How to Throw a Fun Birthday Party on a Budget

Missouri Digital NewsAugust 15, 2024

17 8 minutes read

Do you have a little one with a birthday coming up? Read this post to learn how to throw a fun birthday party on a budget! Experience all of the fun and joy without breaking the bank!

Throwing a Birthday Party on a Budget

One of the joys of parenthood is celebrating special events and milestones with our children… and nothing is more important to celebrate (at least in our children’s perspectives) than their birthdays!

Thanks to the Internet, there is no shortage of cute, clever, creative… and costly ideas to show our kiddos how much we love and value them on their birthdays.

But do birthday parties really need to ruin our budget in order for our children to know how much we care?

Definitely not!

Ask any frugal mom, and they’ll have dozens of doable ways to pull off unforgettable birthday parties for children without breaking the bank.

In fact, we polled our Facebook followers for ideas, and wow, did you all come through with some fantastically frugal and fun ideas for throwing a kids’ birthday party on a budget! Keep reading for dozens of amazing tips & tricks!

Frugal Birthday Party Decorations

Although it’s fun to scroll through those picture-perfect parties on Pinterest and Instagram, the reality is that it can cost a fortune… and it’s just not necessary.

Instead of planning elaborate decor, maybe start by asking your child what they’d like. You might be surprised how simple their ideas are!

Here are several great ideas for birthday decor on a budget:

Use decor you already have around your house (it doesn’t specifically need to be for birthdays).
Hit up the dollar store — they have tons of frugal decor.
Scope out your local thrift store ahead of time and grab some party streamers or balloons.
Borrow from a friend who just celebrated their child’s birthday.
Search Facebook Marketplace (you might find a full set of decor for a fraction of the price).
Blow up your own balloons (no balloon arches required!).
Stick with solid color plates and general “happy birthday” napkins so you can reuse extras.
Purchase a few general “Happy Birthday” items and reuse them at every family birthday party.
Host your party outside and let nature be the decor.
Create a handmade birthday banner or sign (other siblings usually love helping out with this).

Kids’ Birthday Gifts for Less

Contrary to what society tells us, we don’t need to spend a fortune on gifts for our children to feel special and loved on their birthdays. And toy clutter can add up really quickly over the years.

Here are a few gifts that won’t put you over budget:

Experience Gifts — Take them to a favorite attraction, movie, park, restaurant, or store (with you and/or a friend). The possibilities with experience gifts are endless.
Gift Cards — They can use some of their own money along with your gift card to purchase something they really want.
Want, Need, Wear, Read — Use this traditionally minimalist gift guide to curb your desire to “buy all the things” for your child!
Food Gifts — Put together a basket with their favorite snacks, candies, special treats, and drinks — maybe with a small restaurant gift card to a favorite location.
Thoughtful Gifts — Buy them a favorite book and have multiple friends, family, teachers, neighbors, etc. write a special birthday message to them inside the book. Or make them a movie of various relatives and friends sharing a special memory together.
IOU Gift — This is great for older kids who want to pick out their own gift — give THEM the budget and let them do the shopping!
Giving Back — Depending on the child, you might consider asking friends and family for donations to a favorite charitable organization and giving that in the child’s name. Or you could take a group of their friends to volunteer at a local non-profit organization (and maybe go out for ice cream afterward).
Dollar Store Gifts — Let them shop ’til they drop at your local dollar store. They can pick 10 things they want and you foot the bill!

Check out these 145 non-toy gifts for even more great ideas on a budget!

Cutting The Cake Costs

Aside from that single picture-perfect moment when your child poses with a fancy cake you likely overpaid for, there’s really no reason you need a professionally decorated cake for every birthday party.

Homemade cakes often taste better than store-bought cakes anyway, and most children would love the opportunity to help you make and decorate their own cake. You’ll save money and enjoy making special memories with your kiddo. Win-win!

Another (slightly messier) idea is to offer unfrosted cupcakes and a bunch of different frosting containers so kids can decorate their own cupcakes. This can serve as part of the entertainment, too!

Or you can skip cake altogether and do ice cream sundaes, homemade cookies, muffins and fruit, or a candy or popcorn buffet (which could double as their party favor to take home).

Budget Birthday Party Food

The obvious solution to save money on food is simply to limit the amount of food you offer at your party.

