Frugal-ish 6th Birthday

My daughter turned six a couple weeks ago so that meant another birthday party. Honestly if I could skip birthday parties for ever I would be very happy. However the kids love them so I feel pressured into doing them.

She invited six or so friends and three were able to make it to the party. Perfect amount in my books. Saves my house from being overwhelmed by screaming girls. Well mainly me from feeling overwhelmed by screaming girls. I have also scaled way back the Pinterest inspired pressured decorations. In fact I did none this year. The kids did not even notice. Only downside is I don't have a ton of pretty pictures to share because I did not spend hours creating it all.

Her birthday present was Just Dance 2020 to go with the switch the kids got for Christmas. That provided the entertainment for the party. I also limited the party to two hours. That is plenty of time for the girls to play, eat cake and open presents.


Party menu was veggies & dip, chips and some homemade cupcakes. The recipe makes the best vanilla cupcakes and I use this recipe for frosting (youtube video with recipe in comments).  


Another time-killer party activity was for the kids to decorate their cupcakes with some sprinkles. 


For the party favours I gave the kids take-away containers to take the second cupcake they decorated home with them. As there were fewer guests then expected and I had a few extra cupcakes I sent them home with the guests. 


I also filled a little coin purse from the dollarstore with a couple practical items including some lip balm and hair elastics. Total cost about $4 each. 


All in all the part cost about $40-50 in groceries, paper plates and favours. Best part is being done for another 6 months till next birthday comes around. It's my youngest next but he'll be 3 so we can skip inviting any extra friends and stick to adding cake to a family dinner. 

My mom and daughter have birthdays only a day a part so used the extra batter and icing to make a cake for our Sunday dinner. I don't have the patience to really develop cake decorating skills but am happy to get to a spot I can make a yummy cake that looks decent for about $10-15, rather than the $25-30 it would cost a bakery. It still looks homemade but I think that adds charm, or at least that's what I tell myself. 



Since last year we have gone to buying small gifts for the kids and planning an activity to enjoy as a family. This year my daughter choose to go to see Justin Willman of Magic for Humans as he was doing a show in our city the same month as her birthday. The kids have watched his show on Netflix so are really excited to see him. The kids were amazed and really loved him. Only slight mom guilt was leaving my smallest at home, but at 2.5 he would have been so bored at the show. 

I'll call it a win spending about $200-250 for her birthday including gifts and hope it made her feel loved and special without me losing my mind do meet unrealistic standards set by social media. 



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