Birthday on a Budget

Isla turned one almost a month ago and I'm just now posting about her party but better late than never! Every time I looked on Pinterest for ideas for her party I saw the craziest, over the top parties for A ONE YEAR OLD!!! To me, it seemed nuts to spend a ton of money on something they will not even remember! Really, it was just important to me that we had a great time with family and friends. Overall, I think the party turned out great and we didn't break the bank for it either. So here are my suggestions for a fun, decorative party, that is great for a first birthday.

Photography-
My first and probably most important suggestion is to have someone take pictures for you. It doesn't have to be a professional; but don't have it be you, your hubby, or the grandparents because you want them all in the pictures! We are lucky enough to have a good friend, Erika of EG Photography, that is a professional photographer and she took our pictures for free, as a gift to Isla (and us)! I'm so glad we did this because I wasn't worried about capturing every moment and getting my picture taken too, I was able to just enjoy the party.
If you live in the Phoenix area and are looking for a great photographer, I would highly suggest Erika. She does a great job and she has great specials! Be sure to check out her Facebook page!

Location-
Next order of business, the location! Location can be a huge factor in the overall look of your party. our tiny apartment was not going to cut it so we asked a friend if we could use their barn turned party area instead. Again, it was free so that was a bonus! There are so many places to have a party though that will cost you nothing. A park, a church, a friend/family's yard or house, your own place, pretty much anywhere. I have personally always been a fan of outdoor parties because you don't have to do much decorating, let the scenery be your decorations!

Food-
This can cost as little or a much as you want it to. We had a lot of people traveling about a half hour to get to our party and it was in the evening so everyone could make it, so we decided to do a meal so people did't have to eat before they came or fill up on only cake. Make it simple though, we stuck with hamburgers, hotdogs, pasta salad, fruit, and some desserts. If you want, ask your guests to bring a side, drinks, or dessert. If you're doing a barbecue you can even have people bring their own meat (since this is usually the most expensive part) and you provide the sides. Or you can just offer cake and a couple other small sides and dessert, just do what you feel fits your budget.

You can also download this free printable (here)

Invitations-
Make your own, have someone make them for you, or find a free printable online. There are so many adorable free printables for invitations online that you should only pay for what it costs to print them. There are many that you can even download and then customize on your computer instead of printing them and filling in information after. My wonderful sister did Isla's invitations because she wanted something to practice using her photoshop program. They turned out perfect and it only cost me a couple dollars for the card stock and envelopes.

Decorations-
These do not have to be extravagant! I purchased most of my items at Hobby Lobby and they were either on sale or I used a 40% coupon for everything. Don't buy anything full price since you'll most likely only use it once. Everything else I purchased at the dollar store, which means it only cost me a dollar. One of my best dollar store buys were my plates, utensils, napkins and platers.  Sometimes you can only get a pack of 5 or 10 plates for a dollar which is not a good deal, our DollarTree happened to carry theirs in packs of 20, so this was a great deal.

Party Favors-
This is one thing that if you don't have room in your budget for, cut it out. You don't need to send everyone home with something that costs you a ton and they're going to throw away anyway. Also, not every single person needs one. Do one per family or just the little kids, you don't need to give everyone a parting gift. We kept our simple, pink and white animal cookies in a paper bag. They were simple, cute, and people enjoyed them instead of tossing them.

Ignore the fact that I accidentally smashed the elephant, so it looks like it's be shot with a tranquilizer.
 I promise it was cute before that happened.

Isla was a little unsure about this cake smashing business. She really doesn't like being messy.

Cake-
Finally for the cake! Make you're own! I hear about people spending tons of money on a fancy cake from a bakery that is going to get smashed. Buy a cake mix and frosting and make it yourself. There are so many tutorials online for you to learn and practice before hand if you want a fancy cake. Since we did an animal theme I wanted to have animal cake toppers. These were another great dollar store find. I purchase two plastic animals, a giraffe and an elephant, and spray painted them gold. I think they turned out pretty cute and they were super cheap too, win win.

Once we got her a fork she was happy to dig in!

Pin the Tail on the Giraffe - Free printable (here)
I also made this"Pin the Tail on the Giraffe" poster. It's not fancy or professional by any means but you're welcome to it if you'd like! I had a 16x20 printed at Costco for around $7. For the tails I used strips of scrap material, but you could use ribbon, paper, or anything you'd like!

And there you have it! A fun, budget friendly party perfect for our little wild animal!

P.S. Isla's cute pants and headband were also a steal of a deal. Headband about $2 with coupon from H&M and her pants, less than $1 from Babies R Us thanks to a combination of coupons and clearance. They were the perfect combo for her animal themed party!