7th Birthday Party on a £30 budget

Nitamcc21

HI Everyone,
I'm planning a birthday party for my son at the end of the month. I've ordered and paid for the bouncy castle already but I have £30 for all the party stuff - i.e. food, games etc.... any help and advice VERY GREATFULLY received! Roughly 15 kids coming!!

Neets

p.s. posted this on another part of the forum and was advised that you guys might be able to help a bit better :D:D

daska

Traditional party games cost very little. Musical chairs can be played with cushions, scarves, even flannels if that's the only way to make up the number of seats - depends on the size of your room as to whether it's manageable with 15 kids. Pass the parcel occupies them for ages and only needs a small something between the layers. Pin the tail on the donkey/flame on the dragon etc? Musical statues etc.

As to food, sandwiches are good bet and lots of kids love marmite - mix it with the butter first to make it easier to spread - have some cheese ones for those who look like they're going to cry. Add a couple of bags of crisps and a bowl of tomatos (coop often have small ones in their economy packs - sometimes even baby plum tomatos ) A big jelly and some ice cream or evaporated milk will take care of afters.

Have fun, and make sure you've roped in some help for clearing up.

tessie_bear

hi...home bargains does cheap crisps/sweets/pop also party bags and decorations...you could do a pass the parcel cheapily with a gift from the £ shop in the middle and a sweet in each layer....chocolate bar game is cheap...u geta bar of chocolate and wrap in paper then children sit ina circle with a dice throwing it in turn...when one gets a 6 they go into the centre put on hat and gloves and try and open cocolate bar with a knife and fork....they take it off when another child throws a 6....hope that makes sense

i agree with a big jelly...u could put in jelly babies when cold but not set...a treasure hunt is cheap....just directions and a small gift....ballons always seem popular and cheap...u could pin fabric to ceiling then pull down at a strategic moment

for food id go for the smart price range and not go mad with quantities....sarnies/crisps/fruit/chocolate biscuits....are u making your own cake ??...simple sponge with buttercream and smarties sprinkled over the top

good luck let us know how u get on

craigywv

Nitamcc21 wrote: »

HI Everyone,
I'm planning a birthday party for my son at the end of the month. I've ordered and paid for the bouncy castle already but I have £30 for all the party stuff - i.e. food, games etc.... any help and advice VERY GREATFULLY received! Roughly 15 kids coming!!

Neets

p.s. posted this on another part of the forum and was advised that you guys might be able to help a bit better :D:D

hi, i had an 8 th b,day not so long ago same amount etc to spend it on heres what we did. went to mr t got 3 loaves own brand bread 2 packs ham basics, frozen mini sausages 2 bags ,chunk of cheese, basics pickles,basics crisps multi pack,4 bars basics chocolate 25p a bar,bag marshmallows,bag 33p dolly mixtures, a jelly 42p tin of peaches, tub ice cream85p,2 large baguettes got these night before whoopsied to 7p each,tin of condensed chicken soup, made own puff pastry (can be bought for 1.50 or something) . THEN went to £ shop for party bags, had 15 guests so got 2 packets of assorted lolly,chewy things ,2 packets of fancy rubbers,2 packets of branded multi-pack crisps,and 2 large assorted bags of pencils.... 8 quid for the party bags,mr t food approx came to 15 quid i made ham sandwiches, egg sandwiches (already had these),cheese and tom sandwiches,cooked bag of mini saus and put on plate, other bag i made puff pastry cut small squares and put mini saus inside ...mini sausage rolls!,then i used more puff pastry and cut vol au vent cases VERY HOMEMADE LOPSIDED LOOKING BUT LUSH added the condensed chicken soup and cook,, cut cheese into cubes put on cocktail stick with a pickle, sliced baguettes in to circles spread tomato sauce onto piece of ham and cheese and do in oven ..mini pizzas, then bowls of crisps. MELT YOUR 4 BARS OF CHOC IN A BOWL SPOON INTO BUN CASES PUT MARSHMALLOW ONTO OF MELTED CHOC DAB MORE MELTED CHOC ONTOP OF MALLOW AND STICK A DOLLYMIXTURE ON PUT IN FRIDGE 20 MINS ...TOPHATS. sorry didnt realise had caps lock on there:rotfl:cheapest part is i made a batch of buns and did varios icing, pink,white and pale blue added dolly mixtures to the top, birthday cake was an ordinary basic chocolate sponge topped with chocolate icing ,i had a box of MATCHMAKERS left over from christmas (can still be bought in £ shop) i broke these in half and stuck all over the cake added 2 eyes ....a hedgehog!! i have never bought a birthday cake in my life nor ever will i like to taste my cake not look at it! so entertainment was open back door and let them run wild!! folwed by pass the parcel had lollies wrapped up, musical statues and then they all made kites courtesy of oh!! so it can be done cheaply, sorry for boring you lol. i come from a big family so we have always had family parties not ones in leisure centers or mc donalds i couldn afford it, but my son has never complained enjoy the party,,and dont forget the most important thing to buy out of mr t approx 20p a box .....PARACETOMOL ...and a cuppa!!!;)

