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Creatively Frugal Party Activity Ideas
for Kids
"Please tell us about your best low-cost, low-stress ideas
for things to do at kids’ parties. We are particularly interested in
craft ideas that can be made inexpensively and easily by children of
varying ages and skill levels."
"Regarding easy, inexpensive crafts for a child's
birthday party, I had a party this summer for my two
sons, who turned one and four within 3 weeks of each
other. The 1-year old didn't care about the party, of
course, but my 4-year old was very excited to have an
outer space theme. The 7 young guests ranged in age
from 2 to 9, so I spent a lot of time planning for
this age range. The first craft was decorating foam
visors (typically $1 each, on sale 3 for $2) with foam
stickers, puffy paint and markers. I had really wanted
to do white painter's caps, but they were $3-4 each).
The idea was for all the kids to have matching hats
for their 'astronaut outfit'. I had sewn a fabric
drawstring backpack for each child, from space-themed
fabric, and it held their visor and party favors. Even
the 9-year old said he liked decorating the visor,
even though I figured he might never wear it
afterwards. The other craft was decorating a rocket. Each
child got a toilet paper tube that I had already
spray-painted silver and had already glued the
nose-cone onto; they got to color on the cone, put
stickers and puffy paint on the tube, and with an
adult's help they got to stick on raffia or metallic
streamer strands for the 'flames' at the base of the
rocket. The biggest expense was the bucket of
space-themed foam stickers and the silver spray paint,
everything else was already in our home craft
supplies. Sewing drawstring bags/packs is fairly
easy, patterns are on the Internet; you can also get
bulk quantities at Oriental Trading Company for
decent prices. I'd thought about letting the
children paint or use markers on plain muslin bags,
but the space-themed fabric was on sale for $3/yd so I
couldn't resist. And a fabric bag will have longer
play value at home than a thin plastic goody bag.
An idea I want to use when my kids are a little
older is letting them and their guests decorate
their own cupcakes at the party. It takes care of the
craft project and the cake decorating all at once!"
~ Jennifer
"My daughter's birthday is in December.
When she was very young we would make paper chains
made from red and green construction paper
strips using gluesticks for less mess, and the kids
would take them home to help decorate their own
homes. When she was a pre-teen I would
purchase a box or two of inexpensive Christmas
ball ornaments and the girls would have a great
time painting and decorating them. I would do
this at the beginning of the party, and hang them to
dry with ornament hangers or paper clips on a string
tied over a doorway, so that they could take them
home at the end of the party. Both of these
ideas worked for at least 3 years, and the kids
would look forward to making them.
When my son was in the
8-10 year old range, I would reserve 8-10 spots at
Home Depot for one of their Saturday morning free
woodworking shops. These were wonderful, and
the kids came home with beautiful projects and got
to use real tools. The teachers were great.
Then back to our house for birthday cake and
ice cream, and peanut hunt (see below). I
don't know if Home Depot still offers these free
woodworking shops, but if they do, take your
children to one of them, birthday or not!
My son's birthday is in
October. One of the activities I would plan
during the 8-10 year age range was a peanut hunt
outdoors. I'd buy a 5 pound bag of peanuts in
the shell and scatter them outside just before the
party. Don't do it too much earlier, as the
squirrels will get them! Then I'd give each
child a paper lunch bag with his name on it and they
would run around looking for peanuts to fill up
their bags. It was a hit for a few years!"
~ Sharon in Massachusetts
"People think of me as a very creative person
as a professional artist and fun mom of four, but I
have a SECRET WEAPON when it comes
to planning parties for my kids that are unique and
cost efficient. It is http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com.
This
website is actually a compilation of moms and dads
like us all over the country (and world sometimes!)
that have submitted their parties - what they did,
how they invited, games, treats, decorations.
The website is set up very orderly, with easy
categories and search options. Often if I
don't know what 'type' of party to have, I just
browse some other people's themes! It's helped me
for knight parties, 'Gross' parties, circus
parties, pirate parties, bug parties, school parties
and many more! (My Boston-husband loved the
all-out grand-prize winning "Red Sox"
theme party somebody had posted!) You can also
search by age (i.e. teen, adult, 2-5, etc...) and
every party entry has the theme and age of the child
the party was for in the search line. Although
some people can write quite a bit of detail about
how they went about having ornately planned events,
learn to skim/speedread for ideas that you like. I
read through many different entries in a theme, with
various ages, writing down my most favorite ideas
and then adding my own that have been inspired by
others. Other themes could even give you ideas
for games or decorations that you could adapt to
your own theme! I could spend hours
elsewhere clicking here and there, but this one site
is my only need and forever starting-point. I
love other's creativity as well and the fact that
the vast majority of parties listed on there are not
your typical boring 'licenced' characters parties! So
thank you, creative and loving parents out there!
We're in this together and let the fun begin!"
