From the oldies files!
We threw a real birthday party for Holden this year and we tried to do it on the cheap. The funny thing was that we had a great plan — some of it was even well-executed — and we still spent more than $150. Ouch!
I think with hindsight, I could cut that to $55ish.
So, learn from my successes and my mistakes and throw a super-cheap birthday party for your three-year old!
Limit the guest list. It cannot be overstated that the easiest way to cut costs is to cut guests. Holden wanted a “big party” so we started off with an evite of all his friends (who come with parents at this age), our whole family (most of whom live out of state and wouldn’t come), my coworkers, and all our friends with kids (who, of course, come with kids).The evite was up to 37 adults before I asked WTF: Is Holden’s idea of a BIG PARTY even this big? On the brink of sending the message; we decided, no, and chose a few kids who were his close friends (the ones he would choose) and their folks. Ahhh, better.- Choose a free place! We’ve been to some super fun third birthday parties this year: an all bouncy house party, a play space rental party, a pirate themed party (also with bouncy houses), a kickas$ backyard festival, and had our own fantasies of petting zoos and king cobras. Luckily, we asked the kid where he wanted to celebrate and he chose the local (and free!) playground with picnic tables. Yeehaw.We had a biking theme and brought Holden’s trike and “wobbly bike” for others to try out and encouraged his guests to do the same. It was terrific. Between the kids, we had a scooter and another tricycle to add to the mix. Kids were great about sharing and trying out the different sets of wheels.
- Let the kid choose the menu (within reason) After all, kid food is cheap food. I offered some choices I could live with: sandwiches, pizza, or Mexican and Holden chose (emphatically) sandwiches. When pressed for specifics, he wanted PBJ. Hecka cheap. He also asked for dry cereal, but I decided that was too weird.The morning of, we cut about 5 sandwiches into quarters and then panicked about what the adults would eat. I went to the grocery store for a last minute run on beverages (water bottles, juice boxes, milk boxes), berries, water melon, green salad to the tune of $83. I think a little pre-planning might have helped.You don’t need to cater the party to the taste of the adults. Worst case, they leave a little hungry and don’t think that three-year olds eat very well. So what. Maybe they’ll snack before coming next year. Best case, they appreciate your simplicity and think that the kid planned a menu of his favorites (in this case it was true!).
Limit the decorations.
Again, this is a place where you can go unnecessarily overboard. For about $30 at the party supply outlet, I got 3 helium balloons (best investment!), blue plates, blue cups, blue napkins, plastic cutlery, a teensy 3 candle, and a white table covering. The solid blue stuff was good because it can all be reused (Hanukkah!!) but we really only used the plates. All the food was finger food (only one mom touched our green salad with a plastic fork, the rest was undisturbed) and drink boxes. I could have probably gotten away with spending $5 on just the balloons, plates, candle, and table coverings.
(However this pad of animal face placemats is $8 on Amazon and I still use them occasionally to entice my kids to sit down at their spots.)
- Bake your own mini cupcakes. For $5 rather than my $42, you can bake some tasty mini cupcakes if time permits. Instead, I went to one of my favorite bakeries and custom ordered (the minimum) 24 cupcakes. We also baked cookies (because he very specifically asked for cake and cookies, but the kids didn’t go for them, so they were tragically wasted.
My grand total was $257ish = $83 (food) + $30 (decorations + $42 (cupcakes) + $0 (location) + $7 (favors of sand toys to use today and take away) virtual $100 (invitations)
My revised grand total $55ish = $45 (less food) + $5 (less decorations) + $5 (cheaper cupcakes or $12 for a dozen brownie bites) + $7 (reusable favors) $0 (for location and invitations)
I think that it was a great party, but that $150 is what you have to expect to spend to entertain. It’s the price of having a kid with a birthday. (They all seem to have them, though, don’t they?)
Having a free venue is the most important piece. The food – I would expect to spend what you spent if I am offering to treat my guests to lunch. I believe this is why pizza is the standard MO for 3 yo parties. Can’t wait to hear what others say.
Another cute/cheap one is 10 am party with decorate your own bagels. 2 dozen bagels, cream cheese, apple juice and sesame seeds, raisins, etc from the bulk bins to make faces.
[...] “invite the whole class” affairs that I’ve been dreading. Last year, Holden had a cheap birthday party (and it was also small, tasteful, fun!). This year, I don’t know how to manage the birthday [...]
Why does everyone seem to begrudge having parties for their children? These are the things that memories are made of. I say love doing it all with bells and whistles while your children want you to, spend what you can afford and realise that you are making imprints on your childrens lives.
LH, First I think it’s great that you want to throw parties for your kids… fantastic even! I love my birthday and I’m sure because my mom made a great big fuss about it (and also my temperament, I just love to be center of attention).
BUT, I think you can make a fuss and make great memories without shelling out loads of money. I also think that in this economy, a lot of us what to have big fun for less money. In a couple years, will the kid care if the party was catered or if mom made PB&J? I don’t think so, but ask me then.
