My daughter’s birthday is today.
She is three years old. (How did that happen?)
When I first started planning her party I wanted to only invite a few other children, so we could keep it low budget low key.
It didn’t work out that way.
First I have to invite my friends with young children, then I had to invite her friends, then the kid from church and the boy from my gym and well, before I could sing Happy Birthday, I’d invited eight children and their parents and well, I’ve got thirty people coming now including adults and children.
That isn’t a low budget toddler birthday.
So, I sauntered into the local pizza joint, (a big chain by the way) and told them I needed discount pizza for thirty.
I had to put on a bravado face as I knew they’d laugh me outta there.
Guess what? Local pizza guy worked with me! First he dug out rarely seen coupons, and gave me ideas for mix and matching pizza. I’ll save about fifteen dollars using the coupons. Yea!
Then I got soda from the discount store, but I also made a can of frozen juice – it’s really cheap and the kids love it.
I shop at the thrift stores on a regular basis these days. (Gone are the days when I’d gladly pay full retail to get something done fast – now I browse and leave without buying if necessary). Last month I hit pay dirt! All the girly party table supplies I needed in a Unicorn design; Paper table cloth, napkins, plates, and miscellaneous extras all for $3.00. What a find!
I nabbed it up.
(My mother is celebrating her fiftieth wedding anniversary next year and I also found Golden Party supplies at the same time which I bought for $5.00!)
The goody bags I didn’t save on, as I didn’t plan ahead enough. Still, I bought the supplies at a discount store and didn’t spend very much.
Since we just started this envelope system, I hadn’t budgeted ahead of time for her party, so the cash came from my food budget and petty cash this week.
In the future we are putting a bit aside each month for birthdays and parties and entertainment so we’ll have a reserve next year.
She’ll be four. Can I keep it to four friends?
Happy Birthday Daughter!
Other money saving ideas for a party: