How much are you spending on the birthday party?

ExcitedMum2B · November 2013

Amber's comment on the Thankful Tuesday made me wonder what the birthday party is costing everyone. I have until the end of the month, what kind of damage should I brace myself for? I won't be making anything, because I have no crafty skills. I did print the invitations out at work, so those were free.

LuckyMissus · November 2013

I think I'm going to be on the high side. We're at $100 for invites, cake and decor. DH has a vision for the food, so that might be another $200 or $250. I'm sure I'll find a random $50 to spend on something else at the last minute. Don't be like us. Haha!

However, as of now we only have 7 people coming. So that will be 9 adults and 3 kids counting us. So maybe the food won't be so bad.

ssmb_clarinet · November 2013

Going shopping this weekend...so not sure yet. So far have spent $10 on invites. I'm a little behind on the prep work for everything else. Will update after shopping

ExcitedMum2B · November 2013

@pobrecita as long as the sangria didn't go to waste!
Talk to me about your decorations, I was not thinking they would be that much!
In my imaginary world, a birthday party costs about $50.

credcat7 · November 2013

I was in the 50 party headspace too! 200 bucks later we had a great party... and that's with $5 on decorations cuz I bought 2 tables cloths and 3 balloons at the dollar store

techg0ddess · November 2013

I'm going on the really low end. Hubby has been out of work for the past two weeks going on week three for his hurt knee so my party budget got cut drastically. We are doing the party at a local pizza place but I didn't choose the party option, just to reserve the space so I get my reservation money back. We'll just order the pizza and some tokens for the kids to play the games and get tickets. I'm still debating on the decorations at this point. I'll probably pick some up at the the Dollar Tree just so it looks like a birthday party in the pictures

. I'm thinking with coupons for the pizza place, we'll spend about 50 to 75. My mom wanted to take care of the cake a while ago so no idea on the cost of that

. I can't wait to see what that looks like though

.

ExcitedMum2B · November 2013

@lori_n_lior can we see a pic of the fancy cake? This is my biggest dilemma, I want to get a fancy fondanty cake, but they seem like they would be really pricey!

@credcat7 was the rest of the $245 on food?

LBStewart · November 2013

We spent about $40 on invites and around $80 on decorations. I'm guessing that we'll have around 30 people so hopefully the cost of food won't be too bad.

GHBEA · November 2013

Less then $50 that includes food and decorations. I make the decorations and we are getting pizza, cake I'm making and ice cream.

ExcitedMum2B · November 2013

@lori_n_lior I love that cake! Did you do a music theme?

credcat7 · November 2013

@excitedmum2b we bought 3 containers of coffee at starbucks @14 bucks each

5 containers of juice, a platter of strudels, muffins, 2 doz bagels, 6 cream cheese go gurts....

winecastle14 · November 2013

Ummm. Let me preface this with this...I know I'm crazy. Over $1,000. We have 50 people coming. I didn't have time to make the decorations and I went nuts on Etsy.

fusionbride · November 2013

@AmberEA14 we might spend something closer to that end of the spectrum, too. We have a tiny house, so are thinking of doing something at a restaurant for like 50 people since we never did a baptism or any other baby event...

Seems crazy to spend a lot of money, but we can't seem to find a way to do it at our house in cold fall/winter weather...

vettymama · November 2013

So far, about $185. That doesn't include cake, buns, wine, or beer. We have 25 people coming.

lyndsihutson · November 2013

probably end up being about 200.00 for everything.

jg1011 · November 2013

AmberEA14 said:

Ummm. Let me preface this with this...I know I'm crazy. Over $1,000. We have 50 people coming. I didn't have time to make the decorations and I went nuts on Etsy.

We are over even this. 70 people at a restaurant. That was $2800 alone. Plus $350 for cake/cookie favors and what I spent on Etsy for Sesame Street Decorations. Final tally likely somewhere around $3300. Crazy, I know. But there was no way we could get 70 people in our house. Cutting it back just to "immediate" family--our siblings, our parents' siblings and 1st cousins would have put us at about 50.

SurpriseAt39 · November 2013

And immediately after the $3300 post...
...we will spend about $100 total.
I already have various decorations. DD likes to do crafts, and I have a closet FULL of supplies, so she will make more. So that won't cost anything.

20 people. Food (groceries) about $100.

winecastle14 · November 2013

jg1011 said:

AmberEA14 said:

Ummm. Let me preface this with this...I know I'm crazy. Over $1,000. We have 50 people coming. I didn't have time to make the decorations and I went nuts on Etsy.

We are over even this. 70 people at a restaurant. That was $2800 alone. Plus $350 for cake/cookie favors and what I spent on Etsy for Sesame Street Decorations. Final tally likely somewhere around $3300. Crazy, I know. But there was no way we could get 70 people in our house. Cutting it back just to "immediate" family--our siblings, our parents' siblings and 1st cousins would have put us at about 50.

I'm going to show this to my husband. Lol. Glad I'm not alone. We're having it at our house so that definitely helps. I haven't actually added it all up and I don't think I'm going to. Ignorance is bliss :-\"

shaunnna · November 2013

I wasn't planning on having a party, so honestly FFIL is paying for a lot of it. He is buying the food and drinks, and he paid the $16 for invitations. We are having the party at FI's aunt's apartment clubhouse, so no cost there.

I'm spending $18 on a Costco cake since FI had to bail on making it due to work issues

And I spent $40 on half-price Curious George decorations from the Party City website. So I'm out $58 which I think is a lot, but looking at other posts is absolutely nothing...

datagirl79 · November 2013

Ours was in the 150-200 range, and most of that was food for 20 people.

