Princess Birthday Party on a Budget: Make It the ‘Best Day Ever’!

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BDayOnBudget #CollectiveBias 2015 has been the year of parties for my family. My youngest son was baptized in March (I hosted a big party at my house), he then turned one at the end of June. (I hosted another big party at my house.) And now, my oldest turns 5 in a matter of days.

We had big parties for most of these occasions with more than 30 people attending each one. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good party, but my wallet would like to take a time-out! For my daughter’s big 5th birthday I decided to get creative, set a budget and stick to it.

During my shopping trip to the store I picked up some ideas and tips on how to save money. This year my daughter chose to have a princess-themed party and I am determined to make it the “Best day ever!” We are huge Tangled fans in my house, so it’s only fitting that Rapunzel is one of the stars.

5 Ways to Save Money for the Best Birthday Ever:

1. Make your own food. It may seem obvious to do so, but the second you buy anything prepared it’s going to be way more expensive. If you serve food that you’ve made, not only can you get creative, but your child can help and they’ll love to get in on the action.

For this party I decided to make “Princess Pizza.” Each piece is shaped like a crown and can be decorated by each child at the party as a fun activity, or your birthday girl can do it with you in the kitchen before hand. 2. Keep your party guest list to around 8 people. While shopping I noticed that all party supplies are sold in either counts of 8 or 16. If you have 8 or less party guests, that’ll keep you from buying multiple packages of plates, cups or napkins. If you had 10 guests, that could leave you with an unnecessary amount of extra paper goods, wasting your hard-earned money.

We found ALL of our party supplies at our local Walmart in the celebrations aisle. American Greetings has a wonderful Disney princess line with a wide array of products to choose from. We were able to buy birthday banners, princess wands, plates, napkins, cups, favors and more for around $50! 3. Make your own invitations. You don’t have to be a graphics designer these days to create a fabulous party invitation. Free online editing tools like PicMonkey and Canva can help anyone design a one-of-kind invitation.

*Tip: Forgo stamps and snail mail and email your design to your friends or send one via evite.com, using one of their pre-made templates.

Check out my Canva design below. Not too shabby! 4. Plan your party with plenty of time to spare in advance. If you start buying things for your party too close the date it’s happening, you could end up spending more because you’re scrambling to get it done!

This is the party decoration haul I picked up at Walmart three weeks before the big celebration. 5. Set up easy, old-school games during the party. Children really are simple human beings and any bit of flash impresses them. We’ve asked our guests to come dressed as their favorite princess, so we figured we’d play some royal games.

Our party guests will move and groove to princess songs in a freeze dance contest and then play “walk like a princess.” The children can try to balance a book on their heads like Rapunzel does in Tangled. And whoever gets the furthest, wins! Both games are free and fun!

Those are just five ways to save money while planning a princess party.

What was your best birthday ever?