Low Cost Birthday Party Ideas

I did a party where I made sugar cookies ahead of time (cut out shapes with cookie cutters) and frosting of different colors. I went to the dollar store and found an apron/chef hat combo for $1 each and spreaders (little hor d'oerve--?sp) sets. THe kids each got to frost a cookie to take home. They loved it!! THe aprons and spreaders got to go home too and were their favors. If you're short on money you could forget the apron and spreaders and the cookie could be their favor.

I would bake a cake and have a book exchange party. That way you don't have to do party favors and everyone goes home with a new to them book. I just decorted 8 birthday cakes for my son's first first birthday. It was the first time doing it on my own and they turned out awesome. I made tiny little monkey cakes just following directions off of wilton. I made a big monkey cake following the directions off of wilton as well. Everyone loved the cakes. :)

if the weather will cooperate, pick a park that none of your (hopefully few at age five) guests probably go to .. new play structures are always fun ;). Just about any park with a playground will do, although drive by first of course ... or on a weekend the school that your kid goes to or will go to (they can either show it off to their friends or explore what it will be like and gain some ownership into growing up) ... one park in my area has a cute 'bike race track' (actually a windy 2 foot wide pavement track) for preschoolers which we've had great success with, because kids can bring their bikes, trikes, scooters, skates, whatever ...

If the weather won't cooperate, there are likely some community rooms around (one here in Portland is only $60/3 hours!! and about 15ftx50ft ... perfect for family and a few small kids, with setup, 2 hr party, and cleanup time :) ) ... which is like "home" in that it is private, but not like home in that you don't have to clean it before you can decorate it ;)!

Also, no kid party should *ever* be more than 2 hours ;) ... it's not too much time to fill up ... on or two activities and cake+icecream, and you're done

activities: go to a thrift shop and see if there is anything that inspires you

yarn? spiderweb games, wrapping sticks to make magic wands, etc ... this summer we made pom poms and tassels to decorate bikes (and bike helmets), which is fun but takes about 5 minutes max, so I don't necessarily recommend it as a party game ;), but you can email if you don't know how and want directions ...

shells? if you get a box of 'glue dots' from a craft store, so noone has to mess with liquid glue, you could see who makes the craziest shell critter (glue dots come on a roll, in a cardboard box, and you'll have to ask the craft store people where they are) ... my kids had the grandest time with the last bag of shells I found at Goodwill, making 'houses' for the little carved-stone animals that the Goodwill people tossed in with the shells (those carved-stone animals are super cute and not too expensive, if you can get to a mall that has some sort of bead store or rockhound store ... although they will set off any very conservative Christians because they are of course at least based on if not actually "totem" animals)

those glass "pebbles"? seems like there are whole pages of sticky at craft stores, where you peel off a covering paper and the page under it is sticky? that would be all kinds of fun to stick glass pebbles to, then maybe shake some sand over it to cover any remaining exposed sticky

anyhow, those are just the last few things I've seen at Goodwill that seems like kids would just want to dig their hands around in them whether or not you provide a structured activity ;) ... this summer I watched a kid methodically use almost a whole roll of tape and an entire package of those craft popsicle sticks to make herself a 'purse' ... you just never can tell with kids :). Goodwill also often has baggies or jars of sequins, mardi gras beads, ribbons ... jumpropes, balls ... if you're lucky you might find stickers and they can decorate their party cups ...

a pinata is a FASCINATING object for most five year olds ... I stuffed one with Goodwill mardi gras beads and shells (over a soft surface, so the shells didn't break), with a handful of jelly beans to acknowledge the "candy" expectation ... noone seemed disappointed that the prizes weren't all candy ;) ... make sure you bring a banging stick, unless you go the Cuban route and sew ribbons through the bottom so the kids cooperatively pull it apart ...

'think that's all for now :).

One thing I do for my Oct birthday boy, is We get a picnic table at a pumpkim patch and bring cupcakes, and snacks and we all go out and if familys want to pick out a pumpkin and its really fun, cheap and memorable!

For my Nov baby we are doing chuck e cheese, We do not buy there party packages, bring our own plates, cake etc. Give each kid soem tokens. Let them run and play. Kind of chaoitic but kids enjoy it!

You could also have home party and make cupcakes! Ply games. Im not much into entertaining....so not for me!

