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

the life of a secretbloggingmom

the life of a secretbloggingmom

So After almost a month of very bad bronchitis and a good dose of self pity i am back to finish what i started :-)

Today i just want to do a quick reality check post, while i was sick this month or so, i realised how much i actually do have to be thankful for, yet when we go through our everyday routines those blessings seem so far away and it isn't that difficult to forget how much we have, i read something the other day and it hit me in the face like a 3 ton brick i would like to share it with you and hopefully it would have the same effect on anyone who like myself, tend to go through a phase where gratefulness sometimes go on the back burner.

" What if you woke up tomorrow, and all you had left was what you thanked the Lord for Last Night"

WOW, powerful words, and yet so very very true, don't you think?

We live in a time where if  a mom  has the gift of giving her hungry child a warm plate of food, she is blessed.

I mean we see so many times on TV mom's that looks like life has given them a beating, it looks as if they themselves have not had anything to eat in days, images of a mom holding on to her starving baby giving them the only comfort that a mom with no food,money or ability to care for her child can. It is easy for us to point a finger and judge, it is easy for us to say if you can't afford a child then don't have one, but we do not have any idea of the situations in other areas of the world, other believes, other ways of doing things around the world.

We live in a country where we as mothers have rights. we have the right to work, we have the right to be loved by one man only if we choose to do so, there are countries in the world were children of 12 become mothers and wives and it is acceptable?

Blessed is a mother that can tuck her child in with a warm blanket, protected from the cold, harsh elements that is held within cold dark winter's  night. because we see so many mothers in countries where disasters struck, tsunami's , hurricanes and although donations are made world wide, these mothers has to somehow keep their children warm until those donations arrive.

Blessed is a mother that has the joy of holding her child in her arms, protecting, loving, reading stories, spending time, laughing, cuddling LOVING that bundle of joy, because there's mom's that has to say goodbye to a baby that has never had the chance to be held, loved or kissed before passing away, there are mothers that has to say goodbye to a child that she had so many dreams for, so many plans for, yet we have the privilege of saying goodnight to our kids.

Blessed is a mother who knows exactly where her kids are today, there are so many mothers who's children has been kidnapped,murdered,sold as child prostitutes and the eternal search of a mother for her child will never fade, they will always wonder with absolute fear where is my child, is she/he hungry, cold, alive?

Blessed is a woman, who has a husband that Love's her, cares for her, looks after the household financially the best he can, because somewhere tonight is a woman who is being raped,battered, emotionally abused and treated as possession with no rights and she has no where to go, no one to turn to.

My point with this whole blog is not to upset anyone, but to make just 1 person realise what i realised, that life is short, it's a blessing, it comes with ups and downs, but at the end of all trials and tribulations your family and kids are what pulls us through gives us purpose, keeps us alive, what a privilege it is!

From today i will hug my child 3 seconds longer, say i love you 2 times more, protect him 4 times harder and appreciate him infinity time infinity and back!

xx