Ideas for Birthday Party on a Budget

My first thought is just inviting the girls over for a slumber party. It's cheaper than the other stuff, order $5 pizza from Little Ceasar's, and get chips and munchies. I'd buy some sort of cheap craft, like a jewelry making kit, and send them home with that as their prize. My son who is in first grade did his first Slumber party last year in Kindergarden, and LOVED it. He went to one, and had one, with just a couple of kids. Just my two cents, but that is what I would do!

When my daughter was in Kindergarten we had her B'day at the local park.(Last weekend of Sept) all her classmates were invited and THEIR PARENTS. It was a great chance for us to get to know each other. There was plenty of supervision for kids. Since we didn't all know each other yet we tied colorful armbands in guy and girl colors on them so we could id who was from her class. That group of kids and their parents continued to have gatherings all through elementary.
Cupcakes and cookies were the order of the day. At the end of the party every kiddo took a sack and picked up around the area with parents so we even did a good deed. RELAX and let the children play.

Or it's always cheaper to make your own cake or cupcakes together and have the party at your house. Have a few games planned or let them all play in your daughters room. Let your guest decorate their own cupcakes and have sprinkles and such on hand. They can spread the icing with popcicle sticks. Have a princess party. Go to your local party store and get bracelets, crowns and rings and such and have them do a small fashion show. 6 year old girls are so easy to entertain.

Hi V., well I have gone both routes and I would do the McDonalds thing. You would end up spending more for all of the food and decorations at your house and not to mention the cleaning up afterwards! Kids love McDonalds and they clean up after you!!

having the party at home makes it UNIQUE...& totally all about your daughter.

After reading the other postings, I agree that you don't need to feed the kids anything other than BD goodies. Which leaves over 1/2 the $$ for fun & goodies!!

This has always been my game plan for my sons' parties, & they truly do appreciate being involved in the entire party.. from planning to waving goodbye to their friends. My oldest is 21, & I still have his friends talking about his childhood parties....whether it was BD, Halloween, or sleepovers. Truly a point of pride for me!!

Man, for $65 my vote is for the McDonald's...if you are concerned about the crowd being there pick a slightly "off" time, like 2pm on Saturday (you've already missed the typical lunch crowd) or 4pm on Saturday/Sunday (which is just before the dinner crowd). Frankly, the kids are going to be more interested in the play time then the food anyway so I think it's a good deal all around.

As for the whole class...let me tell you my experience. I rented our local Armory for my son's birthday last year and set up bike races, a bounce house, and a pinata in it. We invited the WHOLE class at his instistance (and yes, that was quite a lot of goodie bags at 24 guests)...we only had 5 classmates show up and only 1 out of the ENTIRE class RSVPd. With that having been said, I would recommend her hand picking a few friends for her actual party. If the school lets you bring treats to celebrate her birthday do the cupcake art cakes and/or little candy goodie bags for her friends at school...but don't waste your time inviting everyone when you probably won't get RSVPs for the majority.

Another completely off the wall idea is a bowling party...check out your local lanes...I think it was something like maybe $5/kid here which included 1 game, shoes and a slice of pizza & soda.

V.,
I liked the idea someone had for the park. We have had parties at McDonalds for bdays and sports, it was very loud, you have to contend with other customers and the service is not great. You don't have just one person to take care of you, you have to constantly go up to the counter to let them know you're ready for the meal, the cake etc. Have you looked into a pizza party? Usually Pizza Hut has a seperate room for you and caters to your needs.

How about a weiner roast at a park and play some outside games. Or get one of those jewelry packages where they could make a necklace or bracelet. Sleepovers are fun then they could all play with the Wii.

I may be young but I love doing things 'the old fashioned way". You can go someplace like Deals & get all the stuff you need to have it @ your house or if the whether is good you could have it @ a park. Get a pinata (they have them out there from $8-$15) & some cheap party favors, maybe have a coloring contest for a prize like a mini teddy bear (there are places you can get stuff like that for 85 cents like @ Michael's) & you can make your own cake or even cupcakes for just a few dollars for the batter & icing. Anyone can do a party @ McDonalds but I would still ask you girl what kind of party she wants. I just remembered a party my mom did for me when I was that age. We did an old fashioned swap party. Everyone came with an item(s) that were worth no more than $5 (you could probably do $10 now cuz this party was over 15 years ago). Then we would all toss our 'treasures' into the box that was sitting in the middle of our little circle & we took turns grabbing an item out that was not the one we brought, starting with the b-day girl. We then took turns doing frantic swaps, trades & barters on a time limit & whatever we had @ the end of the clock was ours to take home. I think my mom set some of the better stuff aside just incase there was some one that wasn't happy with their item (I hung out with some real cry babies when I was a kid). Hope it works out! Don't sweat what to have for lunch cuz I really don't remember what I had for lunch last week much less what I had @ a b-day party when I was 4, I just remember the party it's self & that's what really matters. Good luck.

