Budget Children’s Birthday Party Ideas

A baby’s first birthday is an important milestone. In a new study, UK parents spend over £200 on their baby’s first birthday party. For sweet sixteen birthday parties, parents spend £198 while for 10-year-olds, they are spending £160 to £162. What researchers found out was that parents are spending around three months savings for their child’s birthday.

The cost can build up when you consider expensive gifts, decorative balloon arches, new outfit, personalized cakes, etc. When you add up all these items and more, a child’s birthday party can cost more than £320 with over £175 spent on birthday presents alone.

While a few parents can afford to hold expensive birthday parties for their children, most cannot. If you’re one of those parents looking for ideas to have our child’s birthday party on a budget, you’ve come to the right place.

Here are ideas for children parties on a budget.

Venue Ideas

Organizing a child’s party yourself is no easy task, but one of the areas where you can save is the venue. Most parents choose to hold their child’s birthday party at theme parks, restaurants and other locations. Here are the venue ideas to consider if you want to host your child’s birthday on a budget.

Home Party…

Gone are the days when a game of pass the parcel and a bowl of jelly were enough for a child’s party. Due to peer pressure and social media bragging, parents are digging deeper into their pockets. Extravagant birthday parties include an entertainer, catered food and drinks, plus party bags.

Hiring the entertainer for three hours at £145 an hour costs £435. Catered food and drinks for 30 to 50 children at £4 a child is £120 to £200. The birthday cake is £65 while party bags for every child at £3.50 each adds up to £105 – £175. Grand total for the party is £725 to £875.

Instead of struggling to save hundreds of pounds to throw an elaborate party, hold the party at your home. You could use your garden space or if you have an open plan living room and dining room, make use of it.

You don’t need to go overboard with the party décor. Some balloons, bunting and streamers will do. If you’re creative, customize the bunting to reflect your child’s interest. Even when it comes to the guest list, you don’t have to invite all of your child’s class. This will add to your expenses per head.

Draw up a list of 10 to 20 closest friends and their parents. Design birthday invitation cards online and send e-invites or contact the parents via social media.

Local Village Hall…

If your home has no garden space or open plan design, hire a local village hall. The hall hire fee is relatively low. In fact, you can spend between £30 to £50. The hall has plenty of space so you can invite loads of adults and kids. You’ll also have plenty of space for food and drinks, plus other fun activities.

The village hall provides a hassle and safe environment that you can make into whatever you want. For example, you can have a fairy princess themed birthday party with a bouncy castle or a pirate-themed party. By holding the party at the local village hall, you’ll have a worry-free experience. Also, no damage will occur to your home, and you will not offend your neighbours with noise.

When the party’s over, every adult and child will head home to relax.

Public Park…

Another great venue for holding your child’s birthday party is a public park. Before doing so, you must get permission from your local council. You need to contact them as soon as possible as it takes time for the council to consider such requests. The amount of time to consider your application varies from council to council. To learn more, check your local council’s website.

If it’s not the council’s property, you’ll need permission from the owner. It could be a business, school or housing association. As soon as your application gets approved, the council will work with you to ensure a safe event.

If holding the birthday party at a public park, it’s a good idea to have a trained and experienced person in first aid. The St John’s Ambulance, Red Cross and other health charities may provide a first aid person. You can also go for one of their courses and get qualified.

Farm or Theme Park…

Local wildlife parks and theme parks in the UK offer plenty of space to hold a birthday party. Most parks charge £10 to £20 per child. This includes entry to the park together with a few adults, food and entertainment.

Food Ideas

Just like the venues, you don’t have to spend a lot of money on food. You can do most of the catering yourself. Not only is this cheaper but healthier too. Let’s start with the birthday cake. With a YouTube video, your oven and baking equipment, you can bake a birthday cake in an hour or two.

For example, you can bake sponge cakes and layer them with buttercream. This will create a tall cake giving it a professional feel. When it comes to decoration, go minimalist. You can cover the sides of your sponge cake with buttercream.

This will act as a base for sprinkles. You don’t have to buy expensive cake toppers. Instead, use small toys to decorate the cake, such as plastic dinosaur toys or vintage vehicles like fire trucks.

Use straws as bunting poles, and in minutes, you’ll have a unique cake topper. A homemade birthday cake is not always cheaper. You can buy a store-bought birthday cake at ASDA that goes for less than £5. If there is not enough cake for the guests, add swiss rolls and other baked goods. You can buy these at the supermarket for under £1.

When it comes to party food, do not prepare carrot sticks, broccoli and egg mayo sandwiches for kids. Instead, prepare foods such as fish fingers, a few chips and ketchup. You can serve this snack in chip cones with wooden forks.

You can also set up a hot dog stand here. Children can line up, and you can serve them their hotdogs then allow them to help themselves to condiments.

Entertainment Ideas

Hiring an entertainer for an hour is expensive. It can cost between £100 to £150 an hour. An entertainer is not the only way to keep kids amused. If you have garden space or hired your local village hall, get a bouncy castle. It’s only £65 to hire, and this includes collection and setting up.

You also have the options of games. Old school party games such as pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs, pass the parcel, and others can keep the kids entertained for hours. You can also introduce audio role play entertainment. This is where kids listen to a narrator as he or she tells a story. A good example is Acting the Party entertainment, and they charge £3 per child.

Party Bag Ideas

Party bags are one of those things that can cost as little or as much as you like. It’s much cheaper to make your own party bags rather than purchase ready-made goodie bags. The best source for bargain toys and other small gifts is Pound stores.

One of the best gifts you can include in a party bag is books. While on the surface, books may seem more expensive, they are not. You can buy the books in bulk online as little as 50p per book. The best online booksellers where you can purchase the books in bulk is The Book People.

Other bag filler ideas you can use include:

Water bombs
Colouring books
Mini-games
Cuddly toys
Sports equipment such as frisbee
Hair clips or glittery hair slide
Baking kit
Craft kits and more

Use reusable drawstring bags for packaging your goodies. Most stores sell these bags for £10 to £15 for ten pieces. Remember, you don’t have to buy tons of little things for your party bags. Just choose three things you can buy in bulk.

Final Thoughts

Throwing your kid a party is the best way to create lots of family memories and celebrate an important milestone. Luckily, there are a lot of ways to cut costs and still throw a memorable birthday party. Take advantage of discount codes when booking venues, buying food, drinks and items for your party bags.

Choose your venue wisely, such as village halls, your home or theme park. When it comes to food, prepare it yourself, even the cake. For more savings, team up with your child’s friends or classmates with a similar birthday date to host the party together.