Modern Day Gal: Easy, Cheap & Beautiful Kids Birthday Party Ideas!!

OK, I made the mistake on my daughters 1st birthday of going WAY over the top (I'm sure some of you can relate) I bought EVERYTHING you could think of the perfect Luau!! Everything from fresh pineapples and coconuts as center pieces, every kind of snack you could think of! I made my poor husband BBQ everyone Pineapple teriyaki burgers and list goes on and on... needless to say my bank act took a approximate $1,700.00 hit as well! I know... but, I was excited!!

Anyway... Needles to say, I decided to scale back on birthday number 2 (price not awesomeness!). Here is what I did...

I stared planning 2 months in advance and picking up little things here and there where I found them!! The .99cent store really played a big part! Last time Costco, this year .99cent store and you know what?? No one know could even tell!! Instead of having my hubby man the grill ALL DAY I got hot dogs this time. Let those puppies sit on the grill for 10 min pull them off, cover and self serve honey!! Put out some beans, corn bread, potato and macaroni salad and thats is lunch! Instead of a $200.00 cake to feed 80 people... I did donuts for less then $30.00!! For drinks... A pretty jug of powder (yes powder) lemonade mix. To make it a little more fantasy I sliced some lemons in it and tossed in a few raspberries!! It was beautiful!!

For decorations, I bought most of them online. the Oriental Trading Co. had some great things and even better prices!! Amazon.com played a big big BIG part in the decor as well. I bought all my balloons though them (about 150 balloons for $30.00 MAX) took them to Party City to inflate the morning of for a total of $25.00! I went to a local feed store and bought bails of straw for 8.00 each. Perfect for seating and really made the "cowgirl" theme pop!!

Instead of buying everything already made I decided to make all the signs! It was a bit time consuming but REALLY fun and they turned out awesome!! I just found the font on Microsoft Word, printed it out on my computer and glued to decorative paper. I tied all the letters with strips of bandanna and even burnt the edges for a "old time" look! We had some old cardboard in the garage so I cut out a western style E and 2 out of it and cut up a red bandanna and glued it all over the cardboard.... SUPER EASY AND SUPER CUTE AND CUSTOM!

I found little WANTED signs from Oriental Trading Co. and printed out some of our friends and family's pics in black and white and pasted it onto them!! Really fast and cute... People loved to see themselves on the "WANTED" wall! less then $5.00!

To get everyone dressed in their YeeHaw gear, I had a dress up table as you walk in.... Cowboy hats, bandannas, sheriff badges!! total $10.00.

I had someone design the invites from Etsy.com she sent me the file in 2 days and I printed at Kinko's for a total of about $40.00! They let every one know the theme before hand and were beautiful!!
(probably my favorite part of the party)

We had Emma's pictures taken in her cowboy gear and framed it for some more custom/personal decor! The "Eat, Drink & Be Merry" Sign came from my kitchen!

I could go on and on about every little detail but the bottom line here is DETAIL!! Pull from things you have, borrow things from friends, make EVERYTHING... You will save hundreds and have fun too!! Think of a unique party theme and run with it!

Below are some pics from the party so you can get a better idea! We had a great time and everyone loved it! If you have questions on where to get something or even how to make it please email me at tamaralynnwillis@gmail.com

I am more then happy to help!!

-Enjoy