My son's favorite thing about his 5th birthday was the pinata. Rather than getting candy I went to Goodwill and we picked out a few $1 bags of junkie little toys that kids love for some reason. These are the types of toys that generally come in Happy Meals and such. We did the pinata in a grassy area so the toys wouldn't break and that was the goodie bag too. All the kids loved it, and it cost me a total of about $12 - pinata & toys.

A.,
This may not seem like a low cost birthday party, but it is!
I took my son to Chuck E. Cheese and invited friends. I didn't buy a party package...too expensive. What I did, in the invite, I said that cupcakes would be provided and come play with us. I also bought tokens to give each child. There are coupons online (100 tokens for $15). I also made up a small gift bag for each child. It was a less expensive birthday party and the kids had a great time.
Good luck and have fun!!!

My daughter always likes dress-up tea parties with her friends. Everyone wears whatever fancy clothes they've got, you provide some cheap jewelry, old purses and scarves, and lots of make-up and nail polish. Make some little sandwiches, cookies, and serve drinks from a tea set and you've got a fancy birthday party! Works for a girly girl and only if all girls are invited.

I too suggest having the party at home or possibly a park. I have done this in the past and play games with cheap little prizes. One year I made icecream cone cakes and let the kids decorate them then eat. They loved it! basically I baked the cakes (or should I say cupcakes)in the icecream cones in a normal cupcake pan. Another place to look for cheap goodies is Oriental Trading. They havea website and send out catalogs. Its cheap and they sell in bulk.

dollar store/dollar tree, it sparks the imagination :-)
Happy Partying

First of all I would limit the guest list to 5 for turning 5, then I would have the party at home. You could set up 3 activities to do besides having the homemade cake. My experience is opening the presents works good with younger children if it's done as they arrive with a thank you rather than an activity. It takes the tension off. After cake if the weather is good have an outside fun thing to do (go to local park, sidewalk drawing,tag,leaf pile jumping etc...) Some of the inside activity could be making something like: stuffed bean bags with tails to throw outside during outside time, decorate cupcakes, storytelling, musical chairs, treasure hunt and finding treasures(looking for polished stones, marbles,candy) that go in party bag to go home.
Age five is still very young and there is time for skating parties, bowling, and other activities that take you to another location when they are older and not need as much help with the activities.

Well, there are a few things to consider i keeping costs low.
First of all you want to keep the number of guests reasonable. My rule is 1 child guest per year of age.

Set a time-frame for the party, meaning a start and end date. If you start after lunch and end before dinner (let's say 2 - 5 pm) everyone knows not to expect a full meal and that time frame is usually more than enough for a bunch of kindergartners on sugar, before they crash.

If you have the time bake a cake and other treats yourself. You don't have to be a "Top-Chef" to bake a cake for a 5 year old and his friends... supplement that with some sweets and snacks and you're good to go!

If you absolutely must a have theme buy a bunch of stickers and stamps (dollar store) that fit your theme and decorate your simple napkins, plates and cups - that is often cheaper than buying themed paper plates and cups.

For party favors I recommend getting some cheap toys from the $-store and make a little baggie out of a decorated napkin.

If the weather is expected to be nice, or you're not picky about it, a public park with a playground can be a great venue. If it needs to be inside, have it at home! Just party-proof your living room and have items for games on hand. We have a tiny house and living room so we move some of our furniture out of the way to allow more romping around.

I don't know when it started that people needed to spend a fortune on their kids birthdays. IMO all it should be is a nice get-together for them and their friends to play and have fun!
Good Luck.

-- Well the good news is 5 year olds really like:
fun things to eat
kids they enjoy to play with
and a few new things to unwrap.

- so a hot dog and ice cream party?? - ( you provide the hot dogs, buns, and vanilla ice cream--with a simple - maybe home made cake -- and your guests can bring toppings for the ice cream and condiments for the hot dogs --- I'm thinking of a family type party where grown ups and kids all are together- rather than a kids' only party ( I think for young children- they are just as delighted to have adults cheer on the new 'age' as they are their friends--- ) If it sounds more fun---- -maybe forget the hot dogs---
and have a SUPER SUNDAY party-- maybe on Sunday- where you provide cake and ice cream and the people attending bring different things to put ON the ice cream-- that could be wacky and funny-- and of course - delicious.

You can do it (((( some of the inexpensive gifts I've given children included walkie talkies -- kids LOVE them-- disposable cameras that THEY get to take all the pictures--
a picture or project that they've made---framed ( oh- they often look SOOO cool)

Blessings, --
J. - aka- Old Mom