Birthday Party on a Budget

We recently celebrated my daughter's first birthday. Like almost all children, she loves Elmo. To make it special but still affordable, I did most of my shopping at the dollar store. I found Sesame Street plates, cups, and napkins, and a red table cloth, and a musical candle. For favors, I stuffed treat bags (you can get 25 for $1 at the dollar store) with Sesame Street board books (2/$1), stickers (100/$1-I just threw a handful of stickers from the package in), bubbles (3/$1), a mini box of raisins (18 boxes for $1.38 at Target), and a jello cup (4/$1 at Walmart), and a Sesame Street activity pad ($0.49 each at Party City). Could I have done better-sure, but I started shopping just a week before her birthday. For 6 children, the favors cost me under $12.

For my daughter’s cake, I used the cake mixes and frosting that I got on sale at Albertsons at the end of November for about $0.47 each. I used a cake pan that belongs to my sister-in-law and decorated the cake myself. You can't get a cake like this from a store without paying an arm and a leg. I served the cake with ice cream that I also got on sale at Albertsons.

As for decorations, I blew up balloons (25/$1 at the dollar store) and drew the faces of Sesame Street characters on them with a permanent marker.

The party was a smashing success, which goes to show that you don't have to spend a lot of money to create a great party.