Birthday Party Budget

My twins are turning 6! This year I’m going to try to throw their birthday party for less than $60 dollars.

Normally we do on off site party, because it seems a lot less stressful when someone else can do a party for you. But this year, I wanted to save money but still give them a nice party at home.

I figure there will be about 15 kids attending. We aren’t having a theme this year, it’s more of a traditional birthday party. However we are having activities.

I went to Michaels to search for an activity all the kids can do. I found creatology wooden puzzles. These were $1.00 each. I purchased a variety of puzzles: spiders, dolphins, frogs, automobiles, dinosaurs and squirrels, totaling 15. Total $15.00

I also purchased Ceramcoat Acrylic Paint, variety pack $10.99 It has 24 primary colors and I also bought 25 assorted brushes. $4.99 I used 40% off coupons for each of these items. Total $6.39

This should be a lengthy activity with the time it’ll take for the kids put these together and paint their puzzles.

Now for decorations and goodies. I went to CVS to purchase these items, this way I could use CVS coupons and Extra Care Bucks to save some money.

Goodies:

I purchased the following items.

Game Night Candy (This candy is really cool, it has candy game pieces in boxes that look like board games.) The games in the candy were Clue, Operation, Sorry, Life and Monopoly.
I also purchased Lemon Head variety pack, these came with Apple Head, Cherry Head, Red Hots, Lemonhead, and Atomic Fireball.
A bag of Rice Krispies Treats and a Snack Pak bag with Kit-Kat, Almond Joy, Reese’s and Hershey’s. All of this Candy was $17.50. However CVS was running a promotion that if you buy $20.00 worth of Candy you get $5.00 Extra Care bucks, so I purchased 3 Gold Emblem Candy (Gummy Bears/Worms) each $.88, total $2.64so I could use $1.00 off coupon while still reaching the $20.00 limit.

Decorations/Game:

I purchased Blue and Red Streamers each $1.49, Balloons $1.99, Candles $1.49, Pin the Tail on the Donkey Game $2.49. Total $8.95.

Total Merchandise at CVS $29.09
Used $5.00 coupon by spending 20.00
Used $1.00 coupon by when buying 2 Gold Emblem Candy
Used $13.50 in Extra Care bucks and earned $5.00 Extra Care bucks
Total out of pocket was $9.59, but with the ECB’s I earned for my next CVS visit, I only paid $4.59. Not too bad huh!

Activities Total $21.39.

Decorations/Goodies/Game $4.59

Current Total $25.98 Budget Left to spend $34.00

I still have to purchase food for the party all on $34.00 and I have no idea what I am going to make for food. I was thinking about appetizers, this way it’ll be a munch fest all day, but if I can’t get all this done within my budget I may have to rethink the appetizers.

The party is this weekend, so I’ll provide an update and pictures of the party when completed. Be sure to check back to see how it all worked out.