Zander's Birthday Party

Earlier this year I announced to the world my stand against big birthday parties.  Don't misunderstand me.  A child's birthday should be special.  But let's get real, is the party for our child or to impress the guests? Is it necessary to shell out three hundred plus dollars on your kid's birthday?  Hmmm....or maybe I feel this way because I don't have an extra $300 in the budget to blow on a party?  Whatever the answer is, I declared last year, "NEVER AGAIN!"

Instead I wanted to make my child's birthday special by taking that money that would be spent for a birthday party and do something.  Being a family of six on one income we don't get to do a lot of stuff that smaller families do....like go eat at a fun restaurant then go to an amusement park or movie.  That was the plan....yeah, my kids didn't like it.

Zander, turning 6, kept talking about his birthday party....making plans....he wanted it to be at Big Splash, or Laser Tag, or Bounce U....like all his friends.  The truth is, we can't afford that.  I tried to persuade him that instead of a party we, as a family, could go to Big Splash or one of those other places, but he insisted that he wanted to invite his friends. 

Call me a liar or call me a push over, we ended up having a party.  But seriously, it was small compared to other extravagant parties.  

We spent an afternoon hand making our invitations and then delivered them to the neighborhood kids.  We bought a blow up pool at Aldi for only $16 and bought 4 boxes of sherbet popsicles for less then $2 apiece.  We had a couple of slip n slides (which we received as gifts earlier in the season) set up as well. 

For lunch we served Zander's favorite lunch....PB&J, Cheetos, grapes and pink lemonade. 

Cheeto hands!

When the kids got hot they came inside for craft time.  I bought visors from the Dollar Tree...3 for a $1!  They decorated them with glitter, stickers, and such....which I already had. 

All in all, the birthday was super fun and super cheap.  I decorated the inside of my house with left over luau stuff from a party several years ago. 

Pure joy.

One little boy said, "This is the best birthday party ever! " 

Best.  Feeling.  Ever. 

You don't have to spend a lot of money to have a fun birthday party.  I seriously believe that even IF we could afford the big party that we would opt NOT to have one....we're just minimalist like that.  On the other hand, I'm thankful that his friends have parties at all those fun places so my child can experience them....