We decided that we didn't want to go overboard for her birthday. We invited Z's grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins to celebrate. Q's sister's family and q's brother's family both live on the west coast and were not in attendance, but everyone else made it. My brothers both travel for work but made it a point to be here for her party which is so great of them. el for work but made it a point to be here for her party which is so great of them.
When we talked about Z's birthday Q and I wanted to do something a little smaller and more reminiscent of our birthday parties as kids. And I did it for under(ish) 100 dollars. I say under(ish) because it's not quite, if you throw in Uncle Sam's cut :).
Here's the breakdown:
cakes: 42.00
food: 30.00 (this is a little off because we had some of the ingredients at home and my mom provided the salads)
plates, etc: 2.27 (we used left over disposable cutlery from another party and only purchased enough paper plates for the kids)
decorations: 20.18
TOTAL: $94.45 !!!!
TOTAL: $94.45 !!!!
Here are my tips and tricks for throwing a birthday party (or really any party) on a budget.
I started a board specifically for Z's first birthday. Over a few months I pinned, pinned, pinned and pinned some more! About a month before her birthday I spent some time narrowing my ideas and deleting pins to narrow my scope. Let me say that this process helped a lot!
I started a board specifically for Z's first birthday. Over a few months I pinned, pinned, pinned and pinned some more! About a month before her birthday I spent some time narrowing my ideas and deleting pins to narrow my scope. Let me say that this process helped a lot!
When we talked about Z's birthday Q and I wanted to do something a little smaller and more reminiscent of our birthday parties as kids. And I did it for under(ish) 100 dollars. I say under(ish) because it's not quite, if you throw in Uncle Sam's cut :).
Here's the breakdown:
cakes: 42.00
food: 30.00 (this is a little off because we had some of the ingredients at home and my mom provided the salads)
plates, etc: 2.27 (we used left over disposable cutlery from another party and only purchased enough paper plates for the kids)
decorations: 20.18
TOTAL: $94.45 !!!!
TOTAL: $94.45 !!!!
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| These took a little time but the price was extremely low! I spent about $5.10 including a few other dot garlands that were hanging about the house. There are several tutorials on Pinterest including this one here. These were pretty easy to make, just time consuming. |
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| Z's high chair. Again the idea came from Pinterest. I used a piece of burlap meant for scrapbooking and leftover felt from her party hat to add the 1 on the front. Most of the ribbon is leftovers from other projects but again this cost about $3.00. |
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| I made this part hat for about $2.50! I purchased fleece sheets from Hobby Lobby, 1 sheet of firm felt and elastic for the strap under her chin. I was a fleece/felt novice, but it turned out to be one of the easiest projects. |
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| BALLOONS!!! I get most of my balloons at the Dollar Tree. Balloons are just $1 as opposed to $5 at the local grocery store. |
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| This was where I splurged. Z's "Betty" cake (all kitty cats are Betty right now). And it was 100% worth it. We purchased our cakes from The Cake Lady and she never disappoints. |
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| Z's smash cake, because we couldn't leave out her dog Annie. |
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| I forgot about the present table and so that morning I quickly whipped up a skirt for the table with some streamers.
When you are looking for party decorations don't forget to shop the "dollar" stores. There are so many very inexpensive options for very little money at these stores.
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| Why I didn't want to spend too much on a cute hat. It was on her head a hot 2 seconds! |
Here is the link to my Pinterest page and the board that I pinned to is "Say it's your first birthday"
