inexpensive yet awesome b-day party ideas?

[EthiopianFood]

My dn is turning ten this month, and I want to make her party special. Unfortunately, we don't have a ton of money, and all my ideas would require more than we have. I'm not really sure WHAT our budget is though, so throw out whatever you have and I'll see if I can make it work. She is a girly girl, but also enjoys being active.

[Night Elf]

Do you mean a party with other kids? How many?

 

Or do you mean what special thing to do with/for her?

[EthiopianFood]

Do you mean a party with other kids? How many?

 

Or do you mean what special thing to do with/for her?

 

A party with other kids. She could have anywhere between five and ten kids, depending on how many she is allowed to invite. If the party is fancier, I would expect to tell her to choose fewer friends.

[Tap]

What about going swimming at a pool? You can take a couple kids, go swimming, have a homemade cake. There are a lot of basic water toys at the dollar store if you really feel you need a 'goodie bag'.

 

We have done the same with a in-door climbing structure-play place. It is the kind of place that you pay for a few hours and leave. The parties there are very expensive, so we just had the cake/ice cream part here, and then drove there.

 

A party at a park is fun and cheap. If you are going to have several kids you can do 'ole-time-games' like 3 legged race.

[Vida Winter]

One of my favorite birthday parties ever - and I think it was my 10th - was a "box" party. My parents collected cardboard boxes from grocery stores for a few weeks before the party, and then during the party we built forts out of the boxes in the backyard. I don't remember a single thing else that we did but I imagine we had a picnic and cake -- it just pales in comparison to the splendid forts we made with those boxes. It is possibly the only childhood birthday I remember after all these years.

[Unicorn.]

Slumber party? Rent some girlie movies, have cheap pizza, popcorn and brownies, buy her a white pillowcase and have the girls sign it w/ fabric markers as a keepsake.

 

Do you have a cosmetics school nearby? You could take the girls in and have their hair braided or curled, and nails painted fairly inexpensively.

 

Pool party- take her and 5 or so friends to the pool, bring along a cake/drinks.

 

Is she into sports and do you have a minor league team in your area? We took my ds and about 6 friends to a minor league baseball game for his 10th, tickets were $5 and it was dollar night for drinks and hotdogs.

 

Take her and 1 friend to the mall for some shopping, and out to lunch at a neat/fun restaurant.

[ZooRho]

I love parties.

I have had great parties at my house for on the cheap.

 

Whet kind of party does she think she would like.

 

I go for bigger themes, I have boys so we have done King, pirate, Cowboy

 

Girl parites could be pampering, cooking, painting etc.

 

I'll come back later for more suggestions if you have an idea I can help more

[SquirrellyMama]

My dd did a chemistry party last year. We didn't do lot of fancy experiments. We did alka seltzer rockets, mentos fountain, sharpie tie dye and made homemade ice cream.

 

I checked out the older version of the Flubber movie. It has a different name but I can't remember it right now.

 

This year we are doing an "Around the World in 80 Days" party. We are going to have a food and game from 5 or six different countries and then we'll watch the movie. We are going to have a slumber party.

 

I don't give out goody bags which helps keep costs down.

 

Kelly

[NanceXToo]

For one of my daughter's birthday parties, we invited just her female friends, and we took them to this local bed and breakfast which was a historical building, and they did lunch and tea parties there. (FYI we also could have done the same thing with a small local coffee shop and tea garden). So the girls dressed up and we went to this place and they were served lunch and they had real tea in china cups, we brought in our own cake, they really loved it. Afterward we returned home and had relatives over for a BBQ and another cake for just the family. I think that was her 7th birthday.

 

For another party, we took all the girls to a local nail salon in the mall and they each had their nails painted and had designs put on their nails, and then we moved across to the pizza parlour where family met us and we had pizza, cake and presents there. She was a little younger for that one though, 6 I think.

 

For another party, her 8th, we had a "storybook" party at home. We asked the girls to dress up as their favorite book character, we decorated with printouts of book covers as well as balloons and streamers, we played book related games, had storytelling, and I bought online one of those cake pans shaped like an open book and we made the cake, but on the computer we made this printout which we took to Walmart to get made into one of those edible cake photos, and applied that to the cake. One side of it was text that said "Once upon a time, there was a girl named Alexa, who loved to read" and the other side was a photo of her.

 

Some gymnastics studios also will do gymnastics parties, not sure of price.

 

One of our local zoos does a zoo overnight and I think when she turns 10 next year, I might have her invite one friend and see about taking the two of them to do the zoo overnight, rather than a bigger party. We almost did that this past year for her 9th birthday but instead her dad and I took her to a hotel overnight and used the indoor pool which she loved, she never gets to go swimming on her birthday because her birthday is in October. :)

 

If yours has a summer a birthday, you could invite some people to meet at a lake or beach and have a picnic or bbq, do water gun fights, water balloons, all kinds of water fun! If it's not summer, you could check into an indoor pool party somewhere.

[ciyates]

You could do a fancy tea party at your home. Borrow china and silver from friends if you don't have it. If you have a teenage boy around they could be the butler and server.

 

Goodwill is a great place to get gloves, hats and scarves for cheap. They could dress up etc...

 

Or you could host a Mary Kay spa party at your home... The girls could have their fingernails done and have the opportunity to buy hand lotion etc.

 

How about a dance party? You could find a local dance studio and see if she would teach them a simple routine.

