Inexpensive Children's Parties

Inexpensive Chidlren's Parties
You can give your child a great party without breaking your budget. Spend your dollars where they'll have the most impact with the kids. Fortunately, most kids are more concerned about having fun with their friends that receiving expensive party favors or eating fancy food.

Use our 10 Inexpensive Party Tips to have a great party for your child without spending more than you can afford to.

I usually spend about $20 per child as follows:

$3-5 party ware & decorations
$5-7 favors
$3-5 games and prizes
$5-7 food

But as you might expect I have a tendency to go overboard and I know that if I had to, I could pull-off a party for much less.

#1 Pick a simple and inexpensive party theme. Some party themes are just naturally more expensive, because they require lots of decorations, fancy food, or entertainment fees. Other party themes are relatively inexpensive. Check out our Party Themes and think about which ones would be least expensive for you to pull off.

#2 Have the party at a one-stop party place... a place that provides the entertainment, the decorations, the food, and the party favors. This might include a kid gym, a children's museum, a game arcade or a restaurant. Surprisingly these package deals can be less expensive than pulling together all the pieces yourself.

In a real pinch you could take younger children to a McDonald's with a large play gym (free activity), bring a cake ($5 homemade, $10-20 store bought) and balloons ($5), and buy them each a happy meal ($3 each and the favor is included!). Total cost could be as little $5 per child.

#3 If the weather is likely to cooperate, consider having the party at a park with a playground and an open field. Bring some sports equipment, kites, frisbees, or other outdoor games. The location and activities (playing) are free. You add basic refreshments (cake, ice-cream, and drinks), party ware (table cloth, cups, plates, etc.) and some balloons for an inexpensive, but fun celebration.

#4 Shop for party supplies at discount stores (WalMart, Kmart, Target, etc.). The selection may be more limited than a party store, but the prices can be much less. Most discount stores carry paper cups, plates, napkins, utensils, balloons, streamers, party favors and candy. Be creative, you may not be able to find plates printed with Elmo at your local discount store, but plain red plates will be fine.

#5 Check our Party Favors page for low cost favor ideas. Discount stores often have great deals on coloring books, crayons, story books, balls, toy cars and more. Keep an eye out for low cost packaged sets that you can open and divide up for party favors, such as a bucket of legos (put a big handful in an individual favor bag), a set of toy cars, or a booklet of stickers that you can tear individual pages from.

#6 Buy party kits. Birthday Express sell all-inclusive party kits for many themes that include party ware, decorations, and favor bags. These can be significantly less expensive than buying supplies separately.

#7 Keep it small. Limit the guest list to 6 or fewer of your child's closest friends to keep costs reasonable.

#8 Schedule the party for a time of day when you aren't expected to provide a meal, such as 10 am-Noon, or 2-4 pm. You can serve drinks, cake and ice-cream instead of a meal.

If you really need to provide meals, such as for a Movie Night or Game Night Party, look for a coupon special from a local pizza parlor (sometimes they have 2 for 1 specials) or serve up some kid-friendly mac & cheese.

#9 Get help! Ask friends and family to help with specific tasks. Maybe your cousin can bake a great cake, an artistic friend might be able to do face painting or coordinate some inexpensive craft projects, and older siblings can blow up and hang balloons (less expensive than helium).

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