It gives funny, and shocking, examples of how parties and favors get totally out of control. Remember when we were kids? I LOVED my backyard birthday parties, but we didn’t know any different.
Kids are happy just being with their friends, playing games and eating cake. Nothing else is necessary.
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