Cheap B-Day Party Ideas

20 years ago

Youngest son turns 10 this weekend and wants the party at our house. Any frugal tips would be welcome. Anyone have some cheap ideas for the dreaded gift bags? I hate those things.It seems like everyone sends one home at the parties and my personal view is that they cost money and contain a bunch of worthless snacks and candy the kids need like another hole in the head anyway.But in the interest of providing a normal childhood memory....

Thanks in advance, Sandy

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

Adella Bedella
20 years ago
What's the theme?

My boys will turn 2 and 4 in March and April. I'm doing a combined outdoor/gardening/dirt digging type theme for them. The $1 or less store has straw hats. I'm going to hot glue some green leaves, worms, bugs, frogs or whatever I can find on them for party hats and the kids get to take them home. We'll have dirt cake cake made of chocolate pudding and gummy worms. I'm not planning any games. The kids can just play together with the toys. For favors, I'm thinking of planting a flower in a cup of dirt or letting the kids do it themselves. Also, I'm asking that no presents be brought. Maybe I can set some sort of precedent for the rest of the group.

Maybe instead of a gift bag, you could just buy one bigger thing and send it home with each kid like a can of silly string or something else age appropriate. (I'm not really sure what 10 yo boys are into.) I'd just choose one bigger itemand attach a note saying something like "Thank you for coming to ds's party."
mid_tn_mama
20 years ago
I've been pondering this because I don't have boys and know much about them. But I do know that ten is about the age that boy scouts start teaching knife safety. Local woodworking/whittling groups often provide the training and labor (one on one) to teach whittling.

The gift at the end of the party are small pocket knives (I've seen cheap ones at the dollar store and nice ones for a dollar at flea markets/antique stores). The bags could include small pieces of throwaway wood or branches for them to whittle. You could get some safety/whittling information off the internet.

If you do it yourself, try to have one adult per child or have some kids watch while others do. Start by making paper knives and teaching how to open safely.

They could practice cutting food by preparing their lunch (carrot sticks, etc..) as well.

Give the knife to the PARENT at the end of the party and ask them to keep the knives and use them WITH their child. The gift bag could be a hobo bag (bandanna on a stick). The bandanna could be made out of leftover fabric or an old dress.

