Have Your Cake and Eat It Too!

My daughter recently turned 7 (which I am still trying to digest...someone cut me a piece of cake!). I don't like to spend a lot of money on birthday parties.  Sure you could go crazy and spend lots of money on your kids birthday party and try to get yourself on TLC's Outrageous Kid Parties show, but I am telling you right now that I would definitely be talking about you. I would also be wondering who you were trying to impress because it wouldn't be the kids (they are happy with balloons, cake and a game...think about it...did you hate your birthday parties growing up?).  So, unless you are Tori Spelling and you are rich and the guru of creativity you need to keep reading.

Let's talk theme. Birthdays usually have a theme, so pick one and roll with it, but don't roll out the dough.  This year my daughter had a breakfast birthday...like "Breakfast at Tiffany's!"! Creative, check. Cute, check. Cheap, check.

First stop, the thrift store. Here we picked up four fancy plates and two fancy bowls for plating the breakfast food for $1.50. We also picked up a server for the maple syrup for $.99 and a tiered server for $1.99 to serve the fresh fruit.

Second stop, Wal-Mart. This is where we picked up the blue tablecloth for $1.00, black plates for $1.50 (we purchased two), black cups for $1.00, white napkins for $1.50 and blue sparkle alphabet stickers for $2.99. We also picked up cake mix and icing for cupcakes ($6.00).

This is where we used our sparkle stickers!

Third stop, the party store. Here we only picked up a few items. We headed over to the clearance rack and picked up little, white favor boxes which were 12 for $1.00.  We also found decorative diamond rings that we used as cupcake toppers for $2.50. Our final item was friendship braid kits. You got three for .49 (we bought 9).

Homemade cupcake, decorative diamond ring and thrift store fancy plate

Final stop....FOOD!  On the menu was bacon, sausage, waffles, pancakes, strawberries, grapes and sparkling grape juice. We fed nine girls for $35.67.

Don't worry, I didn't forget the favors! I splurged a little here, I'm not gonna lie, but the cuteness factor got to me!  Each girl took home one flower clip for their hair. The total cost was $25.50 ($8.50 for three and I needed nine).  I justified this in my head by saying that it was a favor they could keep and use, not just another "throw away" item. I displayed them on the boxes that I filled with jelly beans (for $1.00 a bag).



This fits the requirements of cute and creative!

Grand total: $92.05 (Under $100) for a lifetime of Kodak moments and memories.



This is just one example. Remember the three "C's": Cheap, Creative and Cute!