~ Danielle
in St. Paul, MN
"One
of the best parties my daughter had was a 'cooking
party' for her 6th birthday. When the
children arrived they were given a tin foil pie
pan (their name on bottom) with an individual
pizza crust. On the table were several
kid-friendly pizza toppings, pizza sauce and
cheese for them to decorate their pizzas however
they wanted. They were told they had to eat
whatever they made. Then they made their
'salad-on-a-stick' which were on wooden grill
skewers. They could choose from carrot
sticks, grapes, baby tomatoes, broccoli, etc.
While they were making their 'salads' in the
kitchen, I cleaned off the table where they had
created their pizzas. The next activity was to
decorate white canvas aprons that I picked up at
the local hobby store on sale. They enjoyed
creating a masterpiece on their own apron—which
they would then take home as their party treat.
While they were playing outside I cooked the
pizzas and set the table for their special
lunch—there was even a centerpiece. When
the pizzas were cooked they came in to enjoy their
personal pizza creations and 'salad-on-a-stick.'
It was a super fun party for my daughter and her
friends, plus I had a great time putting it
together!
" ~ Kara
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"One
of the most memorable birthday parties for our kids was a
t-shirt painting party. On
the invitation, we specified that it would be a t-shirt
painting party and to dress ‘down’. When the moms
RSVPd (they still did that back then) and asked what kind of
gift Jenifer would like, her desire was to just have her
friends show up and have a party – so they offered to
bring t-shirt decorating stuff too! We set up a big picnic
table with a vinyl tablecloth in the garage (it was raining
that day) and all 8 kids had there own 'decorator station'.
We
had permanent markers in all colors, some 'garage sale'
transfer stickers, glitter, beads, baubles, fabric glue and
spray on adhesive, paint brushes, puff paints, fabric paints
(from my neglected craft projects), even sticks and leaves
that they dipped in the paints. Then we cut them loose and
let them get creative.
My
total expense was 3 packages of 3 white men’s medium
t-shirts from the dollar store. With easy refreshments
(cupcakes, chips, drinks) the kids each got to decorate
their own shirt, and then they decorated one special shirt
for my birthday girl. Everyone ended up coloring and
‘helping’ on the other kids’ shirts. Jen still
has hers in her hope chest!
The
second memorable birthday party was a SWEET decorating party
– same concept as above – but I supplied unfrosted
cupcakes and undecorated sugar cookies. This was great
because I made these ahead of time. Amanda invited her
friends over and they played TWISTER,
had a scavenger hunt (those are easy to do) and then we
decorated cupcakes and cookies in whatever fashion they
wanted to decorate. Amanda’s birthday is close to
Christmas, so the toppings included sprinkles, Red Hots,
silver dots, homemade food colored frostings (even blue),
sweetheart candy, candy corn, stuff left over from
Halloween! This covered the birthday cake and the treats all
in one. After eating some masterpieces with ice cream,
the kids all got to take some home with them.
Both these
great parties were before digital cameras were so
affordable. After the party was over, we had our
disposable camera photos developed and gave copies to our
guests. Now I guess we can just download them and
email them! This was so much more personal and everyone
participated fully. Bowling, ice skating, roller
skating, backyard campouts, horseback riding, paintball,
laser tag -- those are all fun and great and we have done
them all -- but we found that some of the kids can’t do
those things, and we didn’t want to leave anyone out or
have anyone get their feelings hurt. I hope the
kids that came years ago remember them as well as I do!"
~ Denise
"One of the most dazzling, cost-effective things we
have done for kids parties is purchase a bubble machine on
clearance after October 31st. Kids love it, and it
looks great in pictures with bubbles floating around."
~ Donielle
"Top 5 Tips for
Sensible Events:
1. Remember that food is
not the point of the event; it's the fellowship that
matters.
2. Plan an event outside
of meal times, so only snacks are needed.
3. Potluck - need I say
more?
4. Keep hands busy. Focus
on other activities other than eating. Or combine them and
kill 2 birds with one stone. When I was a teenager, my mom
did ultra-cool make-your-own-pizza or sushi parties that
kept us busy and stuffed, and all under her watchful eye.
5. Think of low-cost
activities: crafts, a clothing swap, a private garage
sale/trade, a pamper party (everyone brings a little of
stuff they already have)." ~ Jacqueline
First of all, I do not
believe a child needs a birthday party each year. I do not
think the effort is appreciated when it is 'routine.' I
had one birthday party
as a child and I have repeatedly been told it was the
best one they went to. It was
very simple. All classmates were invited (class
was only 16-17 children). No discrimination allowed. I
lived on a farm so we
had room to play. We did pin the tail on the donkey and
played baseball in the front
yard and had homemade chocolate cake and ice
cream. That was it! I don't remember any of the gifts I
received/didn't receive, but
I do remember playing baseball in our front yard
and enjoying that cake and ice cream!" ~ Chris
Editor's Note: Thanks to these readers for taking time to share
their ideas!
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