It was at our house, in the back yard, so I didn't decorate a bunch. I got some decorations from party city that were 50% off and hung those up. I made a banner with her monthly watch me grow photos on it and hung it across the tent that covered the food. I created a photo frame collage on the mantel inside.

I had a really hard time pulling everything together. I think I let pinterest stress me out. She will have many more birthdays that can be over the top, and she will remember those, so I can look forward to that.

winecastle14 · November 2013

shaunnna said:

I wasn't planning on having a party, so honestly FFIL is paying for a lot of it. He is buying the food and drinks, and he paid the $16 for invitations. We are having the party at FI's aunt's apartment clubhouse, so no cost there. I'm spending $18 on a Costco cake since FI had to bail on making it due to work issues And I spent $40 on half-price Curious George decorations from the Party City website. So I'm out $58 which I think is a lot, but looking at other posts is absolutely nothing...

@shaunnna $58 isn't nothing. When I was your age that would have been a lot to me too. It's all relative to our individual situations. It sounds like you guys are going to have an awesome party (envious of that club house...that'll be perfect

). BTW, I love Curious George!

kangtini · November 2013

Ok, I am going in on the high side as well. We are hosting about 70 people at a restaurant. I rented table linens and I am having centerpieces. My husband is Korean so the 1st birthday is a big deal. I am going to guess we end up in the 3k range. It isn't until the end of the month, so I don't have a final total.

kjmommy1214 · November 2013

We will be on the low end. I will be making most of the stuff. We will have very few people coming. We were planning big, but life has thrown another kinky in our bday party plans. This is about the 4th set of them. I would guess it will be around $100. I am still doing decor, her outfit, a smash cake, and cupcakes.

persephonerose · November 2013

Well I am going to have to eat my words from several weeks back when I said I would be hard pressed to spend 200.00 on a birthday party for 10 people. The stupid BBQ alone is 200.00. I've probably sent another 80-100 in decorations. And I have not started the tally for other food yet. So yeah.

shaunnna · November 2013

AmberEA14 said:

shaunnna said:

I wasn't planning on having a party, so honestly FFIL is paying for a lot of it. He is buying the food and drinks, and he paid the $16 for invitations. We are having the party at FI's aunt's apartment clubhouse, so no cost there.

I'm spending $18 on a Costco cake since FI had to bail on making it due to work issues And I spent $40 on half-price Curious George decorations from the Party City website. So I'm out $58 which I think is a lot, but looking at other posts is absolutely nothing...

@shaunnna $58 isn't nothing. When I was your age that would have been a lot to me too. It's all relative to our individual situations. It sounds like you guys are going to have an awesome party (envious of that club house...that'll be perfect

). BTW, I love Curious George!

Thanks, @AmberEA14!

ExcitedMum2B · November 2013

kangtini said:

Ok, I am going in on the high side as well. We are hosting about 70 people at a restaurant. I rented table linens and I am having centerpieces. My husband is Korean so the 1st birthday is a big deal. I am going to guess we end up in the 3k range. It isn't until the end of the month, so I don't have a final total.

The restaurant won't provide the table linens? We went to a Korean first birthday last month, it was bigger than our wedding!! The baby had three outfit changes, three cakes, and tons of people. I'm sure our friends spent somewhere in the range you are thinking. But when it comes to traditional things like that, there's no cutting corners

Maebb · November 2013

We are just having cake at Thanksgiving because his birthday is the Saturday after, and we'll already be seeing my family on Thursday and DH's family on Friday. So I'll make the cakes, we'll do cake and birthday hats and some pictures, and it will be probably $50 tops.

Maybe I'll do more next year since he will have friends and be more aware of what's going on, but I know he will be happy, and people will be singing, clapping, and eating cake, so we're keeping it simple this year.

alphaphi98 · November 2013

We had almost 100 people attend her bday party. I think we spend almost $700.

1) $150 to rent the Club house from our condo complex.

2) $300 at Party City. I went crazy and bought their cute girly 1 year old decorations, cups, plates, utensils, tablecloths, balloons, party favors for guests, special goodie bags for kids, and thank-you cards.

3) Food for 100 people cost about $250. We just went to costco & bought DD's cake for $18.

It was a BIG day with family & friends. We all had a great time!

techg0ddess · November 2013

shaunnna said:

I wasn't planning on having a party, so honestly FFIL is paying for a lot of it. He is buying the food and drinks, and he paid the $16 for invitations. We are having the party at FI's aunt's apartment clubhouse, so no cost there. I'm spending $18 on a Costco cake since FI had to bail on making it due to work issues And I spent $40 on half-price Curious George decorations from the Party City website. So I'm out $58 which I think is a lot, but looking at other posts is absolutely nothing...

We can't wait for tomorrow

jg1011 · November 2013

pobrecita said:
1st cousins, aunts, and uncles are not immediate family.

I forgot to mention we had 15 people.

They are in this Italian family. If they didn't get invite there would have been a family feud.

bridetobemo · November 2013

We are looking at about $150-$200 total, cake from Costco, small smash cake from our local grocery store, I diy'ed all the decorations and her outfit, spent maybe $40 on all the supplies, $10 on invitations from etsy including printing them myself, sandwiches, chips and dip, and veggies and dip and fruit and dip for food. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this, but the ladies who spent over $3000 spent more on the 1st birthday party than I did on my wedding reception

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