About four months after Madeline was born, Bradley celebrated his birthday. During this time, I was on an extended maternity leave, which meant that I was bringing in zero salary. Even though our budget had been cut literally in half, I knew that if I was creative enough, I could still host him a small family party. I had purchased his presents several weeks prior (which were very small due to our new maternity leave budget), but I decided that it would also be fun for Madeline and I to give “Dada” a surprise birthday party!!! 🙂 I knew that we couldn’t spend very much, so I immediately surveyed what I already had:
Tablecloth & candles – Check
Some wrapping supplies – Check
Ingredients for baking – Check
Sprinkles for cupcakes – Check
After this, I decided to take Madeline to the Dollar Tree to see what they had in their party section. For only $6.00 (actually a tad less), I was able to come up with the rest of the supplies for his party – yay!!! I purchased the birthday sign, party hats and three birthday bags for $5 and some tax. With the exception of one bag, I bought the bags in basic colors, so I could reuse them for Christmas (hooray for planning ahead and saving money). 🙂
We typically kept a fairly stocked kitchen (particularly in those days, because cooking from scratch is WAY cheaper than eating out), but on this date, it wasn’t as stocked as normal. However, I managed to come up with enough supplies for THREE (yes, three) cupcakes. This way, I didn’t have to spend extra money on cake mix and frosting. I knew that Bradley wouldn’t care, and he would appreciate the extra effort that went into making cupcakes from scratch.
It is important to note the sprinkles on top of the cupcakes. When I was pregnant with Madeline, and we didn’t know her gender yet, we started calling her “Sprinkles.” It was such a cute name that we actually kept calling her that throughout the duration of my pregnancy. I thought that it would be extra cute for the cupcakes to have sprinkles on them, especially since Baby Madeline was my co-host. 🙂
All in all, it was a little extra work, but it made Bradley smile like crazy when he got home! I put Madeline’s party hat on (as well as Lucy’s), and we were able to take some fantastic pictures. Bradley had a wonderful time, and we did all of this on a tiny budget!
The next time that you want to throw an impromptu soiree, check first at what you already have. Please don’t immediately go out and buy a bunch of stuff (like the cake mix, tablecloth, frosting, candles, etc). There is a good chance that you have most, if not all, of everything you need in your house. Save your money for bigger events, and plan ahead! A lot of people don’t do parties because they think they are too expensive. It is the time that you spend, not the amount, that counts the most! A little bit of effort and planning can go a long way!
This is one of my favorite pictures of Madeline with her daddy. This festive little party may have taken some effort, but it was all worth it for this picture, which will last a lifetime…….definitely the best six dollars that I ever spent! 🙂
What do you enjoy doing for small family birthday celebrations? Please leave a comment below, because I love hearing from you all. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!
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