Angry Birds party on a budget~how I saved money and time.

My son recently turned 3 and we decided to do a party. Neither child has had a birthday party since their first birthday, other than small family gatherings. There you go, that’s Tip #1–kids do not need an over-the-top birthday party every year. But since we don’t do them every year, I don’t mind spending a bit on the activity, and we chose the Wilmington/Western Railroad party which is $250. We had the entire caboose to ourselves for a 90-minute train ride. Plus, since it was Easter time, the Easter Bunny visited our caboose and parents were able to get kids w/Easter Bunny photos.

Now, since we were doing a train ride (that he was excited about) and he likes Thomas………I thought a Thomas party would be perfect, no? No. No matter how many times I asked him or suggested Thomas, each time he replied that he wanted Angry Birds. Angry Birds on a train it is.

I began preparing by searching Pinterest, and even started an Angry Birds board. And while I found lots of great things to look at, most were beyond my capabilities. I’m not really a fondant person, nor do I have an interest in becoming a fondant person. I don’t sew either. I like to do crafty things that are super easy to do, but visually give you the same feel as something that was really hard to do. So I spent about $2 on cake mix & frosting at Acme (GM/Box Tops deal) and another $6 or so at Walmart on Angry Birds paper products and paper lollipop sticks. And, found Angry Birds printables on Pinterest (they’re on the board). Another $9 was spent at Costco on colored plastic cups, but I had to buy a giant thing of them and I still have over 150 left. Here’s what I made:

I made cupcakes, frosted them, sprinkled them with colored sugar. I printed the Angry Birds printables, and made paper lollipops or flags out of them, and stuck them in the cupcakes. For transporting, I put the cupcakes in the clear, colored cups. And, with the flag, they were surprising easy to get out of the cups without making a mess. And, the visual effect was exactly what I wanted. One of the first kids on the train, saw them and came running back out to his mom and yelled, “Mom! They have Angry Bird cupcakes!” I really needn’t do all that work with fondant………kids don’t care. Between the cupcakes and the party favors, the message was loud & clear that this was an Angry Birds party. I got each kid a small, plush Angry Bird that was $2.xx, more than I’d usually spend on a favor, but I figured it would at least be something they’d keep and play with. I hate the dollar store junk that you just end up tossing the minute you get home. And all the kids are still playing with their Angry Birds.

Here’s a round up of what I spent:

• $250 for train
• $35 for party favors, a small plush Angry Bird (in photo) for each kid, plus one pack of Angry Birds fruit snacks.
• $15 for misc cake mix, frosting, paper products, etc.

So while $300 for a kids party may be more than some want to spend, remember that this was only our 3rd party out of 8 birthdays. I could have significantly cut back, and held the party at home with some games instead of the train ride.  Plus, our house is really too small to accomodate a party of 10 kids comfortably and it’s too early in the season to do outdoor parties. This was one of the most affordable venue spots for a party that I could find. And, this really took me very little time. Making the flags was easy and combined with the cupcakes, took just a couple of hours. Didn’t have to clean and prep and decorate my house or clean up afterwards.

And most importantly, everyone had fun and it was a great time with family and friends!