Hi V.,
We love parties at home, but other idea is Deanna Rose, it is free and kids love it!!!! I do suggest though that you check their prices for a hay ride or minning since they love to do that too! You can take the cake there and celebrate in one of their "nests" I think that they charge for these ones, not sure.
Check some info:
http://www.artsandrec-op.org/farmstead/index.html

Some reviews here for b-days:
http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3714792789

In our case, home parties are very expensive, we invite close to 30 kids, they have ablast since they both are in Summer, but just the goodie bags for 30 plus all the props like pinata, water baloons, cakes, treasure hunt, etc, it is usually more than most places.
My daughter also goes to Karate, they charge around $80 for about 25 kids and they provide everything! It is a great cheap way to have an unforgettable party, they even get to cut the cake with a sword! We might do this one next year:)
AKKA Karate USA just beside the main library in 87th street.
Best luck finding a great place!
Mariana

If you do McDonalds on your own, could you plan it on a Tuesday? From 3:00 to 8:00 the hamburger happy meals are only $1.50. (Cheese for the special depends on the location.) It would cut your meals nearly in half! Just a thought.

That sounds good. Another idea...We just had my daughter's 8th birthday at the house. A disco dance party. I decorated the basement, played music, had snacks and they had a ball. I also bought an inexpensive small light up disco ball at Kohls to liven it up. It was adorable and cheap. (I invited just the girls because their 2nd grades classes are so big).

Also, we have had tea parties too for just the girls where they had punch, finger sandwhiches, make a craft and play. I did their make up and let them put on boas and hats and took their picture together. A cute party too.

Hope that helps.

My daughter is now 16, but over the years we had the McDonald's party. Also, other suggestions would be: (1) A friend of hers had a tea party where the guests came dressed in their Sunday dresses and wore hats and had tea and cookies, cake on their porch and it was really nice and cute. (2) I have had several girls come to my house and play dress-up with lots of outfits I provided; (3) I saw an idea in a magazine once to make a runway with cheap, long paper and the long strands that come on a strip hanging down from a doorway and get them tiaras and boas and let them come out dressed up taking turns and that's fun; (4) swimming parties at indoor places; (5) Pizza; (6) English muffins with toppings on the side and they can invent their own and bake them is a cheap and fun eating idea.

Check out Wiis online like ebay or craig's list. You'd be amazed at some of the good prices and in pretty good condition. Just make sure it works before you buy it. You could also try talking to friends and grandparents to see if they might want to split the cost with you.

Some pizza places let you reserve a room free. You can take in a cake but must buy other food there. You could buy for the kids but state on the invitations that others must pay for their own.

V., the mcdonald's thing sounds fun, i didn't know it was so reasonable. if her birthday is coming up soon (before the weather gets nasty) deanna rose childrens farmstead is great for the kids, and it's free to go through. it's as fun in fall as it is in the summer. and less crowded. my son is only 2 so we didn't do an actual "party" for his little friends, we all just met at the farmstead and took the kids through. since she's six she might not be as impressed - but they have fishing and horse-drawn wagon rides, and you can feed a lot of the animals. (all of which does cost but you can google it and find out about prices, i think it's a dollar or less for each activity) that might be fun. happy birthday to her!

V.,

My Granddaughter just turned 4, and being on a very tight budget, my daughter was told about a place in Fenton called Woodys Cafe. It is sponsored by the Life Cristian Church but you do not need to be a member of the church to use it. It is open to the public. It has a GREAT indoor play area, video games, a small bowling alley and a cafe. The kids rented two tables for 10.00. You can bring in your own cake and ice cream and you can decorate as well. They even offered to decorate for us for no extra charge. You do have the option of purchasing food for the kids too. We had the Birthday Party at 2 in the afternoon that way lunch was really not an issue. They have soda fountains there - you purchase each cup for 1.00, for unlimited drinks.

There were sereval parties going on while we were there, but it did not feel over crowded at all.

The address for Woody's is 13001 Gravois Road, ph ###-###-####. Or you can check it out on the web at www.lifechristian.net.

It really was a great place for the kids to go and have a lot of fun for very little money.

N.

I would recommend the McDonald's package. It may not be quite as inexpensive as doing it yourself, but it takes away a lot of the hassle and they do the clean up too! I have had some of my boys' birthdays there and have been impressed. They even give the birthday child a t-shirt! Good luck! It is sad that birthday celebrations have to cost so much these days! K.

go for the package since they do it all and you can enjoy more of the party. We did that for our twins for several years in a row because it was so cost effective. What about Deanna Rose Farm or bowling? D.

Not bad for them to clean up the mess and hear all the noise.

We went out to Shawnee mission park and reserved a shelter for $35 had cake (baked a plain one and kids put their own decorations on it) had some small sandwiches and some other easy sides(jello, chips, veggies).
THen we did three legged races, fishing, egg toss,etc. it was so much fun such and "old fashion" party.
We got VERY lucky that year Target had discounted their fishing poles for only $3 and were able to purchase 10 so we were able to give those away for their gift bags (obviously we didn't have her whole class)

HAVE FUN!!

Why do you have to feed the kids a full meal? Its been my experience that 6 year olds are too excited to eat a whole meal at a party. I have twins that just turned 7. We invited the whole class and had cupcakes and Icecream at the local playground. The kids loved it. They ate rather quickly and then just played on the equipment for 1 1/2 hours. You could even do a pinata in a tree at the park. Kids that young are very easily amused and spending too much money is lost on them. They just love to play with their friends at the park. Give it a try. Much cheaper and just as fun for the kids!