Throw A Child's Birthday Party For Less Than $100!

As my son’s third birthday approached I was undecided as to whether or not we would throw him a birthday party. I knew this would probably be the first birthday he would remember, but I wasn’t willing to spend more than $100 either. Two weeks before my baby’s big day the answer came to me via my email inbox.

I subscribe to iamthatlady.com’s “Daily Deals” email. One of the deals for the day was a free clinic at Lowe's where you could bring your child in to build a monster machine or a monster truck for Halloween. You get all the materials you need to build the project (wood, nails, hammer) plus a pair of safety goggles and an apron to take home. I knew this was something my son would love, so I immediately went to Lowe's website to register him. When I got to the registration page I realized you could register up to ten children! Bells went off in my head and I knew my birthday party dilemma had been solved.

I called my close family and friends to invite them and registered ten children. After doing this I saw a flyer for a culinary store in my area featuring a Cake Pop Maker (essentially a waffle iron that makes doughnut holes) for $20.00. The machine comes with recipes and lollipop sticks. There was also a 20% off coupon in the flyer, which would bring the price down to $16.00. This gave me another bright idea. After the clinic at Lowe's we could make cake pops at my house.

I spent about $50 on food, including 6 two-liter bottles of Pepsi Max and Sierra Mist for $0.50 each. I bought the birthday boy two Transformers toys from Target for $2.50 each (on sale for $10.00 – (2) $5.00 Transformers coupons – (1) $5.00 Target coupon = $5.00) and made him a superhero cape with a sheath for his sword ($3.50 for two skeins of yarn).

The children who made it to the clinic at Lowe's had a great time and all want to go back. Everyone loved the cake pops. I made chocolate and vanilla the cake the night before and chocolate and vanilla icing during the party. The guests rolled their cake in the frosting then in rainbow sprinkles. When they were done they put their creations on lollipop sticks and devoured them. I knew the children would enjoy this activity, but was surprised at how much the adults loved it.

The party was a huge success and after spending nearly $75.00 on everything I was under my $100.00 party budget!

The week of my baby’s birthday I received an e-mail from Barnes and Noble with a coupon for a free birthday cupcake. I also had enough Transformers and Target coupons to get two more Transformers for $5.00. On my son’s actual birthday we went on a birthday date after school. We went to Target where we had lunch and he chose the Transformers he wanted. Then we headed over to Barnes and Noble for his cupcake. I spent about $3.00 for lunch, which brought my grand total for this special date to $8.00. The memories my son and I will have are of course… PRICELESS!