My son celebrated his first birthday on December 27. I know as a first time mom I’m supposed to want to go all out and have a big bash for his first birthday, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I decided to save the big blow out for his second birthday. Instead we just had a little very budget friendly “Winter One-derland” get-together with our closest family members.
Instead of sending out invites through the snail-mail I decided to go the quick and cheap route with Evite.com. I created a “Winter One-derland” logo on Microsoft Publisher using clip-art that I used in the invitation as the main image. Within an hour all the invites had been sent out and were sitting in inboxes waiting for RSVPs.
Budget Friendly Tip: You don’t have to be a genius at (the expensive) Photoshop to create cute digital invitations. With just a little time and patience you can easily create one-of-a-kind invites or invite logos using Microsoft Publisher and the Paint tool found on most computers. Since it’s becoming more popular to send invitations through email don’t be afraid to use the wonderful inexpensive services of Sendomatic.com or Evite.com. Some of the most original invitations I’ve seen have been made using these websites.
I hadn’t really planned on decorating much since I wanted to keep the budget really small. I popped on over to my local Dollar Store to buy some cute snowflake paper plates my sister-in-law had found and while I was there (did I mention this was on December 26?!) I discovered ALL Christmas decorations were on sale for $0.50! I couldn’t resist the temptation, so I scooped up all the snowflake decorations I could fit in my cart. I also bought snowflake covered tablecloths and plastic cups with blue and green snowflakes similar to these found at Windy City Novelties. We didn’t have much snow on the ground, so I stuck snowflake stickers onto our door and windows.
Budget Friendly Tip: While it doesn’t get much more budget friendly than the Dollar Store, you could make the decorations yourself. It wouldn’t take much more than a stack of paper in white and blue, plus a pair of scissors to create dozens of snowflakes. Hang the snowflakes from your ceiling with “invisible” fishing line. You could also shred paper to make your very own snow piles! I’m also a huge fan of foam crafts. For a low cost and in a short amount of time I made a “Sammy’s Winter One-derland” birthday sign. I also made the birthday boy his very own party hat with foam board and stickers.
Budget Friendly Tip: Feeding a crowd is rarely budget friendly. However, by sticking with a simple menu you can help keep your costs down. It’s very easy to double or triple a favorite recipe of yours that you already love to make for normal family meals. If you need a little help converting your “Serves 4” recipe to “Serves 25” check out this Recipe Converter.
Since I wanted to keep things low key, I didn’t plan activities or games for the guests. We kept the event fairly short, so guests wouldn’t have time to get bored between eating and chit-chatting. The kids in attendance were kept busy with the Wii. Winter Sports 2, the Wii game, would be an excellent addition to any Winter One (or Won)-derland party.
Budget Friendly Tip: Had I chosen to have an activity for the guests, I would have saved money by combining the activity and the favor with a Make Your Own Photo Snow Globe. Oriental Trading sells snow globes kits. Instead of using the sports template included with the kit, I would have taken a picture of each guest with our birthday boy and printed them out during the party. Then each guest could insert their photo in their snow globe! Instant memories and a fun winter decoration for years to come!
Let's begin with the dessert table. I found brightly colored check fabric at WalMart for $1.50 a yard!! I bought orange, pink, purple and green. These made excellent table cloths. I also used some to cover the back of Catie's high chair and draped the extras across the buffet(kitchen island). I made the cupcakes myself. They were super easy. Just a regular box cupcake mix and store bought icing tinted green.. I piped the icing in a swirl using a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off. Then, just sprinkled little jimmies on top. To add an extra little something special I bought already tinted fondant at the craft store, rolled it out with a rolling pin, and using flower cookie cutters, cut out the shapes for the tops of the cupcakes. SOOO easy! I did the same thing for Catie's personal sized cake. I found small flower vases and brightly colored fake daisy flowers to put on the tables. 
Behind the dessert table I had Catie's high chair set up with balloons tied to it. I hung the birthday banner behind her chair. This was an easy banner to make. I just printed out the letters and then pasted them to some purple felt. I took pieces of hot pink tulle and tied them all together. 
Above the dessert table and buffet I hung several different sized paper lanterns along with glittery butterflies and dragonflies. All found at the craft store for a few dollars each.
On the other end of the table I set up a little candy bar for guests to snack on, or take along for the ride home. The sign was printed off the computer and put in an extra frame I had around. I filled inexpensive vases from WalMart with different candies bought on sale after valentines Day.(how lucky for me her party was right after the holiday) I stuck cute pinwheels in the candy and used these adorable little lady bugs all over the party. They popped up in all sorts of places. :-) I took white paper bags, and using a regular address label and Microsoft Word again, printed out a little thank you message for the guests. 
On the dinner buffet I had a menu printed out and framed also. I wrapped the silverware up in pretty pink napkins and tied them off with colored ribbon. Using those same checked fabrics, I covered the buffet and set out the food. BBQ for the adults and fun flower shaped PBJ's and chicken nuggets for the few kids that were there. I had two beverage dispensers I borrowed from a friend. One had pink lemonade in it, and the other had an adult cocktail. I made labels for these also and tied them around the tops of the dispensers with more ribbon..
I took about 60 balloons and filled them with helium and just let them float around the ceiling of the dining room. I tied long strings on them and let the kids play with them. 
I found a cheap inflatable kiddie pool on Amazon.com along with jumping balls. I filled the pool with the balls and voila, an easy tot play area. The kids went crazy for it! They played in there for hours!
I gave each child a gift of their own to open while Catie was opening her presents. I made something special for each of them according to their ages. Some got blankets, super hero capes, tutus..Along with little toys and stickers, everyone was happy. This was easy to pull off because we only had about 6 or 7 kids at the party. 
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