August 30 Hunter's Birthday

Our joyous little Hunter is now 7! We always start out with breakfast in bed, but never has the birthday person gotten up before the breakfast is served . . . until now. Hunter came bounding in our room at 7 am on Sat morn asking me when he was going to get his breakfast in bed. Since we had stayed up very late, I was hoping for a little later breakfast, but I plopped Hunter in my bed and trudged into the kitchen to make his breakfast. He is always so happy, I couldn't help myself! (James was still trying to sleep)


I recently saw an Oprah episode in which parents were spending outrageous amounts ($10,000) for their children's parties. So I decided to blog about how to create the most amazing birthday party on the teeniest budget! I was even going to display a detailed list of the cost of everything. Well, I am proud of how little we spent on the party, but I almost wiped myself out putting it all together! So, as the saying goes; give me your time (and effort) or give me your money! If I were to put an amount on the time I spent, it would have been an outrageously expensive party! But since I love party planning and party throwing so much, I feel my time was well spent!

I will spare you all the details of the exact numbers of the party, but I'll tell you all of my cost cutting ideas, you know, in case you were wanting to throw a wedding reception for under $100 or something.

We'll start with the invitations. Hunter chose his theme; AVATAR. I found several great images on google and ran with it. I created the invite on the computer and then we hand delivered them (no cost).

Decorations and paper products. I went to my stash and found that I had yellow plates and napkins from a previous party as well as random party hats and blowers. Since the colors for the party were orange, yellow, and blue (I know he's only 7--let me have my fun!), I knew these would work! Since Avatar is not that big of a theme, I would have had to order it online, and it would have cost about $30. I used plain Sam's Club cups. To spruce them up, I printed off another image and with "Happy Birthday Hunter," cut them and wrapped them around the cups. I ended up having to buy a table cloth, which I wanted orange, but had to settle for yellow because there are no orange tablecloths anywhere in Idaho! A couple of bucks for the table cover.

Every party needs a pinata! I made one by using a jumbo (Sam's Club sized) cereal box and, once again, printed off some images and glued them to the upside down box. Then I cut tissue paper into strips and cut fringe into them. I glued these all around and voi la Pinata! I put all of the prizes and candy into baggies so that each child would have the same amount. I also added extra shredded tissue paper and extra candy. I filled it and closed the bottom (top) by inserting the tab into the slit. I didn't know if this would hold, so I put a little tape over the seam. It turned out to be extremely durable. After Alex ripped the rope from the pinata in one aggressive hit with a bat, I had to slit the tape with a knife, and kind of let everything fall out after a final whack by Hunter.

The costume (I know it's a little overboard, but I was also thinking toward Halloween)! I went online and got a few ideas on how to make an Aang costume. Connor wanted one too, so I made two. I was able to find some fabric for $1 a yard at Walmart. I loved how the nylon stocking made the perfect skull cap! Blue painter's tape made a great arrow on Aang's head. This was a very time consuming process, but it made the party more festive to actually have two Air Benders running around. I neglected starting this project until the morning of the party---bad idea!

That brings us to the cake. Once again, I went online to get some images of Avatar cakes. They were few and far between, but I did find this design which I knew would be quite easy! Unfortunately, I ran out of my one true commodity--time--in order to get the cake finished. The guests arrived, and I hadn't even started decorating it yet. We changed plans and let the kids watch an Avatar episode so they would be up on all things Avatar. It ended up being a very good idea because I was able to finish the cake and decompress before the fun began!

Water Bending. Don't the kids look thrilled standing in line?

Earth Bending (funny we don't have any pictures of the actual birthday boy here).

Air bending. This was the favorite part of the game!

The Games. I also left planning the games until the morning of--bad idea! It turned out great, but was just a little stressful until I had the plans nailed down. We had an Avatar obstical course. The first thing they did was "water bending." They took the hose and sprayed balloons attached to the trampoline. Then they "earth bended" by throwing rocks into a box. Then they jumped over a "burning" ball to represent "fire bending" then they ran into the solarium and went "air bending" by blowing the balloons in the hot tub with the vacuum! We also played a few other games found on Family Fun.com.

All in all, I think I spent less than $30 on the party (not including gifts)! It ended up being a very fun party and I think the birthday boy really enjoyed it! My favorite part was telling the kids that it was time to go home!