Frugal Birthday Party

OK....So, let me give you a bit of background about birthdays and what they are here...I learned a VERY valuable lesson when my oldest daughter was turning 2. She was my only child (I was VERY pregnant with #2)...and thought she needed to "have it all"! We spent well over $400 on her birthday that year! We had a huge party...tons of gifts...a cake special ordered from another town, a new outfit for the birthday girl, and spent tons of time and money on decorations. This is how that party went....guests came, ate, made a mess, didn't look at the decorations, Ashley opened gifts that she never really played with, fell face first into her fancy cake and screamed her head off...and as I was rushing around in a frantic state to make sure everything was "just so"...my pants nearly fell down...for real! (gotta love well used maternity pants, right!)...so I literally dropped the plate of food I was carrying to pull up my pants....you get the picture...oh yeah...and my step-SIL told me I had ugly hair! Whew....that was worth $400, right??

This is now how we "do" birthdays....it's VERY low-key! I spend less than $5 on decorations...usually $1 for a tablecloth in the child's favorite color...and a treat for each spot at the table...and the rest of the decor is FREE! It may be cheezy...but kids DO NOT care about decorations! I think they would be sad if there were none, but they don't care what they actually are as long as it "looks" like a party to them! I put the gifts in the middle of the table (they get as many gifts as years old they are), I color and hang up coloring sheets in any "theme" they choose, and make a homemade birthday banner. They get to choose whatever homemade meals they would like to have that day, and what dessert they would like. Only a few of my kids like cake...they choose ice cream, pie, candybars...all different things! We don't have a single person over, and they still have to do school. We like birthday's, but we keep them in perspective...and cheap! I have never had a kid cry because they hated their birthday, so I guess we are doing ok!

The birthday pictured above was thrown yesterday for the little girl I babysit. It looks just the same as it would if it were one of my own kids. I think I spent around $10 for the whole thing...

decor...was only $1 for the table cloth as I decorated the table with her gifts, and stuff I had here

gifts...she turned 5 so she got 5 gifts...

1. movie, already had...Colton got a double for Christmas (Dora)

2. 10 commandments book (I buy the surprise packs from CBD and then hand out the stuff for gifts whenever I need one)

3. Dora coloring book $1

4. Play jewlery $1

5. A set of dolls $5

She had a brownie "dessert"....free....and the candles I had

She had the time of her life, the girls all dressed up in princess dresses....who could ask for more!