7 Tips to Have a Birthday Party on a Budget (For the Not-So Crafty Mom) (2024)

As a mom, you always want to give your child an awesome and memorable birthday. This is such a fun thing to plan and it would be totally stress-free if you were a millionaire. But, for most of us normal folks in the world, we have limited budgets for parties.

I am of the belief that you don’t need to spend more than $50 on a child’s birthday party. However, this can present some challenges if you aren’t super crafty because most decorations (unless you make them yourself) add up pretty quickly.

Let me share with you some of my best tips for having a birthday party on a budget, from start-to-finish. These are simple things that will still let you have a cute party. The good news is, not being crafty doesn’t mean you can’t have a cute party.

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Tip #1: Use pictures as decorations.

This is an awesome way to add some personalization to the party! Instead of doing paper cutouts of some theme/character, print pictures of your kiddo from the previous year. Everyone will enjoy seeing how much they have grown and changed over the past year. If you have relatives you don’t see very often, this is a great opportunity for them to share in your memories as well!

Printing off your own photos should cost you $5 (pending on the number). I usually go to Walgreens for this because I can do it online and go pick them up (and they usually have a good coupon going on for photos).

Here is an example of my son’s party where I took photos from the previous year and made them into a banner for everyone to look at (I just punched holes in the corners and threaded ribbon through to hang them up).

Tip #2: Make your own cake (from a box).

Even if you aren’t a baker, making a cake from a box is super simple! The decorations don’t have to be that fancy. You could focus in on making the frosting a certain color with sprinkles and a number candle. It could be that easy! Don’t worry about trying to draw a character on it (unless cake decorating is your thing). Focus on keeping it “in theme” by working with the colors.

For your guests, to take away the stress of trying to impress them with a cake and the design on it, eliminate the struggle completely by making cupcakes! These just need a dollop of frosting and maybe a few sprinkles. No one has to know you can’t draw “Marshall” from Paw Patrol. They will be too busy eating delicious cupcakes to worry about it!

Using cake mix from a box, frosting from a can and a number candle will cost $5-$10 pending on the number of guests you have. I get this stuff from Aldi where I have found it to be the least expensive.

Check out my son’s cake for his first birthday (I just made a small cake in a bread loaf pan, iced it, added sprinkles and a number candle).

Tip #3: Use inexpensive decorations.

Decorations. The place your budget goes to die. This is the mom-guilt area where you suddenly decide it’s worth it to spend a fortune on decorations you will only use for three hours. The pressure to live up to that Pinterest expectation out there can become overwhelming.

Resist the urge! Instead, use streamers, balloons, ribbon and tissue paper to decorate with. You can get plastic table covers (to match the color) and decorate them with streamers. Hang up balloons with the ribbon and use tissue paper to make centerpieces or hanging pom balls.

These decorations will cost you $5-$10 and will be enough decoration for your party. Trust me. My favorite place for these items is the Dollar Store.

Tip #4: Make your own “Happy Birthday” banner or buy a reusable one.

If you know someone with a Cricut, you could ask them to cut some letters for you to hang up your own “Happy Birthday” sign (for my son’s party I just hung up his name above the gift table). Or you could make your own out of posterboard. I have even seen some people make it out of paper plates (one plate per letter) and then hang the plates up. None of these options are crazy expensive and they don’t require much talent either.

If the thought of creating a “Happy Birthday” sign is terrifying to you, you can also purchase a nice “Happy Birthday” banner one time and plan to re-use it at every party. I kind of love this idea because I’m a sucker for tradition.

This could end up being a really fun thing for your kids to have a picture every year next to the same banner. They will end up expecting it and enjoying it as they age. I may recommend buying one per child so they can have it when they leave home. Who knows?! Maybe they will want to carry on the tradition with their own family!

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Tip #5: Keep the theme simple.

When you are coming up with your party’s theme, try to keep in my the limitations of your decorations. Meaning, don’t do a Cinderella theme if that means you will have to go get Cinderella specific items (unless you already have a Cinderella movie, dolls,etc.- then you could just incorporate that stuff into your decorations). Broaden the theme to “Princess” and go with pinks, purples, make your own wands out of paper towel tubes and crowns out of construction paper.

For really young kids, themes like colors, balloons, crayons, and balls can be easy themes to work with on a budget. I’m about to do a “banana” themed party for my son (he is obsessed with bananas!).

Don’t overthink the theme. Keep it broad and simple.

Tip #6: Email or text invitations and thank you’s.

It used to be very rude to text or email invitations, but now it has become much more the norm. This is a very inexpensive way to accomplish these things. If you have skills in PicMonkey, Paint, PowerPoint, Canva, you can easily design your own invitation and then email it to everyone.

***If you are totally against this because your grandmother ingrained in you proper etiquette techniques: I recommend designing your own, print it at Walgreens as an actual photo (way cheaper than designing one of their invites) and mailing that (I just did this for $2 for 15 invites).

The same goes for the thank you note. Take a picture of your child with all the gifts he/she received. Then make this into a “thank you” design and email it to everyone. So simple! No individual, hand-written notes that take forever. Instead, one all-encompassing photo that gets sent to everyone.

***Again, if you are totally against this, I recommend the exact same thing of taking a “thank you” picture, printing it at Walgreens as an actual photo and mailing it.

Here is a side-by-side of a banana invite I found on Etsy that was listed for $25, and then I made my own on Canva & I printed them for $2.

Here is an example of the “Thank you” card we sent last year for him.

Tip #7: Don’t feel obligated to provide a meal.

Next to decorations, food is the second most expensive part of a party. If you don’t have it in the budget to feed people, then don’t. It’s totally okay!

If you want to feed everyone, but don’t want to spend a fortune then you have two options:

1. Do traditional cake and punch (ie. those awesome cupcakes you made and whip up some punch).
2. Keep it simple with a full meal choice. My favorites are shredded BBQ chicken (Crock-Pot recipe) and Mac ‘n Cheese (Crock-Pot recipe). Or grilling out hot dogs and burgers with chips.

Both of these food options are pretty inexpensive, and people always love them.

You don’t have to stress over the small stuff with birthday parties. People are there to celebrate your child, visit and eat some food (if you have it!). The decorations can be simple and that is totally okay. By incorporating your own pictures, emailing invites and thank yous, making your own cake and birthday banner, using simple themes and not overdoing it on food, you will definitely be able to stay within budget! You don’t have to be crazy crafty to pull off a cute party!

Go through these tips next time when you need to plan a party and let me know if it helps you stick to that budget!

Of courseyou could! It’s crazy the amount of money people can actually save.

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