Tuesdays Tip: Creating a Party on the Cheap

As much as I love to host parties and decorate my home the pay check of a substitute teacher is not very conducive to such things. There are no halls being rented or new drapes for every season. (By the way, why are curtains so expensive?!) Plus I'm kind of a cheap person. I refuse to pay more than I think something is worth especially if it is something I can do or make myself. 

Because of those factors I have gotten pretty creative and figured out how to host inexpensive events. Granted they are not as nice as the ones I lust after in pictures, but I still have fun putting everything together and hope everyone has a good time. 

The following are some of my tips on how to put together a party with little funds. 

1. Embrace the dollar store. I'm not going to lie. The Dollar Tree is one of my favorite places. There are so many hidden treasures there. They have a lot to offer in the way of party supplies. For our pumpkin party I bought two glass candle sticks and two other glass holders that were also in the candle aisle and glued them together. Two instant additions to my serving dish collection for $4. 

My  "crystal" cup is pictured here.
Works great for nuts and small snacks. Plus, it still works as a candle holder.

2. Do mix and match party supplies. Sometimes, particularly for kids parties you may want a special character or theme to be represented. I know my daughter will ask for the matching plates and cups and banners, etc. $12 for just paper plates alone is not happening in this house. So when we must have those special supplies we pick a couple things with that special design and mix it with the generic stuff. A one or two packs of Fancy Nancy plates mixed with a few packs of plain plates is a lot lighter on the wallet. I personally like it better stylistically anyway. Sometimes it can get to be too much character overload. You can do the same thing with napkins and then maybe splurge for that matching pinata. 

For Morgan's 6th birthday we mixed Fancy Nancy plates with light pink ones and used a  reusable vinyl table cloth of the same color scheme. The table cloth cost less than the plastic Fancy Nancy ones and we could use it again.

3. Make it yourself. Don't be intimidated. You can do it! I like to have at least one homemade decoration. It's more personalized and softens that manufactured party kit feeling. It's also less expensive than paying the jacked up convenience charge of having it pre-made. With Pinterest and so many blog tutorials out there you are sure to find great easy ideas. Here are a couple from the past few years:

Am I going to pay $10 for 3 tissue paper pom poms I can buy online or $3 for 10 that I can have fun making with my daughter? These are still hanging in her room after almost 2 years.

A fall pumpkin candle holder. I had all the supplies in my house so this one was a freebie. (Hint: I wash out and save sauce and jelly jars for occasions like this.)  

Another freebie. Why not make a banner out of supplies you have around the house?

Did you know they sell paper chain kits in the craft store? I was so tempted but then spent some time in the scrapbook paper section doing my research and found out I could buy a whole book of pretty paper for less and make a much longer chain.

4. Reuse, share, and borrow! I have a colorful girly Happy Birthday banner I found at Old Navy of all places. I goes with pretty much every girls birthday theme. Best $5. I have used it for years and my sister-in-law borrows it too. It gets around. My mom and I have nice folding chairs we share and she also is gracious enough to share a lot of dishes and serving items. If you share with family and friends its like having twice or three times the supplies.

5. Buy on clearance. Every now and then I will see supplies for dirt cheap at Target. One day I happened to catch the dollar bin 70% off. 30 cents?! It is definitely OK in my book at that price to but a few things to put aside. 

6. The time of day can lower your food bill. Dinner and lunch parties can get pricey. You need a main course, some snacks or appetizers and dessert. Having a party that is strictly munchies or dessert items can cost less and be easier to get everything together. Breakfast is also a good option that costs less than a full course meal.

7. Use what you have. I guarantee you have a lot of things around your house you can use before even stepping foot in the store. Get creative and try to stay clear of too many things you will only use once. 

At this point I want to turn the list over to you. Do you have any tip for saving money when it comes to parties?

Pumpkin Decorating Party

I will be the first to admit that Halloween isn't really my thing. I just can't get into it. Maybe I was traumatized as a small child and have blocked out the memory of it. Don't get me wrong... I like the candy. It's just the cheesy, spooky, costume wearing factor I can't seem to get behind. I wish I could.

