Last month we celebrated Maddie's 6th Birthday!
We had planned on throwing her an ice skating birthday party with our family friends and her school friends. Although I knew she'd have a blast at her party, I knew I wouldn't be able to set it up at the venue the way I would like to for a party. I came to terms with that, and decided to do a simple set up for her at home when we would do birthday cake on her actual birthday.
Each year I love doing a simple little party backdrop which sets the mood for celebrating. This year we went with a pale pink and silver theme. It seemed "icy" enough to match her party (which I'll be re-using the party decor for).
We've been getting a Dairy Queen ice cream cake for our kids for the last few years. It's their favorite cake for birthdays, and I really love that you can do alot to customize the cake. This year I went with a simple rainbow image. I asked for all white icing around the cake to give it a simple look. Then I added some cake toppers to make it a little more festive. I've been using reusable acrylic cake toppers for a while now and I can't say enough good things about them. They are reusable which means you can use them over and over again. And they add alot of fun without spending alot.
We did do some simple goody bags for the guests who were coming to the party. I loved the pale pink bags and little silver stars. We included snowflake cookie cutters (to match ice skating!), candies, and some other little goodies
Here's a few other tricks I love using to make birthday planning more on budget.
Dollar store balloons. They are super inexpensive and can alot of fun to your party. I've never met a kid who didn't love balloons.
Dollar supplies in your colour palette. My favorites are pastel ones. I really love getting simple dollar store plates and cutlery and then spending a bit more on some cute napkins/cups from a cute party store. Its like mix-and-match!
A pack of special napkins/cups are usually less expensive than the plates...and you often get alot more. And if you're setting a table, you can place the napkin right on top of the plate to make it more decorative.
A pack of special napkins/cups are usually less expensive than the plates...and you often get alot more. And if you're setting a table, you can place the napkin right on top of the plate to make it more decorative.
Simple banners. For Maddie's birthday this year I re-used some banners we already had on hand. I did buy the triangle one from Michaels, but I used a coupon for 40% off to help a bit. But I've seen really inexpensive ones from Target that are just simple colors. They are perfect for adding a cute backdrop and can tie in your theme with just a simple color. And I always save mine to reuse. You can easily tape it to your wall with washi tape which usually comes off. Or if you have a mantle like mine, you can use some command wall hooks on the side and tie the banner to the hooks. I haven't taken my hooks off for months!
Mini Cupcakes. Maddie specifically requested no cake at her birthday this year. So we decided on vanilla cupcakes. To save a little on costs, I decided to purchase cupcakes at our local grocery store. I believe they were only $3 a box. They only had Valentines ones with heart sprinkles all over them. I decided to take all the heart sprinkles off and replaced them with my own cute sprinkles I have at home. This took less than an hour and I think they look adorable.
Fruit Salad. I love serving fruit at a party. Because you know kids are eating so much other junk already, it's nice to serve something healthy that they'll love to eat. I started doing this a few years ago because doing a fruit salad makes your fruit go SO much further. If I served plain ol' strawberries to a group of 15-20 kids, I would probably need 3-4 cartons of strawberries. In the winter that's pretty pricey. So I started doing a fruit salad and cutting up the fruit into smaller pieces. I usually use strawberries (quartered) , grapes (I half them), canned peeled mandarin oranges and sometimes pear/apple. I put them into a bowl with a big spoon to scoop. This makes the fruit last a lot longer at parties and parents are generally happy there is a fruit option.
Mini Cupcakes. Maddie specifically requested no cake at her birthday this year. So we decided on vanilla cupcakes. To save a little on costs, I decided to purchase cupcakes at our local grocery store. I believe they were only $3 a box. They only had Valentines ones with heart sprinkles all over them. I decided to take all the heart sprinkles off and replaced them with my own cute sprinkles I have at home. This took less than an hour and I think they look adorable.
Fruit Salad. I love serving fruit at a party. Because you know kids are eating so much other junk already, it's nice to serve something healthy that they'll love to eat. I started doing this a few years ago because doing a fruit salad makes your fruit go SO much further. If I served plain ol' strawberries to a group of 15-20 kids, I would probably need 3-4 cartons of strawberries. In the winter that's pretty pricey. So I started doing a fruit salad and cutting up the fruit into smaller pieces. I usually use strawberries (quartered) , grapes (I half them), canned peeled mandarin oranges and sometimes pear/apple. I put them into a bowl with a big spoon to scoop. This makes the fruit last a lot longer at parties and parents are generally happy there is a fruit option.
Party hats. I love party hats because they are so fun to wear and scream party time! And they look so cute in pictures. You know its a party when there's party hats! I got mine this year in a pack of pastels from Daiso for only $2. Totally worth it in my opinion.
We loved celebrating our girl this year, and hope that some of these party ideas were helpful!
We loved celebrating our girl this year, and hope that some of these party ideas were helpful!
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