I confess…I’m already planning my Pickle’s third birthday.
Her birthday is in March.
(Uh… It’s November)
But we’ve been to several birthday parties in the past few weeks and it’s given me the birthday itch!
So I thought it would be fun to share her very sweet, simple second birthday party.
As you can probably imagine, she absolutely loved lions at the time. But it’s a little tricky to throw a lion birthday party for a girl when most of the lion stuff out there is for boys. So I had to get creative (and thrifty)!
Thankfully, she also loved strawberries…so her Grandmommy’s super yummy strawberry cupcake recipe was the perfect addition! A fun, bright, girly lion-themed birthday.
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I got the tablecloth and napkins at the Target Christmas clearance.
The hats were $0.99 clearance at a party store.
The little flags on the cupcakes were made with toothpicks, pink/red fabric, and glue.
And the lion, the piece de resistance, who is in perfect, fuzzy, cuddly condition…was $0.99 at Goodwill!
Just to add a little bit of fun, I made these Pinterest-inspired appetizers using my Pampered Chef flower bread tube, cream cheese, ranch dressing mix, and carrots!
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SOME TIPS ON THROWING A BIRTHDAY PARTY ON A BUDGET:
– Themes are budget killers…unless you can find them on sale. I recommend choosing your theme and then capitalizing on the color scheme. Or choose your color scheme first and make your theme fit!
– Be An Early Bird…buy birthday stuff on clearance throughout the year! I found my tablecloths and napkins for around a dollar each at the Target Christmas clearance. I also found invitations, brightly colored bunting, and her party hats on ridiculous clearance about 5 months before her birthday. It was thrilling to get to her birthday week and already have a box full of decorations and fun things to play with.
– Get crafty…Pinterest is an excellent resource for birthday ideas. It’s a great place to see how others have developed themes without purchasing themed materials. It’s also a great place to find tutorials for making simple decorations and gifts. Even if you’re not crafty, you can throw a beautiful birthday party without breaking the bank. And can I be honest? Party favor bags can get expensive. And I can say that because I’ve stressed over party favor bags filled with bouncy balls, stickers, bubbles, and little board books before. Instead, at the Pickle’s playgroup birthday party this year, I made homemade playdough and packed it in reusable lion-shaped snack cups that were only $0.50 each at Walmart. I’ll be doing that again!
– Recycle…For the Pickle’s first birthday, I sewed a bunting banner and felt streamers to use as decorations. Rather than throwing these away later, I packed them up and reused them for her second birthday. I plan to use them for her third as well…and maybe her fourth. As long as she will let me! You don’t have to make reusable birthday decorations, though. There are a lot of sturdy cardboard or fabric items out there that are not expensive. But even if they are an initial investment, keep in mind that if you use them for several parties, you’ve already saved money.
– Keep it simple…Huge, fancy, fondant birthday cakes are popular right now, but they can also be very expensive. Not to mention, many people don’t care for the taste of fondant. So unless you can sample the cake first and get a good price, these are often an unnecessary expense. Especially when you think it is just going to be cut up and eaten! Pinterest has a lot of cute cake ideas you can easily make, but there are other alternatives to cake! Children love to do things themselves, so why not let them decorate their own cupcakes or cookies or ice cream sundaes?
As you can see, our little Pickle was happy as can be with her lion, her streamers, and her homemade, not-so-perfect, but oh-so-delicious strawberry cupcakes. What are some ways you have done a birthday on a budget and still had a beautiful time?
Jenny I think I’m going to have you do my parties from here on out!