What Is the Least Expensive Way to Have a Birthday Party??

If the party is at a park, you don't need games. 4-5 year olds are so happy just playing at the park. Cake and ice cream is enough if you have the party at the right time (either 10-12 or, even better, 2-4). Many parks don't have rental fees and are just first come, first served. A park is definitely cheaper than doing it anywhere else. You also don't need decorations. A few balloons if you want, but you don't need anything.

My son is 5 and he's always happy at a park party.

1) Limit the amount of guests
2) Have it at a public park. But then you'll have to tote everything there, including ice chests/ice to keep things cold etc. and the food etc.
3) Entertainment: just bring things you already have... balls, big blankets for them to sit on, bubbles, a bike etc. Just things you already, have.

4) a "meal" will not be expected, unless per the timing of the party, it is at a meal time. So, to avoid having to spend for major food and a meal, just have the party at a non-meal time, and serve simple pre-made snacks and cake/ice cream. BUT the ice cream will have to be kept frozen somehow... how will you do that at a park?
And you need beverages/water.

But foods, at places like Costco. In bulk. Depending on how many kids are invited. PLUS, factor in, IF the parents will be there or not too. Then you have to buy food/paper goods that are enough for all.

One of the best parties I gave my daughter was in the back yard.

I set up a few challege type games, who can keep the ballon up in the air the longest, how many xxx can you stack up. I also set up a scavenger hunt. The winners won prizes, which became their favors. Of course, I made sure everyone went home with something.

Most public parks won't charge a fee. You'll have to check around in your area.

If you're having it at a park, ice cream may be difficult. I would just serve a few snacks at the beginning of the party and then cup cakes and beverages near the end..

Walmart is expensive. Get your plates at the dollar store. No need for any special them, just something simple like a favorite color.

4-5 year olds love to limbo (broomstick & music), pin the something on the anything, musical chairs, bean bag toss, freeze dance...but mostly they just want to run around & play.
How busy is your local park? Do you really need to rent a pavilion?
Will a picnic table & a shade canopy do?
Do you have a friend or relative with a yard?
If the party borders a mealtime, I'd get pizza.
Otherwise cake & ice cream is fine.
For favors, you can skip the goodie bags & get each a book at the dollar store. Maybe a few balloons, chips, pretzels, Capri Suns and bottled water & you're all set!

We always have a party for my son's birthday in december and it has to BE somewhere (like a nature center, play area, etc) b/c our house is too small and it is too cold to do anything outside like a park. So this year he got really excited about his half birthday (I guess 4 1/2 is a big deal!) and I finally got to do the party I'd always wanted - a fun, low-stress, low-expense party outside! Loved it!!

If you are having it in a park, you don't need any entertainment; it's a park! We had our get-together in our boring backyard (no jungle gym, no sandbox, etc.) and even that was enough to keep 20 kiddos busy for hours. I set up our little blow-up pool that a few kids used, got out the trucks, balls, frisbees, sidewalk chalk and turned them loose. We did have a pinata from Target b/c my son had always wanted one. We hung it from a tree and the kids thought it was great. The candy inside doubles as a take-home (for the record, none of the kids at this summer gathering knew it was a PARTY, just a fun playdate with a lot of friends. My son knew he was 4 1/2 and did go around telling others, but there was no expectations of birthday stuff).

Instead of cake/cupcakes, we did ice cream sundaes. I got three different flavors of ice cream and my son picked out every topping he could find at the store (we still have some left). Parents scooped for their own kid(s) to make it easier on me and let them control portions and we set up a toppings bar on a table outside for the kids to all create to their hearts' content. Big hit. Paper bowls, plastic spoons, tons of napkins/wipes and it all cleans up in minutes. And if you are worried about entertainment, it certainly took a while for kids to make and eat their masterpieces.

We also do a lot of picnics with friends for summer holidays or camping and some of things we bring along are sack races with pillow cases, plastic horseshoes, bat/ball, soccer ball, bean bag toss and use some of these more than once to create an obstacle course or invent a new game. But really, if your park has a playground, you won't even need all that for this age. My son plays just on the school playground every freakin' day after school for at least 30 minutes with his 4-5 year old friends. When we all go to a park after 1/2 days on fridays we are there 3 hours and they still want more.

So, the really short answer? A park is a great, cheap and way FUN party for this age!

Oh, and if you need to reserve a shelter or grill or something, that might incur a fee. We've been to many parties where the parent just gets there early and puts their things on a random picnic table (not in a shelter) and that's home base for the party.

Have a wonderful time!!

Have birthday at a local park with a bathroom---key point there! :)
2-4pm you don't have to feed lunch/dinner-- you can do just cake and icecream.
bring lots of sand toys and park toys for kids----games to play:
pin the tail on the donkey or spiderman/whatever super hero your child likes.
pinterest has good ideas on decorating etc.

Safeway does cakes for cheap and they are good too~ You can usually get them on sale. They frequently list the half sheet and full sheet cakes on sale. Good luck!

Not sure about a park rental but there are books at the library with lots of party games for 5 year olds. Cake and icecream is fine depending on the time of day you have the party, like 2-4 pm.

Where we live there is not a fee, but they encourage you to reserve the space in the park...

Cake and fruit, would be easiest. Piñata filled with little toys..band aides, tattoos... Gummy fruit balloons....Go to the dollar store.

A bag for each child to get their prizes from the piñata.
If it is close to the playscape the kids can just play there.

We never spend more than $30-$50 on a birthday party. It's a party for goodness sake.

I just plan it at a park that has tables for free and we go and put up a couple of signs as to which ones are our party. Then we have cake and ice cream and some cheap cheap pop. I'll usually bring a water jug too.