[SquirrellyMama]

If yours has a summer a birthday, you could invite some people to meet at a lake or beach and have a picnic or bbq, do water gun fights, water balloons, all kinds of water fun! If it's not summer, you could check into an indoor pool party somewhere.

 

My dd has a summer birthday and for years we just bought a slip n slide and had the kids come in swim suits and did the slip n slide, opened presents and had ice cream pie instead of cake. It was always a hit. You could also throw in water balloons.

[KJsMom]

Last year my oldest had a science party. We did all sorts of cheap, fun experiments. Party favors were a roll of mentos, pop rocks, and one of those things you look into to refract light (cheap in the party section, my brain isn't working I can't remember what it's called). We made cupcakes and the kids decorated them.

 

My neice had an astronomy party. She had a couple of friends sleep over and they used the telescope and played with glow in the dark jewelry. I made her cake with the solar system out of fondant to make swirly colors.

 

This year my oldest just wants a simple party at home. She wants her favorite cake and her friends to come over and play some games. I think the old fashioned games are great for parties because they are a novelty now. Kids usually don't run 3 legged races or egg and spoon races and things like that very often, and they really are fun. So we are going simple and cheap this year.

[alpidarkomama]

Anything with water is great! :) We have an 8-foot backyard pool, and we're just inviting girls over to swim, have homemade pizza, and decorate cookies. If I get it together in time, I'd also like to make a treasure hunt with a homemade treasure map in the backyard. :)

[mereminerals]

Last year, my daughter had a spa birthday party. I did the girls makeup and they played a game called spin the bottle where you use a bottle of nailpolish and whoever it lands on has to paint either a fingernail or a toenail that color. We had about 8 different colors that we rotated. The girls had a blast with that game, although it did take up quite a bit of time.

 

Her friend had a really cool party this year. Her parents picked 5 different categories like Cash Cab, Bible Characters, Jeopardy, How Well Do You Know ____, and Movies and played it like a game show. It was really neat and the kids enjoyed it. They are still talking about it.

[Ferdie]

Tea party, cooking party, spa party or outdoor water party.

 

We did the cooking party a few years ago and got plain aprons on sale at Hobby Lobby, they were about $3 and everyone enjoyed decorating their apron. The directions for the cooking party are at familyfun.com.

 

My dd went to a summer fun water party and the craft was to decorate flip flops - cute and they wore them all summer.

 

What ever you do include a treasure hunt for even more fun.

[LinRTX]

I love cooking parties. It is the favorite that I gave for each of my three girls so far.

 

The girls arrive and decorate their own cookbooks--they glue magazine pictures of food to construction paper. I have printed the recipes we will make off the computer with a few extras for them to try at home. This all slips into plastic report covers.

 

We usually make pizza -- making their own dough and sauce.

 

We also decorate cupcakes. I make the cupcakes and icing in advance, then put out several things they can decorate with.

 

We have also make these Italian bread bites which crescent rolls and cheese squares. I think they are rolled in Italian salad dressing and Parmesan cheese. Then put in muffin tins to bake.

 

There are recipes for individual homemade ice cream in plastic zip-lock bags or cans. I have never done these but they sound like fun.

 

I have also done home-made chocolate sauce for ice cream.

 

Have your niece decide on the recipes with you.

 

Party favors were the cookbook, a potholder, and a wooden spoon. I have also given out aprons with Name Can Cook! painted on the front.

 

Depending on the number attending, everyone can do the same thing at the same time or you can divide into groups and move through stations. The stations does mean you need others to help.

 

Have fun!

Linda

[kym]

Try

 

http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com

 

I love doing theme parties for my kids, but don't have a lot of money to spend. I've gotten tons of great, inexpensive ideas from this site.

[cougarmom4]

My dd11 was recently invited to a fun party, 7-9:30--the girls were asked to come in their pajamas, they had a ice cream sundae bar and watched a movie. Each girl got to bring home a fun sundae dish from the dollar store.

 

If you don't do it at a meal time, you can save a lot on the cost.

 

When my dd was 9, we had a fun karaoke birthday--the girls put on hats, scarves, necklaces and took turns singing in pairs. We decorated cupcakes, played a few backyard games, and called it good.

 

I always like to use the food part as an activity--decorating cupcakes, making sundaes, making own homemade pizzas. It takes up some time, is a lot of fun, plus they get their treat.

[kewb]

My dd has a June birthday (and is also turning 10) so we have a 2 hour party with lots of water games.

The dollar store is great for inexpensive water stuff.

The kids get sopping wet eat some grilled hot dogs and ice cream cake and then you call it a day. I make the ice cream cake. I crush a package if oreos and line the bottom of a pyrex dish. Then I take softened vanilla ice cream and layer on top of the oreos. Then a layer of whip cream and pop it in the freezer until serving time.

[J-rap]

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Edited February 28, 2023 by J-rap

[Starr]

Family Fun Magazine on-line has all kinds of birthday party ideas. Many themes and activities and they don't cost much. We've mixed and matched ideas from them for many a fun party.

[Sasharowan]

Go to the dollar store and get some cheap white tshirts or pillowcases and either RIT dye or fabric markers and let them decorate them. Ice cream and fixings for make your own sundaes. Get beads and wire and make your own bracelet/necklace. dollar store makeup and have a dressup day, maybe have all the parents donate some old clothes or get some at the thrift store. We got scarves, hats, and teacups at the thrift store one year and had a tea party. Even the moms joined in,loads of fun.