KID'S PARTIES ON A BUDGET!

oki doki, so for a while now, i have been reading on other people's pages about what to do when you have a big heart but a small wallet...and then i just got a bucket full of ideas chucked straight at me this morning! So this one is for all the mom's with kiddies who would like to throw a million buck splash for a R1000 !! Enjoy!

Okay so first things first Theme!

Choose a theme that won't break the bank, if your baby is turning one, this will be easy, as they cannot voice their opinion as strong as a ben 10 crazy 6 year old lol!

then decide on the colour, normally pastels are always a winner with little one's, now if you could find a R5 store in your town, and i think most of you can, go on and buy the small paper plates they are about R14, in a plain colour, then place a themed serviete on top of it and place the " party pack " on top of that!
In the middle of the table you place one bowl of cheese curls, an empty coffee tin with a coloured ribbon tied in a bow, in the coffee tin you place marshmallows on a stick, marie biscuits with a half a marshmallow melted inbetween with decorated icing on top can also be placed in a plate, you can also put mini pizza slices on a plate for the kids party table and then you can make cupcakes and tower that on the table as well, this is MORE than enough!.

Inside the party bag you put 1 packet of cheese curls, 1 oros bottle juice, 1 marshmallow string, and a packet of jelly babies or you can just have a "thank you table with sweets in bowls and the mom can choose a few "goodbey" treats to take home.

all along the middle between the bowls with treats you place more decorated tins and inside of them you put balloon stick with balloons on them just to brighten up the table!
If you do not have table cloths in reds or blues or pinks or even whites, use a single bed sheet:-)

streamers are a mess to clean up and you can never really reuse them, so buy cheap ribbon and hang balloons from them:-)

you can make an activity table with colouring pictures and crayons, another table with clay and another with puzzles! these are things that i think most kids already have so you don't need to go buy it!

If you choose to have  the party bag you can do the following:
* Get brown paperbags and decorate them with a single picture of your theme and with a Permanent marker write each kids name on it

* go to spar and ask them if they can sell you 10 of their little cake boxes and decorate it when you   
   get home.

* Go to the R5 store and if you can get small gift bags, get those and place the thingies in there!


For the adults it is Very easy if you feel you HAVE to cater to the adults bake a chocolate cake for dessert, and serve hotdogs or hamburgers that you make yourself! It's not about the parent but the kids, i had 8 years to learn that the adults are normally the expensive part of a party and therefore i let them know that there won't be a big buffet for them!

And last but not least Use the internet for ideas, just because ideas look expensive it doen't mean it has to be, most of the things you see on the party ideas websites can be made by yourself!

here's a few pic's to help you with ideas!

Happy planning, happy party'ing and enjoy!

Till next time xx

p