You could make a fire and let them cook out. Not many kids get to go camping or learn camping skills so it would be met with excitement.
Related Discussions
Help me with Party Ideas for Senior Citizen's B'day party
Q
Comments (4)
When my mother turned 70, we gave her a surprise party and wrote and performed a little musical of her life. She definitely loved that! But our family is into stuff like that. Yours may be more into art, writing, etc. For my 50th birthday, my husband contacted everyone he could think of and asked them to contribute a little anecdote for an album. He put photos in the back. I adore it. I recently did a "this is your life" slide show for a party honoring someone. Her family gave me photos. But in addition to the real photos from her life, we put in lots of downloaded photos with her face photoshopped in (always the same photo of her face, and always just a little too large). For example, when the narration was about her meeting and marrying her husband, there were a few of the two of them together, and then her with Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Homer Simpson, King Kong ... etc. It was really funny to think of things; she is a VERY refined and elegant lady, and we had her getting a tattoo, pole dancing, in a motorcycle gang, on a Tabloid cover, in the Sopranos -- like that. What made it funny was that we kept the narration perfectly straight and played very formal music behind it. It was very well received, and the guest of honor loved it. Do you think your mom might like something like one of these ideas? I, too, think I would prefer something like that to making the guests play games. I think it is so nice of you to make a party for your mother. You don't need to "program" every minute with games, though -- your mom's friends will enjoy socializing with each other.
...See More
B-Day Party Ideas????
Q
Comments (2)
Been thinking about the golf themed birthday party, here's somethings I remember from looking at some of the sites and some others I came up with: 1) Cover the table with a green paper or plastic cover (for that grass effect); 2) Find a picture of the boyfriend playing golf, find some old golf magazines, etc. and cut out pictures of famous players. Go to a photocopy store, cut, paste & photocopy the picture(s) of the boyfriend & famous players so it appears he had been playing golf with them. You could do individual pictures or make one large poster board with several of them on it; 3) Fill a jar with golf tees and have the guests guess how many are in the jar and give a prize for the closest guess; 4) Make flags like they use in the holes (large or small) maybe made with tooth picks to be used in the food; 5) Find some of those candle holders you find at craft stores where you can put a candle in the center of the holder and then fill the outer rim with golf balls or golf tees; 6) Saw a miniture golf bag cooler on one of the sites I mentioned, could use that as a centerpiece. Fill it part of the way with tissue paper then use some of that green Easter grass and place some golf balls on top of that and around the bottom of the bag; 7) Could have your local grocery store or bakery make a golf themed cake; 8) Get a couple of those topiary forms from the craft store, maybe one that already is set up in a pot, then hot glue golf balls on the top, fill the pot with that Easter grass, tie a couple of green and white ribbons on it. Hope some of these ideas help. What ever you deceide on hope you have fun and your party is a success!!
...See More
1 yr old B-day Party Ideas
Q
Comments (2)
One word: CRAFTS! For the over-3 kids: I'd comb the local crafts store. Get the usual drawing and coloring items, construction paper, scissors, and pipe cleaners, glue, foam balls, etc. Add stuff from home like toilet paper and paper towel rolls, and buttons. Beads and cording are a huge hit for girls, since they love to make jewelry. Craft stores will have all sorts of neat things like foam visors and tiaras with foam shapes to glue on... there'll be lots of Christmas stuff out by then, too. You can also buy a large roll of paper (like butcher paper) and roll it out on the floor and let them go at it with the crayons and markers. If things can get messy you can add paints and glitter. Don't forget bags for them to take their creations home. The 3-and-under crowd have to be constantly supervised anyway, but you can give them edible crafts. One idea is to put out pointy ice cream cones, green tinted frosting, and small candies... the kids can coat the cones with the frosting and stick candies on them and they look just like Christmas trees. (Have enough for older kids, too, because they will want to do this also.) You can give the little ones the crayons, paper, and coloring books, too, of course. If there aren't too many kids, they can decorate a gingerbread house that you've already put together. A craft area attracts kids like a magnet and I've never met a kid who didn't like to be creative. My daughter and her friends made beautiful flowers from a bag of assorted "petals" and pipe cleaners. When we added beads they used those as heads and made beautiful fairies with petal skirts! If the weather's good, all the kids can be led on a nature hunt and gather leaves, sticks, and pinecones to go in and use for crafts, too. Cheers, from SwampWitch p.s. Recruiting parents for organized games would be good to do after they've had sugar. There are many books with great kids' games ideas and most don't need any extra props.
...See More
Need Theme Idea for 30th B-Day
Q
Comments (6)
Did she ask him what he'd want, or is this a surprise party? Good luck finding something that will get everyone to participate! LOL But if it's a favorite of his, that would encourage more participation. Also, how far do you want to go? Is this some major dress-up or a theme for decoration, menu and atmosphere? It could also have an impact on people who are financially strapped if that applies to any of the guests. Not trying to be a wet blanket, just pointing out some things to consider. Without knowing the people at all, I can't give any suggestion on a theme. But I can wish you luck and hope the party's a blast!
...See More
CindyBelleZ6NJ
20 years ago
Themes are a good place to start. You could have make your own pizza party; you could do decorate a cookie stuff, decorate a gift bag-give small prize for most original, etc, making sure not to leave anyone out. The Tightwad Gazette talks about a pirate party. You could also check out www.thedollarstretcher.com, and look under parties, lots of good ideas. Good luck!
yellowhair
20 years ago
Maybe you could have different bowls full of little gift items, also some fruit and candy--------give the kids a gift bag and let them choose what they want----say they get a choice of 5-8 items. I think kids like choosing their things.

Some things kids might like---seashells, themed pencils, small soldiers, ships, army things.
Adella Bedella
20 years ago
http://www.thepartyworks.com/party-favors/clever-frugalpartyfavors.htm

I couldn't post this in the link box. It's an article with some inexpensive suggestios. I like the idea of putting favors in balloons.
cupajoe
Original Author
20 years ago
Just a follow up. I decided to buck the trend and skip the party bag. No one seemed to miss it . My sons usually lose theirs five minutes after they bring it home. They've yet to pull out anything other than candy that they actually use. We did an egg toss. That was a huge sucsess, maybe because most kids don't get to play with them at home. The eggs didn't break till they were across the yard from each other and shooting them like footballs.We also did water balloons which were prefilled in two different colors before they arrived . I miscalculated with those. They broke a hundred balloons in less than five minutes. Should have done 500. Got the balloons at the dollar store.The third activity was a small karioke machine that we already had. Eveyone had fun with that. After the cake they tossed a football around, then I sugested a human pyrimid, and they had a lot of fun with that till parents picked them up.Looked like they were having fun to me. Thanks for the ideas, Sandy

Cheap B-Day Party Ideas

Comments (6)

Adella Bedella

mid_tn_mama

Related Discussions

CindyBelleZ6NJ

yellowhair

Adella Bedella

cupajoe
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Cheap B-Day Party Ideas

Comments (6)

Adella Bedella

mid_tn_mama

Related Discussions

CindyBelleZ6NJ

yellowhair

Adella Bedella

cupajoeOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

cupajoe
Original Author