Just a few weeks ago, we celebrated my daughter’s very first birthday. Happy 1st Birthday Madelyn!
While juggling a full-time job, a passion project, an energetic munchkin with an upcoming birthday, and a pregnant belly, time could not have felt more elusive. How did the year fly by this quickly? I have no idea! Although the anticipation of my daughter reaching a milestone brought sheer joy to my heart, throwing her first birthday party at 8 months pregnant wasn’t the most appealing project for me. In all honesty, I dreaded it for the last 6 months worrying over and over again that I would either end up skipping the celebration completely or throwing a very subpar party for my special girl who deserved so much more.
I thought I would never find anything positive about the pandemic but because of the stay-at-home order and convenience of working from home, I had quite a bit of time to slowly prepare and even put in extra time to throw a budget-friendly party for about 10 guests for under $500! This budget includes decor, food/drinks, dessert, and, having a grand time! Here are some tips that I found to be extra useful to plan a party without breaking the bank!
- Start early
- When it comes to decorating, the easiest thing to do is start a vision board! I used Pinterest for ideas and pinned some ideas I wanted to incorporate. Being able to visualize what I wanted helped me choose a theme, color palette, and style early on in the planning stage. Pinterest is especially helpful in the planning stage since it’s a great tool to refer back to your vision board when you’re planning, shopping, prepping, and all the steps in between. It also does a great job reminding you of the small things you might be forgetting (like a cake knife or napkins which I actually almost forgot!).
- Shop early and shop off-season!
- November is considered an off-peak season for weddings which is why buying wedding decorations during Black Friday is a genius thing to do! (Wedding decor is my favorite because they’re definitely a show-stopper!) For example, I bought the gold hexagon arch during Black Friday (yes, almost 11 months before my daughter’s actual birthday) because I knew I would use it for my daughter’s birthday. I got it for over 70% off!
- Shop your home and incorporate your own home decor pieces
- Instead of going all out and buying new decor pieces, shop your home first! Look in your decor boxes, dig out your craft bins, and pick out things that go with the theme you’re going for. You’ll most likely be able to find a few things! When I went through the house to look for decor pieces I was surprised a found quite a few things!
- Birdcage (from my wedding)
- Flowers my husband bought me for my birthday a couple of days before the event
- Faceted porcelain vase (wedding gift)
- Letterboard (used for my daughter’s milestone pictures)
- Fairy lights (college decor)
- Cake knife (from my wedding)
- Instead of going all out and buying new decor pieces, shop your home first! Look in your decor boxes, dig out your craft bins, and pick out things that go with the theme you’re going for. You’ll most likely be able to find a few things! When I went through the house to look for decor pieces I was surprised a found quite a few things!
- Don’t buy anything full-price
- Instead of heading straight to the party store, take a deep breath and be comforted that you don’t have to get everything at full price. I always felt it was a waste to get decorations for the full price especially if they’re only going to be used once (like paper plates, napkins, balloons, etc). Here are the places I would look before resorting to getting anything at its original price:
- Facebook Marketplace
- Craig’s List
- Rental stores
- Discount stores (TJ Maxx, Home Goods, Marshalls, etc)
- Sale/clearance rack
- Here’s another little tip. If there’s something specific you want to get on Amazon or an online store, be sure to download the Honey app. This browser extension automatically finds the best coupon/promo codes for you at checkout. Since Amazon doesn’t accept promo codes, what I found very helpful was to add whatever you’re looking for to Honey’s Droplist. You’ll be notified when the item reaches a lower price. I’ve left many of the items on my Droplist and bought them at its lowest and saved quite a few bucks!
- Instead of heading straight to the party store, take a deep breath and be comforted that you don’t have to get everything at full price. I always felt it was a waste to get decorations for the full price especially if they’re only going to be used once (like paper plates, napkins, balloons, etc). Here are the places I would look before resorting to getting anything at its original price:
- Handmake if you can and ask for help
- Instead of paying someone for their services, ask a few friends or family members to help you. I spent half of an afternoon the day before the event to create and attach the balloon arch with my husband.
- Instead of buying separate flower arrangements, I opted to buy a bunch of good-quality faux flowers with stems and arranged them myself. I was able to make a few bouquets and add them as additional decor pieces.
- Go local, go small
- Get a smaller, lesser-known local baker to bake your cakes, cupcakes, and goodies and ask if they can deliver it. Even if it costs a few extra bucks, get it delivered. it’s worth it. You don’t want to risk centerpieces (like a cake) to get damaged on transport. Also, it’s one less thing you have to worry about on the big day.
- Don’t be shy to ask if your baker can offer any discounts in exchange for a testimonial or a review. Usually, you can get up to a 10% discount! Even if they’ve never done it before, they’re more likely to give you the discount if you give them the idea!
- Schedule the party before dinner time
- The price of catered food drastically increases when you get dinner catered instead of lunch. You can also plan to have a midday or midafternoon party to avoid actual meal times and save even more money by just getting snacks and finger foods. I opted to cater a light lunch from a local vendor and I bought our own drinks from the grocery store.
If you’re curious to see what the breakdown of my budget, here it is:
Decoration Items Bought | ||
Item | Cost | Notes |
Gold hexagon arch | $60 | Purchased during Black Friday |
Balloon garland arch kit | $11 | |
Portable balloon pump | $19 | |
Floral paper plates and napkins | $8 | Purchased at Home Goods but linking similar ones |
Faux flowers | $30 | |
Monthly photos | $24 | CVS 5×5 squares |
Cake topper | $5 | Purchased at Home Goods but linking similar ones |
Pink hearts edible accents | $4 | Sprinkled on smash cake |
Faux eucalyptus garland | $10 | |
Cake stand | $19 | Purchased at Home Goods but linking similar one |
Gold M | $4 | Spraypainted gold at home |
Lace tablecloth | $12 | |
Total | $206 |
Decoration Items I Had At Home (total not added to grand total) | ||
Item | Cost | Notes |
Letterboard | $12 | Used for my daughter’s milestone pictures |
Silver cake knife | $19 | From my wedding |
Gold bird cage decor piece | $12 | From my wedding |
Wire ball LED fairy lights | $12 | From my wedding |
Faceted Porcelain Flower Vase | $21 | Major sale at West Elm right now! Got as a wedding gift! |
Ikea side table | $10 | Used as a canvas for the milestone photo collage |
Total | $86 | Including links and price of each item in this category in case anyone is curious. *These items will not be added to the grand total since these are items I had. |
Food/Drinks/Dessert | ||
Item | Cost | Notes |
Smash cake | $50 | |
Cupcakes | $20 | |
Lunch (Korean dish) | $180 | |
Drinks | $12 | |
Total | $262 |
Grand total (decor items bought for the party + food/drinks/dessert) = $468
I’m curious to know how other mamas save $ when it comes to planning birthday parties and events! Let me know!
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