childrens party

katiesmummy

Hi, Its my dd birthday at the end of next month, and i would love to give her a party (she will be 7) but am on a very tight budget. i have never done a party at home before- does anyone have any tips or ideas to save money but still give her a great time?

thanks in advance!

hostertlady

hiya, my children are older now but i remember the days when we used to have birthday parties, all i can say is make a party tea/buffet, put jazzy tablecloth etc, banners and balloons all over the place and if you go outside put some balloons on the washing line for decoration..
dont forget party bags..just get bulk packs of sweets, bubbles, that sort of thing..
make a cake or buy a cake ( asds do phto cakes for a tenner)
party games inside or out.....
lots of music and laughter..
you dont need to spend a fortune...xxhave funxx

katiesmummy

thanks for that! I have actually just come across the childrens party thread on the special occasion board and am having a look!

windym_2

Don't buy the usual money wasting tat for the party bags, buy the kids some cheap seeds, like sunflowers or tomatoes, they love doing it, and it is such a change from the norm.

MRSMCAWBER

Hi there
I did one for my niece a while back..started off helping my sister ended up doing all the food...
i made traffic light jellies..and jellies with those creepy crawly sweets crawling out for the little boys the best hit was the plastic cups..i had added a drop of food colour to the bottom of each beaker and then stacked them according to colour and then when you pour in the lemonade it changes colour by "magic".... i think i had as much fun making everything as they did eating it..pinwheel sandwhiches and sandwiches cut into fingers... and if you dont want to go to the expense of buying a birthday cake..what about buying some basic buns..making a bit of butter cream and let each child decorate their own,,, bags of jelly beans, choc drops etc...and if you could cope how about letting each child make their own mini pizza..you can make your own bases, buy them..or even use pitta breads sliced through the middle....it might take a little more organisation but they will be so occupied it will cut down on the expense of party games with prizes..oooh youve got me started now LOL

Madmel

Some ideas we have used or copied are:

Making pizzas. Either make your own or buy the mini bases and some tomato sauce stuff. Then grate up a load of cheese and get things like sweetcorn, ham, peppers etc for them to decorate them with. Whilst they clean up, cook them, then the party tea is done (and they did all the work :rotfl: )

Designing and making crowns. You can cut your own black base shapes out then get things like glitter, glue, stars etc. and get everyone to design & make their own. One friend buys some plain brown paper carrier bags and gets everyone to decorate and personalise their own bag. Then everything they make can go in their own bag. You can also get some beads and get them to make their own bracelets/necklaces. You can sometimes pick up the bits in places like Poundland.

Good luck - we copped out for DD1's 7th birthday and went to the cinema then had a sleepover in the tent!

Katie~baby

I had a craft party for my daughters 4th birthday.

Get a wallpaper table and pile it with arts and crafts stuff, tin foil, old fabrics, sweet wrappers, tissue paper pens etc you get the picture lol
The majority of stuff can be purchased in the poundshop. Get some old cereal boxes ask family and friends to keep them for you. Also get paper plates, kids just love decorating them.

The kids have a fab time and really love going home to mum to show them what they have made!

As for food i always find with party food there is loads left over, so i done curly fries and nugggets, ok so not healthy but hey what party is! lol

3KIDSNOMONEY

Argos have a sale on and are doing packs of ponies (like my little ponies) for £4.99. I think you get 12. Good idea instead of party bags.

AnnieH

For my dd's birthday, we had a game of eat the doughnut. Ring doughnuts (one per child) were put on bits of string and help up at child height. The children were to put arms behind back and eat the doughnut off the string (very funny to watch).
If they touch it with their hands, they're out. If the doughnut falls on the floor they're out.
The winner is the first one to eat all their doughnut, or the last one out:)

shelby161

Just to let you know that Lidls have birthday bits in this week.Today i saw banners 99p,tablecloths 99p,straws 99p,plates ,napkins and plastic cups 79p/99p.They wer in different designs;Winnie,Disney princess, Mickey mouse,and i think i saw Barbie.HTH

ailuro2

The seeds idea is great- paint some yoghurt pots beforehand,let them colour them in on the day, fill them with compost and a few seeds (cress is easy and grows quick- or perhaps some 'here's one I made earlier' flower seedlings) then take it home with a balloon- tbh I would be really impressed if my 8yo DD came home from a party with something that nice instead of a plastic bag full of pieces of useless tat and sweets.