happyhomemaker25 Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I use to do birthday parties for certain ages for my kids, then my DH lost his job for 2 years and when he finally got one we were struggling so much we just decided to do special stuff with the kids. Well this year I decided that we could venture into the bday party world again, mostly because of all the cute party ideas on Pinterest. I mistakenly told the kids who were due to have birthday parties and now I'm kind of stuck doing them. I have a 13yo on March 10, a 10yo on April 14, and a 16yo on April 19.. oh and I'm due to have a baby at the end of May. Yeah. Great year to start party planning again when I've never been good at it anyway. Right now our themes are 13yo tea party 10yo Lego party 16yo "sweet" sixteen candy party They all have to be at my house and I need to be pretty thrift with them. Can anyone help me out? I have 20 people (girls and moms) coming to our tea party. I have a friend who loves doing this stuff who is going to help me some, but she is also planning my baby shower for the middle of March so I don't want to burden her to much. I just need some planning and organizing tips. Please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahbobeara Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I would see what you can recycle from the tea party to your baby shower. I did a tea party for my oldest DD's 7th and it wasn't cheap. I probably could have done cheaper but this was pre-Pinterest, and I didn't have any artsy friends near me. Maybe checking back on this thread will put me in a party mood for all our summer birthdays coming up ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 We went to a Lego party recently. The kids just played, there was a Lego cake (one large rectangle, with little rectangles, decorated to look like Legos), and then the mom had gotten a big pile of misc. legos from the Lego store. She put a handful into a bag for each kid. Then, they all built legos together and got to take their bag of legos home. It wasn't too expensive at all, not a lot of work, and the kids had a blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trinchick Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 Here's a link to a tutorial on making marshmallows into lego minifigure pops. It could be a cute favor or treat at the party. http://quick-dish.tablespoon.com/2012/04/17/lego-marshmallow-pops/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 A tea party doesn't have to be expensive. Make some finger sandwiches - cucumber with cream cheese is a classic but even pb & j cut into fingers with no crust will do! I like something like fruit salad on the side too. For the actual tea - it sort of depends on what you have. If you have a couple of tea pots, you could have a couple of flavors of tea made up. If there will be non-tea drinkers or perhaps littles I mix up a pot of hot chocolate or lemonade. I don't know if you have any china but I like to get that out. It doesn't have to match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trinchick Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 And for the tea party, how about having the girls decorate straw hats? Here's a link to $1 hats at dollar tree. You could then buy ribbon, silk flowers etc. The girls could decorate them and then wear them as they have their tea. Would also serve as the favor, so for just a few dollars per guest you'd have the activity and the favors covered. http://www.dollartree.com/Summer-Straw-Hats/p309743/index.pro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinRTX Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 I have a few ideas. The tea party -- can you have straw hats and put out ribbon, silk flowers, lace and have the girls decorate them? Then have small sandwiches, mini quiche, tea(s), and beautiful cupcakes for desert. The lego party can have a building contest! Give everyone a bag of legos and have them build! Offer a prize for everyone. Hope this helps. Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OH_Homeschooler Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 If you have a dollar store nearby, check that first for decorations and other ideas. Go in with an open mind and be creative. For example, I always think of Legos being primary colors so pick up basic primary colored tablecloths, etc. They also have cheap goody bags and you could find some decent bag fillers there too. (Although I guess I may be bad about this, but I don't often give out goody bags.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasharowan Posted February 18, 2013 Share Posted February 18, 2013 For my daughter's 5yo tea party, we went to the thrift store and got some fancy hats, scarves, and tea cups. The cups were 25 and 50 cents, so if the 5yo's broke them, it was no big loss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 We did a Lego party for my son one year. My husband built a ramp out of left-over wood we had sitting in the garage of the rental house. We had the kids build cars with the Legos, which they raced on the ramp. That was the primary "official" party activity, but they also just had a blast building and chatting and running around in the backyard. As someone else already suggested, I got the decor and party goods from the dollar store, choosing plain, bright colors: blue, yellow, red, green. I made the cake to look (more or less) like a Lego and set out simple stuff like pretzels, a tray of sliced fruits, some small bags of chips. The biggest expense was the favors. I bought a little boxed kit for each guest. I got them on sale, but it was still the biggest chunk of the budget, and I think it would not be necessary. (I tried to attach a couple of photos of the ramp and the food table, but I keep getting error messages?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DianeW88 Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 All your solutions and party ideas for any party you could hope to throw are right here: www.karaspartyideas.com I love her site and use it for EVERYTHING!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happyhomemaker25 Posted February 19, 2013 Author Share Posted February 19, 2013 Thanks everyone! I have some stuff left over from Valentine's day (pink and white) that I think I will use for the tea party. I do plan on hitting up the dollar store in the next couple of weeks. I found a great website with all sorts of tea party recipes so I will be test driving those next week. Another friend just had a Lego party for her older son and has offered me her decorations. I like the idea of just going with primary colors. I was going to do the pound cakes with big marshmallows for the cake (thats what my friend did). Her daughter took a lego man ice cube tray and made crayons for the kids so I might try that with some lego coloring pages or something of the sort for gift bags. I'm going to be in Orlando the month before his party so I'll probably pop by the Lego store to see if they have anything I can use. I was just feeling overwhelmed and trying to remember why I do this. I guess for the kids. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmvaughan4 Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 We had a Lego party for my son. For decorations, I collected glass jars and filled them with random Legos, then attached a few helium balloons to each jar. I used construction paper to make Lego blocks to hang on the wall. I found Lego scrapbook paper at the craft store, cut pendants out, and strung them on a ribbon. Everything was very inexpensive and it turned out really cute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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