If it’s warm, I’m in party prep mode….even if it’s March.  Since my children nearly share a birthday, literally August 31st and September 1st, we have a dual birthday party that gets more elaborate by the minute, ahem, not year.  Jeez, that sounds bad, doesn’t it?  Please don’t confuse elaborate with expensive because the cornerstone of everything I plan is cost!

I also like to find really fun activities that won’t involve tears, and are reusable as well as cost efficient.  Well, this easy project more than fits the bill.  If you were here last year, you’ll recall that I put together some take home gift bags from Dollar Tree and that all of the included items were purchased there.  And because I split multi-packs of hair bands, clips and some other items, I was really able to stretch my dollars in some areas,  and still had some nice individual items (bag, sunglasses and flip flops) as well.

Now that the kiddies are getting a little older, our projects can (finally) become a little more advanced.  Tying knots is an easy task for an 8 year old.  Doing it repeatedly and in a pattern makes it a little more complex, but do-able, so it retains a healthy level of confidence upon completion.  With that in mind, if you’ve got a fun pool or summer birthday party coming up or just a sleepover, give this Balloon Flip Flop craft a try!

Photo Credit: One She Two She

Balloon Flip Flops

From Dollar Tree or your local dollar store, you’ll need:
Flip Flops in assorted sizes and colors
Primary Color Balloons – 100ct
Pastel Balloons 100ct

For either the pastel or primary colors, you may want to decide on a pattern to repeat like pink, green, blue, yellow, purple, etc.  You don’t have to do this because randomly chosen colors look equally as nice as a pattern.  You know I’m neurotic, so that’s my answer for you.   Hah!

And while this costs a bit more, you may want to buy some solid color balloons and do something like 6 yellow and 6 blue or something like that….perhaps for older girls who want school colors?  It’s really up to you, the attendees, and the nature of the party.  There really is no wrong way to do this.

Double knot each balloon along the sides of the flip flop thong.  In the end, you’ll need approximately 50 balloons to complete each side.  Obviously, this will vary considerably with size.   This average will help you decide how many balloons to purchase though.

Above all else, have fun, and send me your nifty pictures!  I’d love to see your creations!

Adapted very slightly from One She Two She! 

Many of you sent me messages wanting to know more about my birthday party food and decorations – how much the items cost, and what my total outlay is expected to be for a party like that.  Honestly, it isn’t that much.  The bulk of the money we spend on the party is specifically for the theme, and that has more to do with my laziness than anything.  I could do it for much less if I really wanted to…and should.  So far, I’ve spent around $30, but there are ways to prevent spending that much.  Even so, that is probably ALL I’ll spend.  I’ve already got a stockpile of hot dogs, hamburger, buns and baked beans for which I’ve paid nothing.  Hopefully, I’ll have enough Catalinas around the time of the party to pick up items for veggie trays and a fruit bowl.   All of this takes a lot of careful planning and preparation, so let’s cover a few points to help YOU get organized and throw a party for much less.

Set A Goal
First, you should always know how much you can reasonably spend and stick to that limit.  Once your child settles on a theme, you can decide how to pare down the cost to your limit.  For example, a Knights & Princesses party can be very expensive.  There are plenty of ways to cut costs though.  The best way to do that is to make decorations and favors yourself.

For example, you can make princess cone hats very inexpensively.   One sheet of poster board from Walgreens can be your base for a couple hats.  For a fancier hat, hit some garage sales and buy used pink satin nightgowns to cover the poster board.  The frillier the better.  Look for nightgowns with lace edging or some other kind of pretty enhancement to go around the bottom of your hat.  If you’d like, you can also use construction paper to cover the poster board and make pink and purple hats.  Use some big rolls of inexpensive ribbon to enhance them.  Cut several strips, curl them up,  then staple them (all together) on the inside of the top of the hat before you fold it around so they trail down from the top.  You’ll have spent only a few dollars on 6 or so hats when you buy 3 sheets of posterboard.  Those make great take home gifts and the kids can decorate them at the party with stampers or crayons.

Tangibles With Bucks
I have something that I call *Buying Tangibles with Store Money.*  Yes, we can roll our register rewards and other stores money into more items, and that’s generally what I do.  When I’ve got a LOT of bucks or register rewards from a particular deal or deals, I’ll roll them into *tangibles.*  For example, I’ve bought a patio table and four chairs with UP Rewards.  I’ve also bought a summers worth of tank tops for myself when they’re 5/$10 at Walgreens.  Tangibles, for me, are items I would normally have to pay for to get.  Now, they can also be cans of Van Camps Baked Beans or ice at Walgreens, too.  Let me say, I don’t just go to Walgreens intending to use all of my Register Rewards on items like that.  I ALWAYS try to shop well in advance of a planned event to purchase these items along with money makers.  That way, I don’t have to use my Register Rewards at all and they’re still free for me.

A Little Help From Friends
There are even more ways to cut costs when you enlist the help of your friends.  Kids are basically the same.  If one child has a princess party, all the attendees want one too.  Use that to your advantage and go in together on decorations!  Three ladies can spend $10 a piece on decorations for 3 different parties and pack up the supplies for reuse at each one.  If you set a max of $20 per person for decorations and supplies, this gives you a whole lot of wiggle room.  That’s $60 in total for some really fancy decorations!

Take Home Gifts
This is the easiest one to shave costs.  You can pick up lots of multi-pack items at a dollar store – whistles, bubbles, sidewalk chalk. In addition, it seems there is always a  free gum opportunity at the drugstores.  Take advantage of that and all the free candy bars!  Another great idea for a fun party craft is to create a take home tee.  My Dollar Tree has all kinds of t-shirts for… ummm $1.00. You can also pick up a multi-pack of Hanes tees when they’re on sale too. Pick up a tee for each attendee and decorate them with old stampers that you pick up on e-bay or garage sales.  Since they’re reusable, they’re a great investment.  For our mock Prince/Princess party, pick up letters, so you can spell prince or princess and a star stamper makes a nice touch surrounding the letters.    Also, McDonald’s coupon booklets are fabulous gifts.

Food
As I stated above, use your ECB’s, UP Rewards, Catalina’s and RR’s to cut costs on food.  If that’s too difficult, have family members bring a dish for a potluck – pasta salad, bags of chips & dip, soda, baked beans, corn, buns etc.  They’re all relatively inexpensive, even for a non-couponer.  You can supply the meat since it’s the greatest expense.

Gifts for Your Little One
Even with a few attendees, birthday parties are much like Christmas.  DO NOT spend a lot of money on gifts.  Buy ONE gift that you KNOW only you are going to purchase. Let the attendees carry the weight for the rest.  If your child has 5 guests, that’s 5 gifts!  Done-diddly-done!  Besides, kids love the party atmosphere more than the gifts in most cases.

To summarize, planning and early preparation are the biggest keys to a successful party.  You can easily throw a very inexpensive yet fun party by making just a few changes.  And honestly, your child won’t remember much except that you cared enough to bother.  In the end, that’s what it’s all about anyway, so have fun!