Birthday Budget Secrets: 6 Tips to Save the Day

A birthday budget makes “Happy Birthday” a cry for joy and peace instead of a cry of lack and despair. Setting a budget guides the journey and keeps the cart from rolling out of control.

Birthdays are great fun around our house.

But if I followed my mother’s pattern, it could spiral out of control.

True story: My mom once bought so many gifts for my boys at Christmas that my four-year-old crawled into my lap and asked if we could go home. “I’m tired of opening presents.”

I believe my children deserve to be blessed and to enjoy their birthday experiences, but kids don’t think about the decorations and the goody bags nearly as much as Mom and Nanna.

All my children have ever wanted is to have friends over, play, eat some cake, and have a good time. They didn’t even care about the presents.

Because the household budgets have been tight in the past, I have learned some big money-saving tips for birthday parties. Some of the birthday budget tips take time instead of money, but all are great ways to get more for your opportunities for a time that wows when it comes to a child’s birthday.

Simple Birthday Budget Secrets

1. NO MORE GOODY BAGS. This isn’t a tip as much as it should be a law. I hate taking my kids to birthday parties where they come home with tiny toys (that their baby brother can just fit into his mouth) and noise makers! Those parents that send noise makers home have a special place in purgatory.

2. Make the cake yourself. The truth is that many bakeries use packaged mixes these days. You can get fancy with the decorations, or just stick to basic cake and icing. They may ooh and ahh over a fancy cake, but it’ll be forgotten as soon as it is mutilated in the cutting.

3. Limit the guest list. For the best party (and to maintain some kind of control), I have limited the guest list to the birthday boy’s age plus one (with an 11 birthday coming up, the invitations will be 12). This is ESPECIALLY valuable to parents of small children. Having 30 toddlers rampaging through your house is enough to scare even a veteran.

4. Let the kids create their own favors. If it’s a princess party, let them decorate a crown. Are you having an animal party? Then let the kids decorate or make animal masks. Not only will it give them something to remember the party (and still not clutter up the car on the way home), but it will take up some of the time!

5. Let the kids have fun. Don’t try to fill the day with stuff and activities. Let them run, play, and use their imaginations. Give them a treasure map, and they are likely to forget about the cake.

6. Have the party at home. Renting a facility can cost a bundle. You don’t need a huge home to host a great party. Our first birthday party at our home was a pirate party. The weather was horrible, so the kids had to hunt inside (it was a pirate party theme with a treasure box to discover). The house was ONLY 1100 square feet (and six rooms, including bathrooms). Following the clues from space to space was still thrilling for them. Kids don’t notice how big or how small a house is. They just tend to notice the warmth ;).

Birthdays at our house usually run under $100 (and that often includes a gift for the birthday boy, which also has an age set limit). We make the event a family affair (with the whole family planning, preparing, and YES, cleaning up). Time, creativity, and a sense of humor will carry you across the finish line.