What Should I Do on a Low Budget 1St Birthday?!?!

Hi D.,

I love throwing parties and usually do it on a tight budget. Only because there is no sense in spending a lot of money on a party they may not remember. I usually do finger foods, things like pigs in a blanket, deviled eggs, chips and dip, cake and ice cream and beverages. I check out party city for character place settings or just regular paper place settings, you can usually buy some things in bulk like plastic forks and spoons and save money. Plates and such you can usually get 50% off depending on what you want. Don't go crazy with decorations or goody bags or treat, it isn't safe for him and it is an expense bet spent else where.

Hope this helps.

S.
SAHM of 3 boys

A picnic at a neaby park and a visit to the zoo with a couple of playmates would probably be right up his alley.

Just keep it simple. Invite a couple of friends and family over your house, make a cake and hang some decorations (streamers and balloons). You don't have to get too extravagant with it and pictures with the streamers and balloons in the background will look you went all out.

Chuck E. Cheese (If you happen to konw at least about 5 or 6 other children. It;s fun for kids and parents. Even if your little one is too little to do alot. It's worthit because it's cheap and NO CLEAN-UP!!! The staff is friendly and they provide everything. I think you need to take the cake (I think) but you can call and ask. If you do you can always get it from Publix (love those) of even get cupcakes. Have fun.

Hey!
We were blessed to have a nice back yard for my son's first birthday. So we just blew up a $10 kiddie pool and my husband made a home-made slip and slide (with tarp we already had and baby oil ) and we had a fun hose/sprinkler thing. We still had room for some tables for the adults under the trees. It was great! There were kids of all ages and adults numbering about 40 or 50 total. We had the birthday at 2:00 pm so it was sfter lunch and before dinner. So I just made a cake and we had chips and brownies and snacks like that. It was a great time of water fun for the kids and fellowship for the adults. Our family and close friends offered to bring some snacks or drinks so that really helped us, too.
For my daughter's first birthday we moved and now had a parking lot for a yard but a larger house. So we still ended up having around 50 people and kids of all ages. So we bought the cheapest burgers and hotdogs we could find (at costco) and grilled out while the adults just socialized and the kids played with toys. The kids even played baseball outside in the parking lot. (Before you think I'm an idiot I should tell you that the parking lot surrounding our house is actually the parking lot for our church, so there was no traffic) The party was at like 6:30 - and went on until whenever the kids crashed. But it wasn't too expensive. we only bought the burgers and stuff.
Our parties are mostly just family and friends that are like family - so there is no formality. Just fun, food and fellowship. Good luck with ideas.

In fact my son is about to turn 3 and we are party planning. We are going to have it at my mom's house because she has a pool. And we are going to do it at around 3:30 or 4:00pm. until about 6:00. I think I am going to bake a bunch of cupcakes for the kids to decorate themselves and maybe do a craft (like paint masks made of paper plates and stick them on popscicle sticks) My friend was also saying instead of a gift bag (which I never do) get a pack of crayons and maybe a coloring book from the dollar store. Just tie with a ribbon and hand out at the door. She said they are usually 2 for $1. But thats a good idea for any age child, boy or girl. We are probably going to have about 50 people there as well , but only about 15 kids (of all ages). We may do burgers again or just hearty snacks because of the time. Also little ceaser's pizza has the $5 pizza. You could do as cheap food.

Anyway I hope SOMETHING from this helps you. =)

i am a little late on this but I always made my cakes for the kids.. they are much cheaper than publix's $3-5. I have taken a wrapping paper main character and placed it on a cake, the icing allows it to stay down. I have a MIL that embroids and she made me characters on fabric, they can be washed and placed in the album.. dollar tree is great for favors.. kids love stickers and the temp tattoos.. (depending on ages) For future parties you could consider Lake Lytle Park/pool. They have a small water park..it's $3.20 for adults and under $3 for kids 4+..no grills but you are able to bring food in.. we did pizza (easy clean up~ hungry howies has group deals, $6 for 1 topping pies) Print pics off the internet for decor and after party you can make the picture as backdrop in scrapbook. dollar tree is great for diningware too.
I hope this helps a little. Sorry i didn't see it before. Have a great party.

We just had a small group, mostly family and a few very close family friends. It was a lunchtime party, chicken fingers or wings, salads, cheese, crackers and soda (for adults) milk/juice for the little ones - no alcohol at our party (and not for any moral/religious reason, we just didn't). In my opinion, it's all about the cake. You can get a free mini-cake at Publix or Albertson's (we did Albertson's because you don't need to buy a big size, any size is fine.)
I got party decorations/plates at Party City, but it's not really necessary. My little one loves balloons, so she had one helium one attached to her high chair.
Finally ~~ party favors/bags. We didn't do them... it's all junky anyway and now with all the "made in China" scares it is just not necessary! Write old fashioned thank yous and include a picture of that person with the party boy instead!
Enjoy, take lots of pics... that is what matters!