We’re also talking about kids age one to four on this site and, for the most part, the parties are still for us rather than them in my opinion.
Thanks for sharing your opinion too!!
Thank you for this! Very helpful.
[...] When Holden turned three, we had his birthday party at the playground nearest our house, complete with picnic tables, play structure, and sandy area. Rather than spend time and money assembling goodie bags, I sent each kid home with a sand toy. Done and done. Easy for me, useful for them {5 tips for a cheaper third birthday party}. [...]
My daughter was born on July 2nd…so she gets the 4th as her birthday. (She thinks fireworks are for birthdays!) For her first birthday we bought the little red plastic baskets you get at lot of restaurants. Best purchase ever. We do hot dogs and Hamburgers in baskets with bags of chips. All I have to buy each year is the napkins. So far she hasn’t asked for different decorations…but I could easily add or incorporate others into the red, white, and blue theme.
LOVE IT! I am the mom that goes WAYYYY overboard with $200 cakes, perfect venue, etc. and so on and this year I have decided that it’s just not in the cards!
Have a smaller party at a park or in the backyard and do most myself and if I want to shell out money on something buy him a bigger gift. Thank you for saying how very simple it actually is!
I love the fact that you let your son choose the menu. He will probably remember that you asked for his input for the party more than anything. Kids think simple so it’s best to look for them. For my 1st son’s 3rd birthday party, he wanted a Spiderman party. I made the cake myself and I got a Spiderman costume off E-bay for like $20 that my dad wore and made his day! I find water and bubbles are great for summer parties. Kids will entertain themselves for HOURS with either one. I love the idea of using the playground as the party site. I’ve done my son’s at the state park before and to have a site there is only $10 and the beach is right there! And the Dollar Tree has great decorations and prizes if you do that sort of thing. Overall I think you had some great ideas.
Love this! Last year for our daughter’s 2nd birthday we did an extremely simple party, very very cheap. I almost forgot about it until last minute due to being pregnant w/ our second child and working and all the other things life throws at us. We felt so bad b/c we didn’t do this HUGE extravaganza like some family’s do, but it was what we could at the time, this makes me feel so much better about no wasting the money. I’m trying to get ideas for her party this year, and we will be keeping it simple once again. Thanks for sharing your great ideas!
We are looking forward to our son’s 1st birthday, but we’re going the same route as we have with our daughter. I would love to shell out hundreds of dollars for them on their birthdays, but it’s all for show and most of our money allotted to their birthdays are for their presents. Last year Bug’s mom went and spent over a hundred dollars for a Yo Gabba Gabba party for her 2nd, and while it was pretty she really didn’t care other than her “oooh!” at the cake. At our house the day before, we bought the Dora the Explorer table cloth and since we have a small table, I cut of part of it to decorate the front door, then made matching chains with pink and purple construction paper and baked cupcakes, and we ordered pizza. She loved it, spent the next two weekends we had her making more because she wanted to play with them. For Monkey’s 1st birthday, I’m going to learn to make fondue with my mom so we can make the cake ourselves, and it’s going to be family only, maybe one or two of our friends that have a few kids. We are going to buy variety balloons, and my stepdad has a helium tank at work, so we’re covered there too. Food will be covered with my family, we all like to bring food no matter when you’re told not to lol.
[...] 10 Frugal But Fun ideas for kid’s birthday party. At Rookie Moms you can find out how you can cut down on cost when you throw a kids birthday party. I especially like their idea of making your own cupcakes instead of buying an expensive birthday [...]
i like your idea but what if you have to find the location. I have three kids that i really want to have them a second birthday party. And it is really hard for me i would like to know what ideas you have.
It is sometimes very difficult to arrange a great birthday party without spending too much money. We fail to keep balance between our expenses and our the quality of the party. The ideas that you have shared here are a great to way to spend less and have a party full of fun.
For a cheaper location, try renting a room (or even a gymnasium) at your local park. Our park (in Chicago, even) rents rooms for as low as $25 an hour.
We luck out with a summer birthday in the Bay Area – baby boy’s January birthday will be trickier.
Her 3rd birthday party was at Arlington Park in El Cerrito — favors were in aluminum buckets I had gotten on clearance at Target after Easter. We still use ours for art supplies, and I see my friends using them in various ways in their houses too, so that’s my favorite part.
We always do a party that doesn’t occur during meal time, so snacks and cake are legit as the only offerings:)
However the 4th birthday was the best as she has requested we do the exact same thing this year — a painting party in our backyard. Cardboard house and castle to decorate and play in, wooden birdhouses and tshirts to paint, and a piñata of course. It was a blast:)
Ooh – the decorate your own bagel party is genius! (It doesn’t hurt that my kid LOVES bagels.) I may steal it — we had to cancel our party for bad weather earlier this year, so I do owe him a little get together with some friends.