welshchocolatelover

1. A loads of tinned hot dog sausages and bread rolls for the food (7 years olds like the grown up food at parties!). Maybe a couple of tesco value cheese and tomato pizzas too?
2. Last year, instead of party bags (which let's face usually just contain crap.....) I bought a set of books from the Book People and wrapped each up individually for each child. They loved it and it was far more use than a plastic whistle lol. Something like this: http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webap...oductId=138524
3. Instead of a cake, recent parties mine have been to have given the kids a mini-muffin each instead (£3 for 2 boxes in Asda atm).
4. With a bouncy castle I doubt they'll need much more entertaining, but how about buying a bag of lollies and having a lolly-hunt. Or the good old fashioned games we used to play like musical chairs, sleeping lions, etc etc.
5. Have you got a patio? If so, and if it's nice some chalks would be fun for chalk drawing (or if you don't want the mess, some water and paintbrushes).

squeaky

Hiya

we have a few threads that you can browse....

birthday threads here on MoneySaving Old Style

party threads here on MoneySaving Old Style


You'll also find lots of other threads here:- Special Occasions & Other Celebrations

nuttyrockeress

If you can visit a supermarket the evening before at around 6pm you may well get some bread or bread rolls reduced which may help in food cost.

For example, we went to our local asda last night and they had the bags of 2 dozen cobs (bread rolls to those not local lol) for 55p - always worth a look!

If you have an Aldi local, keep an eye out on the super 6 there are often tomatoes on that for around 69p.

Nitamcc21

A big thank you to everyone!!! It looks like it will be manageable on £30. I confess to panicking about it a bit! I let you know how we get on... well thats if I've enough energy left after it!! haha

Thanks Again

Neets xx

learning_to_save

For my sons birthday one year we got an artistic family member to draw a picture of Ben 10 minus his omnitrix, he then drew the omnitix seperatly. We had them both laminated and the lads at the party played pin the omnitrix on Ben 10. They loved it as it was what they were all in to at the time. It is still a favourite now.

chanie

My nephew had a bouncy castle party a few years ago and none of the children wanted to play any party games cos the just wanted to play on the castle.

Food wise, we raided iceland and got their party food like cocktail sausages (a pound for 40 or something) and sausage rolls. Plus sandwiches using value bread

In terms of decorations we didn't go overboard and raided the poundshop for balloons, made paper chains etc.

Party bags were cheap stuff from the poundshop like a lollypop (15 for a pound). Bearing in mind that most stuff goes in the bin anyway, there isn't much point in spending loads.

It is worth checking out wilkinsons as their party stuff is under a pound

hilstep2000

We always played the chocolate game when I was a child! Loved it! Poundland do bits that you could make party bags up with, but why bother? When we were children we just got a slice of cake and a balloon when we went home!
Here's a link for 10 traditional party games:http://www.partypieces.co.uk/thepartytimes/?p=1220