Our friends over peoplejam.com sent over this article and we thought it was good info to share in these tough times. We hope you can use the info.

The time has come to start planning your child’s birthday party, but unfortunately your dead uncle’s estate hasn’t mailed that million dollar check to you yet. How do you plan a party that celebrates your child’s life without feeling guilty for spending too much, or too little? It’s actually easier than you think. It takes a lot of creativity, some time-planning, and only a little money to create a celebration that your child will fondly remember in the years to come.

Consider this first: most likely, your child will only remember the friends and family who came with gifts of love and presence (not presents). Depending on their age, a lot of kids are happy with water guns and the Disney channel playing in the background. A lot of the big bash birthday parties are for show. Don’t get sucked into a party war with other parents (although it’s easy to do). Start your birthday party planning by first defining your intention. This may sound silly, but a lot of people don’t think about the underlying reason for the urge to splurge. Do you want a birthday party because you never had one as a child? Do you want a birthday party to show off how much you love your kid? Do you want a birthday party to celebrate the gift of life?

If you answered yes to the third question, you’ll definitely be able to create a party on a budget. A lot of times, parents get consumed with revisiting their youth through their children, unintentionally. The thing we all must do is live intentionally, and make all of our actions conscious. Define your child’s birthday party by its singular purpose: celebrating life.

Engrave Your Budget In Stone

Setting the budget is the next most important thing you must do. Along the same vein of living intentionally, you should budget intentionally. Start out by figuring how much you can afford to spend. In these days of economic upheaval, you really have to count each penny. If you have a monthly budget, just take out the money that you normally allot to entertainment. Use your available money as your guide, not the number of invites. Many people are able to throw a magical birthday party on $50 or $100, total. It doesn’t take much money, especially if your child is younger.

It will be extremely tempting to spend more once you get to the party decorations store, and see all the cute items that would spice up your theme. This is where being rigid is a virtue. In fact, adopt the envelop system espoused by financial writer Dave Ramsey. Grab the amount of cash money you have alloted to your child’s birthday, and spend directly from that envelop. When the cash is gone, you’re done. It really forces you to edit your purchases. It also activates the creative side of your brain.

Dollar Store Decorations

Your neighborhood dollar store is an amazing resource for planning a successful birthday party, on a budget. The dollar store, where everything is $1.00, is available in every city. Not all of the items in the dollar store are cheap and tawdry, most are actually incredibly priced and useful. The things you can buy from the dollar store include specialized balloons (the ones in the shape of cupcakes and butterflies), paper plates and plastic utensils, candy, party favors, and other party decorations.

You can also buy do-it-yourself crafts and ask your kids to help. Here’s a fun way to make old school streamers: buy construction paper and glue from the dollar store, and cut the paper into strips, length-wise. Loop the paper and glue the ends together. Repeat, creating interlinking loops. The end result is a colorful set of streamers that your child helped create.

Let Them Eat Cake

To buy or not to buy, that’s the question. You may think that you can’t make your own cake, but chances are, you can! With the advent of the internet, everything is possible. Sites like AllRecipes and YouTube help even the novice baker create a masterpiece. All it takes is cake mix, and an internet connection. Someone in cyberspace has created a tutorial that compliments any idea you can think up. Making your own cake gives you the most flexibility, and is very cost effective, shaving as much as 90% off of the price.

Foodies or Kiddies

Most people blow a large portion of their budget on expensive food. Party food is usually cost-prohibitive, but with the right planning, you create a menu without leftovers, or at least with leftovers you won’t mind eating the next day. The key is in serving finger foods that your guests will actually want to eat. Stay away from fine French cheese, when you’re hosting 5 year olds. Think more along the lines of Goldfish. Instead of crackers, think potato chips– the baked, good for you kind. Speaking of which, find ways to incorporate healthy snacks into your menu. Serve homemade granola bars and fresh fruit. However, remember, it’s a kid’s party, and candy is basically mandatory!

Kids love to play with their food, so take that to the next level. Have all the kids come into the kitchen and design mini pizzas on biscuit dough. Give them pepperoni and shredded cheese and pasta sauce for topping. You do the baking, and supervise, of course. The end result is ownership and accomplishment on the kids’ side, and less work on your side.

Other good and quick food ideas: Pigs-in-a-blanket, Hamburgers, Chicken Nuggets, Party Mix, Home-baked Cookies, Punch, Popsicles.

Entertain the Masses

This is the part that requires the most creativity. How do you entertain a bunch of kids, whose attention spans are equal to their age? Have lots of games, several going at one time, if you have a large amount of guests in attendance. You want to create simultaneous activities so that a child can go from one to the other. Have board games going, and a face painting station, and a movie playing in the background.

If you want to create a more cohesive atmosphere, consider throwing a talent or variety show. Beforehand, buy some fun and funky outfits from the thrift store, and have them washed and ready the day of the party. Invite the kids to dress up and create characters and act them out on stage. It’s inexpensive, and encourages imagination.

Other tips: consider the idea of a sleepover, if you have a girl, or a camping trip (in the backyard) for the boys.

Your child’s birthday party doesn’t have to suffer because of a limited budget. If you allow yourself to consider the possibilities, you’ll realize the only thing limited in the first place was your thinking. You are more resourceful than you think.