My syndicated Super-Couponing Tips column for the week is entitled “Saving on children’s birthday parties.”
Here’s an excerpt:
“I would be interested in your thoughts on saving money on children’s birthday parties. My daughter, who is nine, has been invited to some pricey parties with her friends from school. They’ve gone horseback riding, gone to a day spa to have their hair and nails done and even gone rock climbing. She wants to do something equally as grand, but we just don’t have the budget at all. I would love some birthday ideas for kids that don’t break the bank!”
Read this entire column at NWItimes.com.
My Super-Couponing Tips column appears in newspapers around the country to a weekly readership of over 20 million people! Learn more about my column’s syndication at this link.
Miss a column? Here’s an archive of all of my past columns I’ve shared on the blog.
naisula says
Does your $50 budget include party favors? One of my peeves is spending money on junk (and giving junk), so we try to come up with small meaningful things if possible, but even that can add up quickly.
Coupon Maven says
I too don’t like to give or get cheap-looking junk for favors. I try to keep a $50 budget for the whole party, but if it’s a few bucks on either side of that, it’s not a deal-breaker.
What we usually do (which cracks the kids up, but they love it!) is give a goody bag with a couple large things, like a full-size pound bag of Skittles or M&Ms! Couponers know how inexpensively these things can be purchased, and why give a $1 theater box of candy when you can give a huge bag for $1.50? We’ll do a big bag of whatever candy was on sale, plus small/inexpensive things — Oriental Trading type items like tattoos, playing card games, etc. I try to be under $2 per goody bag.
My oldest son’s birthday is right before Christmas, and we wait until after Christmas to have his kid party — partially because few people would want to be available the week of Christmas anyway, but also because there are great clearances on Christmas candy and small gifts afterward. This year, we bought things like a multipack of holiday Pop Rocks – 5 pouches inside, and that was clearanced for .50, so they were .10 per pouch.
I also look throughout the year for things that are crazy-cheap clearances that I can have on hand for party favors. Last year after Christmas, I found Lego Mixel figures (the kind in the small mylar pouch) for .25 each at Meijer during their post-holiday toy clearance. The Mixels usually sell for $4-$5 each! I bought ten and kept them in the closet for future party favors. I am always on the lookout for things like that — great gifts at super-bargain prices.
Vicky says
Sometimes the simple things in life are the best. It almost seems like when the parties get so grand it becomes a competition of top this. If everyone is throwing a grand party, why not do the opposite and have an
old school party at home. I did this once and the girls had a lot of fun. One of the games we played was putting a huge amount of whipped cream on a plate and hiding a marischino cherry in it. they had to find it by only using their mouth. Another game was to blindfold fold one girl and have her try to put makeup on another. The end results were hilarious and the girls laughed.
Another party I had was a “cupcake wars” party . I baked a bunch of cupcakes and each girl got 6. The reason being, there were six kids attending and everyone got to win a category, the prize being a box of theater candy. Then I gave them a list of categories. One category that I can remember was “monster” . The girls had to use the decorations provided to make a monster out of their cupcakes. You can find inexpensive candy/decorations and kind of base your categories around them. Or not, you will be amazed at their creativity. And their cupcakes ended up being there “treat bag” to take home.
Hope this helps.
Coupon fairy says
One of our daughter’s favorite birthday parties was her Double Dare party. We dyed inexpensive undershirts red and gold and split the group into teams. We had various relay games (you can get some ideas from Minute to Win it that are on youtube) The props are mostly things you already have around the house.
Another one they enjoyed was a 50’s party. My husband made a time machine with a refrigerator box, Christmas lights and a blower. The girls came in through the time machine. There was a dial they set to the 50’s and the lights were flashing and the air blowing into the box as the walked through it. Most girls wore a poodle skirt. You could use the time machine with any Era or for Back to the Future and have each guest wear an outfit from the decade they choose.
karen says
We do not have space to have a party at our home ( we live in a small apartment). Every Year we give our ten year old a choice to have a birthday party, OR spend a special day doing what ever he wants; Candy for breakfast? YES!, McDonalds for lunch? Sure! Start the day at 5 A.M. to make the most out of it? YES! We have visited some really fun places as a family. He has almost always chosen a special day.