Planning a party on a budget?

We have an article, kindly supplied by Cari Parker of Party Sprite, to tell you how…

Have you got a birthday party to plan and little or no budget for it?

You want to give your child and their friends a fun time, but you can see the costs mounting up, venue, food, entertainment, birthday presents, party bags, it can all seem so expensive and time consuming. However it is possible to have a party on a budget, and here we hope to give you some ideas on how to achieve this. I hope you find it useful.

Firstly, make sure you set a budget and stick to it. Costs can easily mount up if you don’t keep a close eye on them, it is easy to say ‘oh that’s only an extra £10 on food, an extra £20 on entertainment’ and before you know it you are well over your budget. Divide the amount you have to spend into categories, allowing for food, entertainment, venue, prizes and party bags, decorations and tableware, and invitations. We will look at all the categories individually in a minute.

Next you need to decide which of these categories is the most important. As I said in a recent article in Practical Parenting, only you remember what you have spent, so focus on the entertainment as this is what your child and guests will remember in the weeks and months following your party. Decide what your child would love to do, remember to think about the age of your guests as well, I know at my eldest’s party we had a range of ages from 2 up to 11 so you need to consider all your guests and try to find something that they can all join in.

Ok, so lets look at your categories. First up is the venue. A good way to save money is to host your party at home, but if you don’t have the space for twenty children running about then this may not be a option. A cheap alternative is to look at local village halls and community centres, even some local groups may be happy to hire out their premises for a couple of hours. These places cost a fraction of some of the soft play areas and other organised party venues, but you must factor in the cost of entertainment and food when you are making your decision.

For entertainment it is quite easy to do it yourself. I remember as an older child, planning a disco for my sisters birthday, I would do a music quiz too and not only did it keep costs down, I have fond memories of it still, some twenty years on. Party games that were popular when I was growing up are now making a real comeback so put your thinking cap on, play pass the parcel, sleeping elephants, musical chairs, musical statues etc. Get some small sweets for prizes, a cd player for music, and away you go! For older children you could reduce the number of guests and treat them to a film. This doesn’t mean more expense though, why not have them round to your house, grab a dvd and make your own pizzas? Or get a few other mums round and do a makeover party for your daughter and some of her girl friends? Boys may like a treasure hunt or even a game of football at the local park.

Catering wise you can really cut back by doing it all yourself. Do you have a helpful relative or friend who loves baking? I catered my daughters party this year and got lovely comments, I even made her birthday cake myself and bought a cake topper for it so it tied in with her Lazytown theme. It may be hard work but with a little thought you can do it all yourself for a fraction of the cost of a catering firm. Remember, young children won’t eat much, so don’t go overboard. Snack food will be a big hit, little sausages, cheese cubes and jam sandwiches are all popular amongst my daughter and her friends.

My pet extravagance is the party decorations and tableware. I know, I have it all to hand and at wholesale prices, so I can afford to get matching themed party supplies, but it is still possible to theme your party without spending a lot. Freecycle is a fantastic place to pick up things that others have finished with, and lets face it, most party supplies are still fine after use. You will probably need some plates, cups and napkins, but you can cut costs by getting plain ones instead of themed, for example buying yellow to go with a lazytown or handy manny theme. This can go for the decorations as well, balloons are a fantastic way to decorate any party and you can let the guests take them home with them. If you want a banner, why not get some backing paper and get creative, or even better for younger children let them get creative! This can also work for invitations too, make them yourself, let your children make them or have a look on the web, you may be able to design and print them off.

Party bags are a real bone of contention. After the entertainment, this is the one category that your guests will be focused on, at a recent party my daughter was invited to we were half way through the party tea and one child asked ‘when do we get our party bags?’ You may feel pressure to ‘keep up with the Joneses’ on this one, but there really is no need to spend a fortune. Trawl the pound shops, or even ebay for small gifts and add some sweets, or why not get a selection of £1 books instead and wrap them up for your guests? Another idea from one of my network of mums is to wrap some sweets in a napkin, tie it with ribbon and attach a helium balloon for a lovely gift.

Whatever you decide to do for your party, remember it doesn’t need to cost the earth, there are lots of ways to keep the costs down so get thinking and be creative!