Shannon has asked us to repost a "Greatest Hits" Works for Me Wednesday. I've only had a couple posts so far for WFMW, so I decided to repost my very first one. So here it is!
I don't like to spend a lot of money on birthday parties—I'd rather spend the money on my child's gift—and I also don't like to stress out over throwing a party for preschoolers, so over the last few years I've done my children's birthday parties a little differently to cut down on both the cost and the stress level.
1. Forget the cake! Well, there's actually still cake, but just in a different form—cupcakes. And now here's the low-stress part…I don't frost the cupcakes! Nope, I leave that to the kids.
During the party I set out paper plates for each child (the little Zoo Pals plates work really well since they have the two bowl-like ears) and put a spoonful of frosting in one ear, and an assortment of sprinkles in the other. Then the kids get to frost and decorate their own cupcake. Not only does it save time and money doing it this way, but the kids really enjoy decorating their own birthday cupcake.
And since you're using cupcakes, you can also put a candle in each cupcake so all the kids have a candle to blow out.
2. Scoop out the ice cream into individual cups before the party. Stick a plastic spoon in each cup and place all the filled cups on a tray in the freezer. When it's (cup)cake and ice cream time, it won't take much time at all to serve the ice cream to all your hungry guests. A twist to this that a friend of mine just did a couple weeks ago for her daughter's party is to fill a cupcake tin with foil cupcake liners, and then fill the liners with the scoop of ice cream.
3. Don't make goody bags ahead of time. Instead, purchase a package of colored "lunch-sack" gift bags and then let the guests decorate the bags with stickers and markers during the party. This takes the stress out of having to know exactly how many kids are going to attend so you can make sure you have enough goody bags. The next step will explain what goes into the goody bags.
4. Make a paper bag pinata from a large gift bag, decorate it with streamers, and then fill it with the candy and party favors. During the party, the kids can take turns hitting the pinata with a stick (we use a lightweight plastic kids' golf club). When the pinata is broken open, the kids can use their decorated bags to pick up the goodies.
We usually begin the birthday party with the kitchen table set up for decorating the goody bags. I also put out a coloring sheet or two so the kids won't run out of activities while they are waiting for the rest of the guest to arrive.
After the bags are decorated, we bring out the cupcakes for decorating. The kids finish up decorating, eat their cupcakes and ice cream, and then move into the living room for the pinata.
The final phase of the party is the presents, after which the kids just play with each other (and with the new gifts), and by that time parents are usually arriving to pick up their kids.
Low-stress, low-cost, and low-fuss!
Visit Rocks in My Dryer to read other great "Works For Me Wednesday" tips.
Great ideas! I've been posting a series about frugal birthday parties over at my blog. I love the simplicity of your ideas. Cupcakes have always been a favorite of mine. So easy to make and saves a bundle!
Some great ideas! My little one has yet to have her first birthday but I love the low stress ideas and will need to remember those for the future! I'm sure we'll have a kid friendly part each year separate from a family bash, so it's nice to not have to buy two cakes! I'm sure the kids enjoy the cupcakes and decorating even more 🙂
Great ideas! Just one quick question, do you have any general guidelines as to timing of the parties (afternoon, mid morning, evening?) And how long do you plan for the parties / do you put a begin and end time on your invites?
Tina,
Actually I do have a couple guidelines I follow.
#1 I don't schedule the party during a mealtime (cuts down on the cost when you don't have to provide more than just cake and ice cream)
#2 I usually hold the parties just after noon. That way, the kids have already eaten lunch, so the cake and ice cream won't spoil their meal.
#3 I usually plan for only 1 1/2 hours for preschool parties. It has always been just enough time (and not TOO much time!) And yes, I put a beginning AND ending time on the invitations.
Hope that answers your questions.
Joy
These are such great ideas!! Today is our oldest's birthday. Ms. Serious is now 11 years old. My goodness time flies.
We are planning a camping party and these will make it so much easier! TY!!!
great party planning ideas! I agree with you, you don't have to spend a lot of money to have a great party. As long as you have the right materials, everything will fall into place eventually.
There are some great ideas here! Thanks for sharing.
Great ideas, I love the idea of pre-scooping the ice cream!
I love your article so much! My little one just had a birthday–we went to Border's books to buy her a book, and we splurged at the cafe.
We dont' really hold birthday parties because we have had to move a lot, and we don't have many friends.
I felt bad about our "little parties", especially since we used to attend very large ones.
However, this article makes me happy that there are others (like us) who do not over-do a child's party.
Thank you so much for the article–and your pictures are very adorable.
I'm new to wordpress. How do you get the bars on the sides to contain so much information? I'm using Hemingway; I just imported articles from my old blog last night.
Sorry it is not on topic.
Thanks!
Thanks, Joy, I grabbed your book tour banner for my blog! I appreciate your sharing with us.
These are great tips! It almost makes me want to host a party….lol
I love the cupcake-decorating idea! Thanks for sharing.
Great tips!! i'm going to use some of them this very weekend 😉
To Carolinamaine:
Don't feel bad about your "little parties" or alternative birthday celebrations.
Although we always celebrate with immediate family on the weekend before or after her birthday, my 15 year old has only had 3 actual birthday parties with groups of children. These were on her 1st, her 6th, and her 12th birthdays. On other years, we have made birthdays special without a party of children. Every year, we take our daughter out to dinner on her actual birthdate, and take treats to school and/or her soccer team. One year we spent her birthday weekend in a state park cabin, and another year, we went to an indoor water park. She is planning to celebrate her 16th birthday with a party of friends, but there are a myrid of ways to celebrate – and each year brings a new opportunity to be creative.