Having a party at home can actually cost more than a party hosted someplace else! By the time you clean your house, buy all the stuff you need for games, decorate and quite possibly rent tables/chairs – you would be light years ahead (not to mention less stress) if you hosted your party at a park, a clubhouse or other party venue. We spent $100 on just tables and chairs for my daughter’s birthday party. Another $40.00 on plates, napkins, cups and silverware and $150 on food! Places like Build-A-Bear, MOSI, Busch Gardens, Chuck-E-Cheese, etc… cost about the same with less mess and stress!

Shop around for your birthday cake! I’ll be the first to admit, I love a good Publix cake. However, $50.00 for a ½ sheet was defiantly not in my budget. I called the Wal-Mart off 54 in New Port Richey…$25.00 with butter cream icing and the High School Musical design my daughter just had to have. I hid the box and let everyone think I bought the cake from Publix.

Don’t Procrastinate Especially If You Are Buying Online! This is the one rule that always bites me. I find a great deal online and pay out the nose to have it shipped to me as a “rush”. E-bay has a great discount party store that has a variety of plates/napkins/cups/centerpieces etc… at great prices. If you have the time to wait for standard shipping, you can make an offer and save yourself quite a bit (this works if you need more than 12 of anything).

The Dollar Tree Has Great Party Bag Stuffers! I love their glow sticks, candy, bubbles, party hats, goodie bags, table cloths, serving bowls, etc… Many of the stores have a party section with themes (dinosaurs and pirates were popular this past month). Take advantage of their candy isle and toy isle to stock up! ALSO… their Mylar balloons are only $1.00 each. Try $3.99 at a grocery or party store!

And lastly… Invitations set the tone for the party. If you host your party someplace other than your home or park, they may have invitations you can use. If not, get creative on the computer and make your own. Let your kid’s help you pick out the font and the colors. I grabbed a package of white card stock and a spool of pink ribbon. We googled a princess castle online, standard party invitation wording and copied all of it into our invitation in MS Word. We punched two holes in the top and ran the ribbon through the holes to make a bow. They were simple, cute and a hit! Plus, we didn’t have to buy envelopes!