Our eldest son will be celebrating his 10th birthday next month, so we want to make sure he has a nice party. This is a milestone for him, the first time that he hits double digits! of course, with our getting out of debt goals, we also want to make sure that we don’t spend more money than we have to spend.
Here are some of the money saving tips that we will be exploring.
Keeping the Guest List Small
Guest lists have a way of spinning out of control, so we will have to put a limit on the number of people in attendance. More guests means more food, more cake, more prizes and more goodie bags.
Our son just wants to invite a few close friends, so that works okay for us. We will have to invite family members, such as aunts, uncles and cousins, so that will make the list grow a little bit as well.
The Food Bill
The price of food can quickly get out of hand. If you can manage it, stick to a cake and ice cream party. This will cut costs significantly. Because we will have out of town relatives who expect a good spread (as well as dinner afterward), skimping on food is not an option. But I will try to make as much as I can from scratch in the week ahead to help curb costs. Baked Ziti, hot dogs and roll up sandwiches can be cost effective when made from scratch.
Making the cake myself not only gives us a unique cake that can be designed around my son’s wishes, but it will also cost so much less. In the past, I have created medieval castles, a pirate ship and a race track, among other theme cakes. A boxed mix and ready made frosting speeds up the process.
Check back tomorrow for part 2 and more money saving ideas for kids birthday parties!