Seventy THOUSAND pounds. That’s how much Tamara Ecclestone is reported to have spent on her daughter’s first birthday party. Even if I had £70,000 I wouldn’t do it, because frankly that’s ridiculous.
We were on a real budget for Little B’s first birthday party at the weekend and what with having a big family, wanting to make it appear as though money was no object and making sure we do for him what we did for BB things soon add up, even when you stick to the basics like cake, sandwiches and balloons.
I was quite proud of myself for managing to stick to a shoestring budget, so I thought I’d share my top tips for birthday parties on a budget:
1. Instead of paying for personalised invitations make them yourself by adding wording and images to a word document, convert it into a jpeg image using a free online document converter then have it printed as a photograph – we’re talking 12p per print through Photobox, so £1.20 for 10 invites.
2. Use supermarket basic lines to make things like chocolate cornflake cakes. No-one will know and I really don’t think you can taste the difference. Asda’s Smart Price cornflakes cost just 25p per 500g box, compared to Kellogg’s at £1.75 per box.
3. Ready-made sandwich fillers like tuna & sweetcorn and egg mayonnaise are often cheaper (and far less faff) than buying all the ingredients individually. Also, they’re often on mix & match offers such as two for £3.
4. Shop around for decorations. I bought a pack of three honeycomb Halloween baubles from Sainsbury’s for £3 only to discover almost exactly the same thing in Tesco for £1.50. Grrrrr.
5. Set yourself a budget for food and drink and stick to it by shopping online. You can review your online trolley at the end and remove things to meet your budget, which unless you’re Carol Vorderman is hard to do in the supermarket, where you’re also more likely to be lured into over-spending by impulse buys.
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That’s a great tip to do the shopping online. We’re having a first-birthday party this weekend and I’m stressed about how to feed these lovely people we’ve invited and how to get to the shops to get supplies since I don’t drive, and knowing I’ll end up spending WAY too much because I’ll be overwhelmed and distracted. (I feel like even this comment is sounding frazzled – haha!) Love your point that you can take things out of your online shopping cart and switch them around to keep to your budget, much less embarrassing than doing it at the checkout 😉 Most helpful thing I’ve read on the internet ever, thanks! #abitofeverything
Wow thanks so much – I hope it goes well & don’t stress too much!x
70000? That’s crazy! I am with you – I rather be practical and stick to a reasonable budget. Thank you for sharing your tips – very true what you have said. I also tend to recycle my decorations as well! Hope to see you again @ #abitofeverything
Since Little B’s birthday is late October I will certainly be recycling the decorations – again and again!x
Love this! – I totally agree, £70,000 is insane, especially for a one year old – I don’t remember my first birthday either! Awkward! . Some great cheap and cheerful tips though! thanks for sharing #abitofeverything
Hope you can find them usefulx
Some good tips here…
£70 grand for a birthday party? That kids isn’t going to grow up spoilt, eh? *tuts* #abitofeverything
I guess when you’re a millionaire what’s £70,000?!
No piggin’ way!!! 70K??? It’s a different world I guess but my budget is definitely much more well suited to your great ideas here. It’s M’s birthday soona nd I’ve been thinking about it plenty, as has she, but I haven’t actually done anything about it. She wants a skating party at the local sports centre so there would be minimum numbers and you have to prep everything else, you just get the skating and the use of a room for food and things but even that I’m not sure I can do. We’ll definitely make our own invites and do your food suggestions. #AnythingGoes
I’ve yet to do a party at a venue – good luck!
[…] There were two helpful posts I read in the lead up to our party which saved me from any additional crises. 10 tips for surviving the first birthday and Top tips for birthday parties on a budget. […]