A great kids party doesn’t have to come at great expense folks. Here’s a loot bag of money-saving tips for your kids birthday party!
It’s SO easy to fall into the rabbit hole of picture-perfect Pinterest parties. So it’s important to remember you’re throwing a party for your birthday boy or girl, not for wowing people on Instagram. Birthday parties really don’t have to break the budget.
Ready to save the cash on kids birthday parties and blow up the balloons? Spoiler alert: There will be balloons because #CHEAP.
Here’s how you can still party on a budget…
1. Print your own party invitations
No need to enlist a graphic designer or splurge on custom invites. Save a bucket of cash by printing off your own party invites if you want something fancy. Don’t want anything fancy? You can still buy notepad style party invites where you simply fill in the details. OR you can go really cheap and super easy and just fire off a text message to parents of guests.
2. Save the Pinterest-worthy decorating ideas for another event
At the end of the day, a load of balloons and streamers ought to do the trick when it comes to decorating for a kid’s party. Kids don’t care about bamboo cutlery, colour-coordinated tableware or Pinterest inspired flower wreaths on their chairs. They really don’t, so WHY waste your money on these things?!
3. Keep the guest numbers down
A clever way to keep the number of guests down for kids birthday parties is to develop a two-stage celebratory system. Check with your child’s teacher if it’s ok to bring cupcakes into the classroom and that way your child can celebrate her birthday with EVERYONE. And all for the cost of a bunch of cupcakes. If the birthday child still wants to have a shindig, it’s much easier to keep it to a handful of kids. Perhaps just the besties, instead of the whole class. You get my drift?
4. Can the catering
By opting for a ‘between meals’ party time, you can totally skip out on having to lay out a lunch spread. And this can save you BIG dollars. Sure, offer some plates of healthy snacks like vegetable sticks and dips, crackers and fruit but skip the rest. The sweet spot for a meal-free party is between 2 and 4PM!
5. Go old school with the party games
Forget jumping castles, Princess Anna and Elsa entertainers, pottery craft tables and mobile petting zoos. Instead, think pass the parcel, musical chairs, hanging doughnuts on the clothesline, the chocolate eating game, bobbing for apples and of course, the pièce de résistance, a lolly filled piñata.
Hint: Need more part ideas? Here are 30 of the BEST party games.
6. Party favours
The key to budget birthdays is resisting the urge to give each child a bulging show bag of cheap crap stuff to say thanks for coming. If you’re going to spend the money, make it just one small token gift for each child. Kmart has some great offerings such as Magnetic Foam Fishing Game ($3), a Paint Your Own Llama set ($5) or even a Novelty Torch for just $2!
7. Double or nothing
If your child’s birthday falls close to one of their friend’s birthdays and they share the same circle of friends, consider doubling up the occasion. One stone, two birds. Or rather, one party, two party hosts. And shared costs! Just make sure birthday kid gets their own cake. Two cakes isn’t such a bad thing though, let’s be honest.
8. Low-cost cake perfection
You don’t need to be a baker when you can cake hack your way to cake perfection. Head to Woolworths and pick up one, two or three of their Mud Cakes ($4.80 each), sandwich them together with buttercream and get busy decorating. Alternatively, try this castle cake hack fit for a princess! Not only does this save you money, but time too! #budgetbirthday
9. Your go-to for budget birthdays—discount stores
Skip the hiked up party store prices and shop at places like The Reject Shop, Cheap as Chips, Neds, Kmart and Big W for all your cheap but excellent party supplies. You’ll be amazed by what you can find rummaging around their shelves! Rolls of wrapping paper make for nice tablecloths, rolls of plastic tablecloths, disposable cutlery, pinatas. They’ve got it all – and for next to nix, making budget birthdays a cinch.
10. Skip the play centre and head to a park instead
For littlies, skip the expensive, noisy play centre and look for a fenced off playground or park instead. It’s MUCH more relaxing, you can supply a few picnic rugs and it’s completely FREE. PLUS it’s much easier to have a scavenger hunt around a park than in a ball pit. Just sayin’.
Looking for more ways to host a great party without taking out a loan. We’ve got heaps of ways to throw the perfect birthday party on a budget.
