Top 5 ways to save on a birthday party
- Pick a theme for the party based on things around the house, such as beach chairs with a wading pool, or a costume party using old Halloween costumes.
- Bake the cake yourself and decorate with a favorite toy car, Polly Pocket or action figure.
- For food, make something out of your cupboards, such as a large pot of chili, stew or pasta.
- Instead of purchasing cans or bottles of drinks, buy a container of powdered drink mix and put in a large bowl with ice.
- For entertainment, pull out some board games or turn up the music and let the kids sing along for their own talent show.
Source: essortment.com
When it comes to birthdays, parents gladly drop some cash: From rock star parties to those at indoor play centers, some say "your child only turns 2, 3 or 5 once."
It's easy for parents to go overboard on the birthday party budget.
Invitations? Check. Cake? Check. Clown, inflatable house, magician and ponies? Well ... maybe not.
But before you take out that second mortgage to finance your 3-year-old's party, look at ways to trim the budget here and there, gently scaling down the party to a more manageable size - and price.
Crevolyn Wiley, co-owner of Wonderful Events & Celebrations in Gainesville, said the first rule of cutting the price on a party is the same one to follow in real estate: Location, location, location.
"As far as location, maybe doing it at a park or somewhere where you don't usually have to pay a fee for, or doing it at your home is always a cost-cutting measure," said Wiley, who has experience in weddings and other party planning.
And for invitations, she suggested turning that into an opportunity to create something with your child. Turn the invitations into a craft project with your kids, she suggested, letting them cut and paste pictures and decorations, and for older kids, personally writing the invitation.
If you have to mail invitations, write or print them out on heavy card stock with the information on one side and the address on the other side, according to the advice Web site essortment.com. That way, you can mail them out at the post card rate.
Decorations are one of the easiest ways to save money on a party, because unless kids can play with them, they won't even notice them. And as far as food goes, cheese, crackers and other finger foods go a lot further than a sit-down meal, according to the Web site.
Wiley added that decorations can also be a craft project parents and kids can do together, taking inexpensive craft paper and using it to make paper chains.
"Using balloons and old-fashioned paper chains and having the kids involved in that," Wiley added. "And a lot of times the food - maybe a store-bought cake and party platters instead of the more expensive things."