How to Throw a Themed Birthday Party on a Budget

When throwing a birthday party for your child, you want to throw them the party of their dreams. Themed parties look good but the cost is astronomical. Here are some tips to throw a themed birthday party for your child without breaking the bank.

1. Guests- When deciding who to invite, make sure you use discretion. While a lot of kids want to have the biggest party they can have, it is important you pay attention to who they invite. Relatives should be limited to grandparents and close cousins. Or, consider throwing a themed party for your child's friends and then having a family gift giving at a later time if you need to cut the guest list. Also, make sure the children your child invites are actual friends and not just classmates. Nobody needs Sally whom your son has talked to in passing only.

2. Birthday Cake- Just a 1/4 sheet cake with a themed decoration kit on it is already going to set you back at least $30.00 or more. To create your own, first off you need to find your cake decorations. These can actually be a variety of things. You can use paper cut outs or paper dolls of them. Or, the easiest is to find some small figurines or keychains that fit your child's theme ( Happy Meal Toys are great for this) and then you can decorate the cake yourself with these!

3. Plates and Napkins- Whatever you do, do not buy themed plates, napkins, cups, etc. These are way overpriced and if you have a large guest list this could cut into your budget. You can do one of two things:

A. Purchase half themed, half basic color. For example, if you are having a Dora the Explorer party. Choose a stand out color from the themed plates you are buying and buy that in the plain ( and much cheaper) cake plates. When setting up the cake table just alternate themed and color plates.

B. To say even more money, look at the figurines you choose and pick out a dominant color to use as your tableware color choice.