My son just turned 9!
I'm so excited and proud of him and the young man he is. 2 weeks ago when he said "I can't wait for my birthday party!!!" I realized I had made 0 preparation to celebrate this year. When I checked all of our offshore accounts and big time investments I calculated a healthy budget of between $50-$70.
Enter Pinterest. Search "boys birthday party ideas". Obsess for 3 days straight. Decide on Pizza making theme. Obsess for 3 more days. Hand write some pizza party invitations with red and green felt pens. What day is it? Oh man, now I only have a week! Re-enter Pinterest. Search "DIY...everything"
I made Chefs hats out of tissue and paper from Paper Source.
I uploaded some cool new fonts from www.dafont.com and made a birthday sign by printing oversized letters and then cutting and pasting (literally) on piece of cardstock. I used Maxwell's felt pens and freehanded a design similar to one I saw and loved on Pinterest. I backed it with left over black wrapping paper and placed it in my go to gold frame that I saved 2 years ago from the alley.
I purchased a roll of paper bag gift wrap and a roll of white gift wrap. One to cover the tables and the other to make random signs and to use for pictionary and a makeshift awning.
The treat bags were next. I used the same fonts and printed on lunch bags one at a time. The bags had some dollar store candy and fruit roll ups. I sealed them with red and white checked fabric tape from Paper Source to stick with the theme.
On to the awning! Measure the length you need to cover the chosen area then lay out the white roll wrap. With a sponge and some acrylic red paint, free hand some stripes. When it's dry, cut the edge to look like it's scalloped. This is where I leave you to figure out how to hang it. I'm sorry, I fought my fight, it's time to fight yours. It looked awesome from the front! From behind, it looked like death by packing tape.
Next challenge: rolling pins. Easy right? Wrong. I spent an entire day searching for rolling pins. The few that I found, were either 20$ wooden ones or $40 marble ones. So we went to ACE Hardware and they cut down a couple of $6 dowels for a $3 charge. I sanded each 'pin' ,wrapped some of the checkered fabric tape around the edges et voila! Professional grade rolling pins for about a buck a piece!
A rice krispy cake is tradition in our house now. I decorated it with Fruit by the foot, a few skittles and a mini banner.
I found some easy Pictionary words for kids on line, printed them and threw them in a box. Everyone won a prize. Best pizza toss, best pictionary drawing, most creative pizza, etc. All the prizes were from the dollar store. I stayed on budget, including a sweet little gift for all the neighbors in our building who had to bear the noise of two kids birthday parties back to back in one afternoon. I purchased single serving bottles of red and white wine (cvs had them on sale 4 for $5) and attached a note saying "Pardon the noisy celebration blah blah blah". It was cute and no one complained:)
*guilt free style*
DO IT. LOVE IT.
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