Picking a budget-friendly time can be really helpful in cutting costs, so that you don’t need to provide a full meal. Cake and a few munchies are usually plenty, especially if you plan your party outside normal meal times (10 am or 2 pm, for example).

You might also consider serving a signature “birthday beverage” instead of offering individually packaged drinks, which can really add to your expenses. Making the same simple punch recipe for every birthday might be something your kids look forward to each year — and even though it might be frugal, it can still look fancy if you add some frozen fruit and serve it in a pretty container. (Here’s a great recipe that’s super easy and frugal).

If you do want to offer a full meal, consider something that can be made ahead of time and doesn’t require tons of last-minute prep work so you don’t spend the entire party in the kitchen.

Here are a few frugal recipe ideas:

Easy Entertainment Ideas

Of course, you want their party to be filled with fun, but that doesn’t mean you need to spend a fortune on pricey activities or an expensive venue.

There are so many budget-friendly options:

Have an at-home party with a few friends and a bunch of games.
Host a tea party for a few close friends and have simple cookies or cupcakes.
Meet up with friends at a local park or outdoor sports facility. Bring a few birthday-themed snacks and let them burn off all the sugar while they play.
If the weather is nice, have it in your backyard and play kickball, wiffle ball, tag, or capture the flag.
Plan a scavenger hunt (inside or outside). The items they find could double as their party favors.
Have a craft table set up and let their imaginations run wild.
Create a “nail bar” and let them paint each other’s nails.
Have a Nintendo Wii competition.
Spray paint a football, soccer, or baseball diamond/field in your yard and invite a bunch of kids over for a game, and then cake/ice cream.

The ideas for inexpensive birthday party games and activities are virtually endless! Just do a quick Google search of “frugal party games” and you’ll find thousands.

You could even be more specific and search for “Frugal birthday party games for boys/girls, ages ______”.

Opt Out of the Party

Yes, this is a viable option!

Sure, we want our kids to feel special, but we don’t need to throw them a party for that to happen.

I guarantee you won’t find anything in your parenting handbook that requires a big birthday party for every child every year.

There are SO many ways to treat your child and make them feel like a million bucks without throwing a party and without spending much money at all.

Here are just a few fun ideas:

Have a parent-child date with JUST the birthday child and let them pick what you do (within reason).
Wake them up early or let them stay up late and have a special activity planned just for them.
Let them plan their birthday day — the meals you eat as a family, the snacks and desserts you serve, the activities you do, and the games you play. They get to “call the shots” on their special day!
Take them shopping to pick out one gift and then out for lunch.
Buy them their favorite drink at the grocery store or coffee place.
Ask everyone in the family to write or say something they value or appreciate about the birthday person.
Invite some cousins over and have a backyard campout — with a bonfire and s’mores.
Throw a party every other year, on milestone birthdays (1, 10, 16, etc.), or on their “golden birthday” (when your age coincides with the numerical day you were born).

Check out this really fun, creative way to do birthdays on a bare bones budget and still make your child feel very special! I love this idea!

Birthday Party on a Budget: More Great Tips!

Skip formal invitations. A simple email or text to the parents of the kids you want to invite should be sufficient. You could use a free program like Canva to make a cute digital invitation and send that out with the email/text.

Planning ahead is key to sticking with your budget. The more you can do ahead of time, the better off you’ll be. If you wait until the last minute, you’ll likely spend more without even thinking about it.

A positive attitude will go a long way in planning a frugal party. You might not end up with exactly what you envisioned, but you’re sticking to a budget and your kiddos most likely don’t care how much you spent.

Another set of hands can be super helpful. Ask a friend or a mom of one of the attendants to stay and help you corral the kids, serve up the cake, etc. It will likely be more enjoyable for you, too!

Remember that change can be difficult. If your children are used to huge elaborate parties and piles of expensive gifts, it will be difficult for them to make the transition. Give it time, and give them grace — you will all be happier as a result.

Let your child do the planning. Depending on their age and personality, your child might be overjoyed to do the lion’s share of the work for their party. Let them have input into the decor, food, and party favors — this could also be a great eye-opening experience for them to realize how much some of this stuff costs! We’ve always had our kids plan their own birthday parties! You can check out Kaitlynn’s 13th birthday party that she planned a few years back, plus here’s another fun example of a Starbucks-themed birthday party a young teen planned!

There are so many ways to create lasting memories together and show our children how much we love them without blowing our budget on a fancy, over-the-top birthday party.

So we’d love to know…