We have never been a family that has had a big birthday party for our kids. Their first birthday was all friends and family. Now that she is 5 she has many friends. I would love to give her the party of her dreams, without breaking the bank! She has about 15 friends and I wish not to spend more than $200. She is TOTALLY into the whole princess theme. I do wish not to have it at our home, we have a small home and 15 kids +parents = no room! Any ideas?
Thank you! It is greatly appreciated!
Thank you all very much for the great ideas! I knew I could count on all of you. I think I have convinced my 5 year old that having a few "girlfriends" over is the way to go. She will have 5 of her closest friends. After looking at the party planning website, I got the ideas that will make it a great event. As much as I fear the size of my house being a problem, I think 5 extra girls and 5 moms won't be too bad. We are going to do a "Allie's Princess Spa" theme. What every girl wants, right?! Hair, Nails, 'sparkly" Makeup, Dresses and tiaras. I asked her about it and I could not believe how excited she was. So I hope it will live up to her expectations. As for cost, I think I can do it all for under $100, but I don't mind spending a little more to spoil her friends!
Thank you Again for all your help!
Maybe pre make some crown butter cookies and bring all kinds of goodies to let the girls decorate their own?
I think you could really easily do that large of a party for less than $200. The biggest issue to start with is where to have the party. If you are a member of a church or other organization with a building, check to see if they will let you use their building. Sometimes there is a small fee, but if you are a member it's usually less. Now for a princess party, there are lots of easy things you can do for very little expense. I would write on the invitation for the guests to wear their best princess dress (prince for any little boys!). You could take pictures of each of the guests to use as "Thank You" notes after the party. It might be fun to let the kids make their own tiaras out of cardboard & aluminum foil, decorated with stickers. You could have a fashion show, line everybody up to show off their costumes to the grown-ups. Maybe you could do a little "princess etiquette" class where we practice walking properly & using Princess manners, etc. Just be creative & remember that it doesn't have to cost too much. The "Dollar Tree" or "Family Dollar Store" are really great places to look for decorations & party favors, but the more you can make yourself the better. I know this may sound crazy with 3 little ones, but I just did a party about this size with 4 little boys 6 & under helping me out! It can be done!! Really the key to a party for kids this age is to keep them busy, but also remember that their attention span is still pretty short, so nothing too involved. One more suggestion - don't feel bad asking the adults at the party to participate. That's a lot of little people for you to keep busy all by yourself! I hope this helps & I bet it will be a really fun party!
My youngest (of 5)had her 5th birthday at our house, but you could easily do this at a nearby park as well. We rented a bunce house, a princess castle in pink & purple. I got princess tiaras, and wands for the girls. We also had a princess pinata. My oldest daughter also had a party at build a bear, great price, I think it was like $16 per girl, for a bear & a t-shirt for the bears. They had a great time. We had the cake & presents in the food court=no mess to clean up, AND they do the entertaining for you, you just sit back & enjoy! Pump it up is also a great place, a little pricey though. And the little Gym has great birthday parties too!
Good luck!!!
my sis rented a roon at the boulder outlook and had a pool party and manicures and pedicures at foot massages for all the kids. it was girly and they loved it and they have apool so it was a totaL POOL PARTY WITH SOOO much fun to be had. you can bring food there to make it cheaper and tell al to bring a sleeping bag and have mom's drop them off ad pick them up in the am before breakfast, if u don't wanna bringa second meal but cinnamin rolls and juice is a nice treat to celebrate everyone's bday thr next day :):)
good luck
Hi M.,
Another idea that I saw at a birthday party, is a "princess chair" wither a lounger or regular chair with pink sheet or fabric over it and then the girls got to have their nails painted, and at the dollar store you can get the decals to put on their nails. Good luck and don't get too overwhelmed. :)
K.
I have to say 15 is a lot for a five year old. I limit my daughter once she hit five to the number of years she is that is how many kids she can invite. This way they get to do something really special and it doesn't cost me a ton. This year I took her and six friends to the mall to get their nails done and have a big girl lunch at California Pizza. They all thought they were so grown up. Then they got really cool gift bags with girlie stuff in it! All the girls raved about it. I would say have your daughter pick really close friends only. As they get into Elementary you obviously will have more kids your daughter will add and it can get overwhelming. I quit worrying about who I felt I had to invite and really took inventory on who she really played with and had a close bond with and let her choose from a list. You can really do a lot more fun things if you limit the kids you invite. Movies out, a trip to the zoo, really cool things and stay under $200.
Perhaps you could rent a club to have it at. Maybe an apartment complex or something? A park would be fun if the weather cooperated. Princess parties can be fun.....Crafts are a good way to keep costs down- as they can be used for party favors too.
Other ideas posted were great....... Finding a place to have it and keep the cost down might be kind of hard as I don't know the area that well. Library might let you rent a room?
Sifting in sand for hidden princess treasure is fun.. You could put ring pops in there - candy necklaces..
Familyfun.com has some great princess ideas too..
Hope that helps
I always start w/ birthdaypartyideas.com.
we did princess this year for my 4-yr old. one game was pass the poison apple (hot potato). If you had the apple you went to sleep and it took a kiss (hershey's) from the prince (my husband) to wake you up. another game was beauty, beauty, beast (duck, duck, goose). can't remember the others - but similar theme - take standard games and adpat to princess.
we made paper plate crowns and magic wands (foam stars attached to balsa sticks). they decorated w/markers, glitter glue (we were outside), ribbon, and foam stickers.
Everyone got a princess skirt (The Dollar Tree) when they came in and then finished their transformation w/ the crowns and wands. then we had a royal "ball". also used their magic wands to make wishes - the wand had to pop a bubble and then they got a wish.
homemade cake (box mix). decorated w/some of her small princess figures.
different rooms were decorated as different princesses. one room was pink and white - aurora. another was blue and white for cinderella. yellow and white in the kitchen for belle and green outside for ariel. this was just streamers and balloons.
we had about 10 kids + parents and we spent less than $50, including food and gift bags.
I'm not sure how much Once Upon A Party is but she has Princesses. Here is her website www.onceuponaparty.bravehost.com
Check it out.
When my oldest daughter was about that age, I had a "tea" for her and her friends. The girls all dressed up with a fancy dress, most in an old formal that was huge on them from their mother's closet or Goodwill, we made big fancy hats (very cheaply), I made a menu and printed it out, served the little ladies things such as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut into cute shapes, and just basically made it look like a tea party. The girls loved it, it was cheap, and it really wasn't much work on my part at all.
My daughter, now 21, still occasionally talks about how fun it was!
I would go to a park. You could still have all the princess plates, napkins, decoratins, ect. If you did do it at a park you could go to michales and get a bolt of tule and some ribbon and decorate the area so that it looks more like a princess party. Michales also has foam crowns that you could get and let the girls decorate and take home. You could also ask that all the little girls come in a princess costumes. I hope this helps or at least gives you some ideas.
A.
Puppet Theater has group rates that are reasonable & I believe they are doing "Cinderalla" right now!
