Birthdays. Boys. Budgets.

Many of us out there are not swimming in the moola. And with multiple children, it can be very easy to get out of control with your budget...especially on birthday parties. But it doesn't have to. Now, I didn't throw a whole big bash for my one-year-old or anything, but I don't think he's going to know the difference. You don't have a huge blowout to show your children you love them. Just saying. With that said, I still feel like birthdays are a big deal and the birthday person should feel special and loved. Now, being a military family, we have had to slowly build our friend circle and it isn't huge, but this can be a blessing in disguise...I mean who wants to deal with the drama of inviting everyone you know or hurting people's feelings when they are not included because you don't have the budget to. We don't have a lot of friends who have children the same age as our youngest...he is kind of in between with the families we know. In fact, there is only one child who was within months of turning one as well. The rest of the children in attendance happened to be related to friends we wanted to spend time with.

Anyway, we invited 5-7 other families/couples/individuals and ended up with 6 children celebrating Little B's 1st birthday. And all in all, I believe I spent less than $100 for the whole party. Here's how I did it.

The whole party was based around all things wheels - cars, trucks, trains, etc. My boys love everything that goes! So, I started by gathering all of the trucks and cars I had intended on using as props, decor, etc. These were free. :)

I also made my own road signs from scrap paper I had lying around. They said things like "Dead End," "Party Ahead," "Dig In," and various arrows. I also used the same yellow paper to create road markings that I taped to a black table cover I bought at the Dollar Tree bringing my total to..............$1.00

I also made my own little orange cones from construction paper. I didn't have any orange paper so I did indeed have to buy some from Michael's, but I used a 40% coupon making it maybe $2.00 or so. But I'm not going to count this toward my party budget mostly because I only used a handful of sheets from this multi-pack that will be used for scrapbooking and other crafts. These were used to decorate the main table and were stuffed with the favors I handed out at the end of the party. The favors included cheese/cracker snacks ($2.00), tattoos ($2.00), puzzles ($4.00), and mini cars ($2.00). This brings my total to about $11.00.

At the age of 1, there isn't a whole lot of party activities that they can take part in. That made things easy. I gathered a bunch of car-themed items I found around the house - wooden puzzles, books, matchbox cars, etc. I layed them out on a mini table (excuse the sticker-covered Dora set I borrowed from my daughter) with seats. I also bought several wooden cars/trucks from AC Moore craft store and provided crayons for them to decorate. These were a $1 each totaling $8.00. Now, my budget comes to $19.00 and we're more than half way ready for the party!!

The food is where parties can get expensive. That's why I plan my birthday parties at off-prime meal times like 2pm. That way, guests should have already eaten lunch, but will not yet be ready for dinner by the end of the party. I only have to provide some refreshments/finger foods. On this day, the menu included a case of water ($3.00), soda (less than $3.00), pretzels ($3.00), a cheese bread bake with fruits ($12.00), veggie straws ($3.00), and cake ($0.00)! A friend offered to make some cake pops in traffic light colors decorated with some of the boys' car and truck toys! We also had a few adult drinks that cost somewhere between ($15-20.00). That brings us to a total of about $63.00. I have to note that I found a super cute snack idea on Pinterest using apple slices and grapes. Basically, I cut the grapes in half and using a toothpick, I attached 2 halves on either side of the apple slice to make it look like cars! Check out the picture below.

The only items I have left out so far are balloons (which I hung from the ceiling instead of having them blown up with helium) and other very minor decorative items that cost about $3.00 and the invitations which were maybe $10. Final cost = $76.00. How amazing is that?!!! It was a relaxing time where I could focus on my guests and the birthday boy and it seemed like we all had a great time. Here is the final set up of the heart of the party. :)

P.S. Stay tuned for a budget-friendly spa party for my daughter taking place in just a couple short weeks.