I found this tip a few months ago and thought it was a good one.
It was Caities birthday party today and even though I’m exhausted it was a good party and Caitie had a great time. Even though the jumping castle was not a frugal option it was a big hit with the kids and kept them entertained for the majority of the time. So much so that we didn’t need to play any games, which was just as well because I don’t know how I could have fitting in organising the kids for a game as well.
The food went down well, I really didn’t go over board with food, all we put out was 1 packet of chips, 1 box of savoury biscuits, homemade popcorn (about 1/2 cup of corn kernals) and fairy bread (8 slices of bread). The majority of that went and then we bought out lunch which was small sausages (cooked in the oven) on small breadrolls. After they had a bit more of a play we brought out the birthday cake (which I ended up buying instead of baking, again not very frugal but I just wasn’t up to baking and decorating a cake this week).
My 8 year old Chloe did face painting, I bought her a cheap little pack of face paints and she made up a sheet of small designs that she could paint quickly. She got the kids to pick a picture and painted it on their cheek. She had hearts, butterflies, dolphins (which looked really cute), swords and skateboards. The kids seemed to like it because they kept coming back for more 
The one thing that did blow the budget were the party bags. I thought that I was being frugal buying quite cheap packs of lollies and little party favours but when I added it all up, it was more than I wanted to spend and to be quite honest with you they weren’t all that exciting when I made them up.
But again the party was a success, even though I did go a little over budget and Caitie loved it, so that’s all that really matters.
Here’s my first post about the Frugal Birthday Party!
Marchs challenge of only shopping 2 days a week has worked really well for me. Wednesday and Saturday were my designated shopping/spending money days. Most weeks these days worked really well, but occassionally I needed to change the day, but I still stuck to my 2 days per week. So this is something that I’m happy to continue doing.
$20 Challenge
My challenge for April will be to earn an extra $20 per week. Here are my posts on Aprils Challenge.
Check out my recent post on Earth Hour!
Her first option was to have her party at a local indoor play centre, mainly because it has a jumping castle (and she loves jumping castles). This idea sounded good to me until I found out that for $250 we would only be able to invite six of her friends after we have paid for our own 4 kids.
So I got on the net and did a bit of research and found that for $180 I can hire a jumping castle to have at our home for 4 hours. By having the party at home Caitie can invite all the children in her class (20 kids) as well as having cousins and other friends at the party.
She has picked a Disney Princess Jumping Castle, so we are going to have a Princess Theme. The girls can come dressed as Princesses and the boys can come as their favourite Character or Super Hero.
The jumping castle hire has taken a huge chunk of our budget so that’s where the frugalness comes into this birthday party plan. Basically we have $70 to spend on food, drinks, decorations and party bags.
To keep costs down I have been trying to come up with some ideas, at this point that’s all they are, just ideas but here they are:
So that is the plan so far or at least my thoughts so far. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.
If you have a Frugal Tip, post about it on your blog and link to us here using Mister Linky. For more details click here.
.
Sometimes Mister Linky is hiding so if you don’t see him just below this text come back later and he may have reappeared
Here is week 2 of Frugal Friday. This is my first time hosting a Blog Carnival (you can read more about that below), so please be nice and play with me, I’d love to hear your tips
Here is todays Frugal Friday Tip:
Birthday Card Organiser
I am staying with my birthday theme for the moment and tell you about my birthday card organiser. I bought an expandable file from a discount store. It has 13 pockets, so I have labelled it with the months of the year and I have a spare pocket. I have printed up a list of birthdays and special events that I need to buy cards and gift wrap for and I keep it in my purse. When I am at the discount store or anywhere that I see nice cheap greeting cards and gift wrap, I pull out my list and see what birthdays or other events are coming up and buy cards and paper for them. When I get home I put them in the corresponding months in the expanding file. I use the spare pocket to hold an assortment of cards and paper for kids birthday parties that pop up during the year.
This saves me having to rush out at the last minute and spending a fortune on cards and paper
So you may be wondering: What is Frugal Friday? It’s a blog carnival that I have begun. I’m the “host”, and you can write your own articles in your blogs and enter a link here. Other readers can then come to my blog and see the collection of links. What do I write about? Each Friday you can write a Frugal tip that you have learnt. Do I have to sign up or get your permission to join? Not at all, Just jump right in. Can I use your banner on my blog? Yes you may, but you do not have to if you don’t want to. Some other pieces of information for you: Click on the Mister Linky Button below to enter your link. Please only leave a link if you have written a Frugal Friday post. Please mention Frugal Friday in your post, and link back to my list here. Link to your Frugal Friday post, not to the front page of your blog. This makes browsing so much easier for everyone. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky. Enter a 3-4 word description of your post after your name. For example, where the box says “Your Name”, you might put: Sharon (Reduce Grocery Bill) OR Marie (Cheap Gift Idea) Make sense? This will make it easier to browse through the tips. Hopefully you haven’t been turned off by all the information. Thanks for taking the time to read through it. I’m looking forward to hearing your tips
Birthday Gift Box
My kids get invited to a lot of birthday parties during the year. So when I see something on special that would make a great gift I grab a couple of them and put them in our birthday box. Whenever we have a party to go to I check the box for suitable presents first. This saves as heaps of money and our friends get great gifts
So you may be wondering:
What is Frugal Friday?
It’s a blog carnival that I have begun. I’m the “host”, and you can write your own articles in your blogs and enter a link here. Other readers can then come to my blog and see the collection of links.
What do I write about?
Each Friday you can write a Frugal tip that you have learnt.
Do I have to sign up or get your permission to join?
Not at all, Just jump right in.
Can I use your banner on my blog?
Yes you may, but you do not have to if you don’t want to.
Some other pieces of information for you:
Please only leave a link if you have written a Frugal Friday post. Please mention Frugal Friday in your post, and link back to my list here.
Link to your Frugal Friday post, not to the front page of your blog. This makes browsing so much easier for everyone. Here is how you link to an individual post if you’ve never done it before: Right click on the date at the bottom of the post you want to link to (or the post title depending on where you blog) click “Copy Shortcut” and then paste it into Mr. Linky.
Enter a 3-4 word description of your post after your name. For example, where the box says “Your Name”, you might put:
Sharon (Reduce Grocery Bill)
OR
Marie (Cheap Gift Idea)
Make sense? This will make it easier to browse through the tips.
Hopefully you haven’t been turned off by all the information. Thanks for taking the time to read through it. I’m looking forward to hearing your tips
.
.