One thing I do love about Halloween though is carving pumpkins. I'm not sure what lit the initial spark, but way back in August I knew I wanted to have a pumpkin carving party with everyone. Being that it was still summer I put a pin in the idea and moved on... until I saw the dollar bin at Target filled with fall decorations and party supplies. Specifically these small paper snack cup that I had to have. They were just so fun and since they were more fall-ish than Halloween-ish it was right up my alley. So I came home from my first shopping trip with this: the snack cups, small orange paper plates to match, 3 small tin pails with ivory ribbon handles and a spool of 4 fall themed ribbons. Random? Yes. At that point I didn't even know who, or how many, I was inviting or what I was going to do with the pails or ribbon.

My spoils. 

Eventually everything did fall into place. I knew I wanted to keep it relatively small. Add our parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, one cousin and her family and a couple of Morgan's friends together and you get a group number in the twenties. That happens to be minimalistic in my family. I also didn't want to do a meal. Just a few (or 12 or so) snacks to munch on.

Needless to say I had a FANTASTIC time and hope everyone else did too. I think we should turn this into an annual affair. 

My favorite treats on the table were the pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and the candy corn rice crispie treats. I pulled the flower arrangement together from various plants in my yard, including the last three tiny sunflowers hanging on for dear life to the wilting stalk in my garden. 

Outside we put all the pumpkins in a wheelbarrow until we were ready. I also found small Styrofoam pumpkins at the Dollar Tree. They said they were carve-able so I grabbed a bunch as extras. They ended up being great for the smaller kids to cover with stickers or for the slightly older kids when they wanted something else to do when they were done carving the real thing. I highly recommend getting something like these as back up.

As for the tools of the trade... bowls and spoons for collecting pulp, a books of templates, and a few pumpkin carving kits did the trick. I don't think you can have enough of the carving knives, so stock up! They are worth it and work much better than a steak knife. I also found the idea for using cookie cutters and a mallet to hammer in a design into the side of the pumpkin. Then you can just use the knife to get the cuts all the way through if the skin in thick. 

 Paints, foam pumpkin faces, and stickers were great for the kids when they wanted to add extras or weren't old enough to use the other tools.

A kit like this works great. I have used this one in the past:

And who doesn't love a bouncy house?! Thanks to my sister -in-law for sharing hers for the day. 

 Lastly, I will leave you with a sampling of our handy work.

Inspired

I am feeling really inspired by a blog that I watch constantly. Its by a photographer and mom named Jill Dubien. I can't get enough of the things she posts! They are really fun and whimsical. I was feeling so inspired that I thought I would share some of the masterpieces I have been creating, and what better time than right after the 6th birthday party that I threw for my daughter. I did some mini DIY projects for the party and was pretty pleased with how it turned out.

The Theme: Fancy Nancy

I used pink and white Chinese take-out containers and filled them with ring pops, candy bracelets, butterfly stickers, and a stamp set I found at the dollar store in the shape of a purse. Each guest had theirs personalized with their name in glitter. The tags read "Thank you for coming to my soiree!"

My favorite project was the tissue paper flowers we made and hung from the ceiling! They came out awesome and looked great. I hung three over the table and three in the family room. They were super easy too.

Re-use! I had bought this cake stand for my wedding and although it ended up being too small, it was perfect for fabulous Fancy Nancy party cupcakes!

I thought these cupcakes were going to be the death of me. They took 3 hrs. to make, but I think were well worth it. Whats fancier than a double layer cupcake? They were Funfetti, with vanilla frosting and silver sugar gems... and a Fancy Nancy ring to top it all off. Some were spiky and some were swirly. I think their is definitely room for improvement w/ the frosting, but not too bad for a first shot.

The girls had a great time. They had a dress-up with costumes, jewelry and my grandmothers old hats. Too cute! Then they put on a fashion show. There was bracelet making (a great way to use up some beads that have been taking up space) and some Fancy Nancy print-outs. Fabulous Dah-ling!