How to Create an Inexpensive Recession-era Birthday Party

The economy may be less than robust right now but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate birthdays in style. If you need to create a birthday party for someone you love, these money-saving tips will help you watch your checkbook, while still creating a party everyone will remember:

Be Creative with the Party Theme

Why not try an unusual theme that would also be affordable for both your guests and you? If you’re giving a children’s party, the guests can bring low-cost items that would be appropriate for a  homeless shelter that serves families or a regional pet rescue organization. If you call the organization’s manager, you can compile a list of low-cost items that can be included with the invitations you send to your guests. Suggest that they wrap the gifts as usual and then the entire party can meet at the organization to deliver them. This would not only be meaningful for everyone involved but it would also teach the children the true concept of giving.

If the event is for an adult, you can help your guests save money by having a recycling/re-gifting party. Most people can locate at least one gift they’ve received that they don’t want, so let them wrap them up and give them again! Make sure everyone knows who is on the guest list, though, so people don’t re-gift items they received from other party guests! If you don’t want to risk hurt feelings, this idea also works well for items that people have bought new on impulse but never used. Make sure to provide a specific dollar limit for the gifts, so that everyone can participate and go home with a gift.

Make Your Own Birthday Party Decorations and Invitations

The Web has an unbelievable selection of printable birthday invitations for kids and adults. So why spend money on invitations from a party or stationary store when printing them at home is so easy and inexpensive? There are also a lot of birthday clipart options online, which make great party decorations. If you can find high resolution art, you can make banners or signs. If you can’t find the right kind of clip art, you can at least use smaller art to make table place holders or to cut out and sprinkle throughout flower arrangements or plants. If the guest of honor likes antique art, try printing and cutting out various vintage greeting cards and attaching them to a string that you drape around the room or the cake table. This will create a distinctive old-time feel and make the room look great! To enhance the shabby chic, vintage theme, get intentionally mismatched plates, glasses and silverware at a thrift store to use in place of plastic and paper partyware.

The most important thing to remember when trying to save money on a birthday party is that you need to be creative. If you infuse style into your party plans, no one will ever know the party was actually a bargain!