Birthday Parties ~ Planning for Frugality

Kyndal's birthday party is in two weeks. She's having a Friday the 13th party because, well, her party is on Friday the 13th.

Kids her age (15) are really just into inviting a bunch of kids over to "hang out". But, we decided to take advantage of post-Halloween clearance sales and make our upstairs into a haunted house and play traditional Halloween party games and maybe have a "creepy things" scavenger hunt (still working on that one!)

So on Sunday we went to WalMart to stock up on fun stuff! We got all of the necessary trays and bowls and spider webs and spiders and skulls and skeletons and such. But then we got some really fun prizes for the games and snacks! And we got it all at 50% off, since it was the day after Halloween! Then we can reuse everything we bought to decorate for Halloween next year. I can't wait to serve up a bowl of gummy body parts and tongues in a skeleton bowl sitting on a table decorated with a big, nasty gummy foot and gummy hand that have been "hacked off" at the joint. Gross!! And the game prizes are just as fun.

And what would a ghoul-filled party be without some little H1N1 infectious games of bobbing for apples and passing the lifesaver with toothpicks in your mouth?

My point in this post is to remind you of the completely affordable and fun birthday party ideas (minus the transmission of the H1N1 virus) that are out there if you plan way in advance and take advantage of sales and freebies. Had we decided to do this party today, we would have missed out on all of the sales!

On Sunday Eli went to a birthday party at our local Putt-n-Jump. I've heard a party there costs about $175 to reserve the super-inflatables room. (This mom ain't doin' that!) Rick took photos of all of the inflatables and putt-putt entrance for me to use for the party we are having for Eli in December. Instead of reserving a room and having an organized party, we are taking advantage of the $7 per child Open House they have during school breaks (his birthday is the week before Christmas during Christmas Break). We will get to use all rooms in the facility, come and go between the hours of 9 and 3, for $7 per child. So Eli's having a Super Mario Brothers party. What are the photos for? I'm going to make a Mario World Map for the kids to follow, doing all of the obstacles on the inflatables and in the putt-putt room, to earn prizes when the Map is complete. And since there will only be about 6 kids there, I'm able to do it for about $40 and then we'll go back to our house for lunch, cupcakes and gifts.

All of these things obviously take planning (like in Eli's case, having his party on an Open House date), which is why I get such a rush out of it. I love to plan and I love to do things outside the norm. And I love to do things cheap(er)!!

You can also go to this post and this one to read about the frugal parties I did for Eli last year and Brynne this year, just by planning ahead.

Check back in a couple of weeks to see the pics from Kyndal's party!