Throwing a good birthday party can be a wonderful thing. Whether a person is young or old, enjoying a fun day with friends and family is never a bad time. Unfortunately, many great birthday parties are also expensive. Between the gifts, the decor, the things to do, and even the venue, the costs can add up quicker than you might expect.
No one wants to go into debt having to pay for a birthday party. However, this thankfully doesn’t need to be the case. There are several great ideas for an exciting birthday bash that don’t cost an arm and a leg, and this article is going to take a closer look at them to help you pull off the best birthday party possible.
Ideas for a Great Birthday Bash
Decorate with Deals
Whether you are looking at flowers for a budget under $50 to decorate a space, or want theme-specific party decor, it is a good idea to search for deals. Different stores (both physical and online) frequently have sales and discounts on various items that can otherwise get quite expensive.
No matter what kind of birthday party you are throwing, there is generally a lot of decor ranging from balloons to streamers, to banners, and many more. While each individual item may be cheap, once you purchase them all at full price, it may no longer be as affordable as you thought.
You can also consider looking second-hand. Plenty of people decide to sell their party decorations after a birthday, and you can often find lightly-used items on the cheap. Another option could be to make the decor yourself, too. Many pieces of decor are quite simple to make and will be much more cost-effective than buying them in stores.
Have a Backyard Birthday Party
In many cases, the most expensive part of a birthday party is paying for the venue. Whether you have the party at a bowling alley, an event center, or even the movie theater, there are costs involved with hosting the party.
But instead of spending a fortune to rent somewhere out for a couple of hours, why not have the party at home? This could be inside your home or in your garage, or even in the backyard if you have space and the weather permits.
The idea of throwing a perfect birthday party at home is a good one, especially for those on a budget. You can do a lot of the same things at home that you can do in these other places, without the added costs. You can play games, watch movies, eat good food, and have a wonderful time with family and/or friends.
In addition to your yard or home, there are other affordable or free venues you can consider if you are on a budget, too. This could be the park, a petting zoo, the beach, or any number of other places.
Play Some Free Games
Games are a staple at many birthday parties. Whether this is a party for an adult or for a child, you can be sure that attendees will love to play an assortment of different games. While they make and sell several different kinds of party games that are fun to play, they can often be quite overpriced, and picking up a couple will cost you more than you think.
Thankfully, there are plenty of free or incredibly cheap games that you can play instead. Some of the free birthday party games and activities include charades, three-legged races, musical chairs, water balloon tosses, and so many others. No matter what age the attendees are, there are surely some free party games that will be a ton of fun for everyone involved.
Host a Potluck
Everyone loves to eat some good food at a birthday party. This could be snacks and sweets, some BBQ, or even some cake. However, this food doesn’t always come cheap and can actually be quite expensive at times. This is especially true if the party is quite large.
A good way to alleviate the high costs of feeding an entire party of people is to consider hosting a potluck-style party. This is where everyone coming brings something to snack on, so everything doesn’t fall on the host to provide all of the tasty treats and foot the expensive bill.
Even if everyone only brings something small, by the end of it you will have a collection of different snacks and treats to sample and enjoy, and will save a ton of money. You can provide a theme to make people’s decision on what to bring easier (such as a French food theme, candy theme, BBQ theme, or anything else), too.
Create a Treasure Hunt
One of the best and most interesting party ideas for all ages is a treasure hunt. You can break the party up into teams, or even have each person be on their own team depending on how many people you have and the overall scope of the hunt.
Sure, you may need to spend some money on some sort of prize for the winner, and take some time to plan the hunt, but the results can be well worth it for a great party. If this is a treasure hunt for children, it can often be limited to the house and yard, for overall safety and ease of completion.
But if this is a party for adults, the treasure hunt can often extend throughout a neighborhood or city to make things more exciting, challenging, and rewarding. These treasure hunts can be themed in any sort of way you want, and be as small or as large as you decide to make them. It takes more planning and effort than other parties but is quite inexpensive for how fun and memorable it will be.
Conclusion
We hope that this guide has been able to help you learn some great and budget-friendly ideas for pulling off an amazing and exciting birthday party, without having to pay an arm and a leg for it.