The party is about the child and how much fun they want to have. They want to play, open gifts, and eat cake. That's all. They don't want to do a lot more stuff.

4-5 year olds are great with dress up theme parties. I'd suggest coming up with a good theme, where everyone can dress up, and then building games or activities around it. No need to feed them a meal, cake, ice cream and some snacks is more than enough.

One cheap activity kids love is cookie decorating. Or a friend did a build your own sundae party. The kids LOVED that.

A park is a good idea. Some parks have rentals, but many are free, but you want to make sure you have easy access to a washroom. If you have your party after lunch, then you don't need to serve a meal. Put out some chips or pretzels or Golfish crackers and have juiceboxes. Don't do cake, but make cupcakes instead. Then you won't need plates or forks, just napkins. One activity my kids always liked was a candy scramble, sort of like a pinata, but without the pinata. I would buy a couple of bags of candy and save up all the little party favours the kids have received throughout the year. I give the kids each a paper lunch bag and have them form a large circle, then I dump all the stuff on the ground, and when I say go they start filling their little paper bags. If you can get a hold of a parachute of a tug-of-war rope they really keep the kids occupied. My city parks and rec dept rents those types of things out at a very minimal cost. There are lots of games you can organize, just google them. Also be sure to allow some free play time, because at this age they are really excited to be with their friends.

We have attended a few parties at a park. You need a rain-out plan, The last one included the dad sitting in a huge storm telling people to go to McDonalds because they did not put a phone number on the invitation and they did not get our number.
The park parties were loads of fun and at that age, they played on the gymset and ran around. Parents sat in the shade. Very nice.

I live in a master plan community and the park table and gazebo are $200 to rent for 2 hours and then more if you want to stay longer, after a $500 deposit.

The city park right outside of our master plan community is $25, after a $25 deposit.

Can you guess where we are going?

The cheapest way to have a birthday party is not to have one. Invite 3 or 4 kids and their parents over. Order a pizza, put on a movie, serve icecream/ cake with paper hats, which the kids themselves make. Send them home with a small toy, a page to color, or a bit of candy. Total expenditure $20-$25.

Good luck to you and yours,
F. B.

My sons are almost-3 and 6 this week, and we LOVE park parties! The only year we didn't have a park party for our October son was last year, and we're having another this year. A few thoughts:
1) You don't need to do goodie bags, they're so not necessary! The only thing I do like that is IF I'm having a pinata, I'll pass out some empty party bags (a pack from the dollar store) for the children to put their stash in. Last year at the Star Wars party, we did a gift bag but it was more for things the children earned, prizes and stuff, through the games, crafts, and obstacle course. Not a normal thing for us, or an every year thing. Last year's party was different for a special reason.
2) You can serve food if you want (burgers, pizza, hot dogs, those are pretty inexpensive) but if you want to skip serving food that is TOTALLY ok as long as you schedule the party for an "off hour" when nobody is really expecting to eat. Thinking heat of the day and off hours, and possibly nap times for some children or their siblings, I'd think 3:30 or 4 would be a good start time (after lunch, before dinner) and just write on the invitations something like "Join us for cake and ice cream at __" or "Cake and ice cream will be served", and people will know what to expect.
3) One thing we love about parks is that you don't REALLY have to have a lot of planned activities, just let the kids play. I always bring a ball and 2 beanbags "just in case" they need some help figuring out how to have fun, but they usually do just fine without us. Beanbags can be anything though from hopscotch, capture the flag, who can get closest to some target you pick out there, etc. A ball can be dodgeball, soccer, kickball, etc. But a park is a park---who doesn't like playing there?
4) You can also bake a cake or cupcakes yourself if you'd like to save $20. Because my boys' birthdays are by autumn holidays I have served a pumpkin roll, a pumpkin-cheesecake, cupcakes on a cool stand, 1 icecream cake, 1 normal cake that I decorated myself, and 1 store-bought cake.
They're easy, I guess.
5) Check out the park you want, and call the park department. Depending on how big or busy it is, you may or may not have to pay. Our first party was huge (40+ people) so we rented the outdoor ampitheater for a covered place, tables, chairs, and private (clean) bathrooms. Then the kids could play at the park and all that and we served dinner and cake in the covered area. For smaller parties, we didn't rent the covered space and just picked out 2 picnic tables under a large oak near the playground, with a grill nearby, and didn't pay anything for that.
This Saturday: in the morning we're taking our son's best friend along with us on a dolphin cruise (we bought the tickets on livingsocial.com months ago), then meeting up with some friends of ours at picnic tables near the beach for lunch and a black forest cake I'm making myself (son's request), then just play at the beach until time to bring our youngest home for nap. Easy. Not counting the cruise: grilling some hotdogs, having some lemonade, water, and later a cake doesn't cost us much of anything at all, and the beach will be our entertainment. We will set up the tent and have a backyard campout (just family) that evening. It'll be a great day, he'll love it, but it doesn't have to be all crazy expensive, ya know?

Take them to the park. At that age they just like to run around! PBS n J sandwiches, juice, cake and ice cream and call it a day. Favors are a waste unless you can find little books at the dollar store. No one would throw out a book. Blow up some balloons. Everyone will have fun.

A park sounds perfect. Go to the park early to get the ups on one of the nice, free gazeebo's. For decorations all you need is tablecloth and balloons. The decorations, plates, napkins,favors, treat bags, cups, etc. can be bought for $1 from the dollar store. Have hotdogs, chips, punch and cake. At this age kids are really easy to entertain. They will have fun just playing together on the playground. Bring a radio, have a dance contest and play musical chairs. Have a race contest, give the winner a gift. Some kind of cheap toy for $1 from the dollar store. The games are endless for kids at this age.