45 Ideas for throwing a kids party on a budget
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1. Macdonalds- no mess afterwards
2. Keep it simple… kids really don’t care about elaborate food and decorations. Just a sweet food, a savoury food, a hot food, drinks and a birthday cake are all you need. And two or three games. Otherwise, they just run amok and have a ball.
3. a birthday BBQ breakfast. Sausages, eggs, bacon and bread. Bring your own drinks. Is brilliant and cheap and all over by 11am so the younger kids still get a nap!
4. plenty of toys outside, along with swings, slide, trampoline etc to keep them occupied. And personally I think they are a bit young to understand the ‘game’….
5. put an end time on the invite lol!
6. fruit platter and finger foods games like pin tail on donkey and a pinata kid swill lov it
7. BBQ breakfast party – highly recommend!! Didn’t have to wait saving park table for hrs or stress about not getting one at all, avoided kids running round in the heat of the day (summer bday) and yup food cheap – sausages in bread, fruit platter & few plates of muffins all I did!!!
8. Sausage sizzle with a fruit platter at the end with the cake. Kids love sausage sizzles… It’s cheap, easy and not that much mess to clean up
9. buy blue and pink plastic desposable cups and plates. You can do any themes you want with those primary colours. Once finished with them wash them up and use them again for the next birthday or throw them out. Cheap to replace too
10. EVERYTHING has to match the theme. Search the net for ideas and pretty much make everything.
11. do fruit and the birthday cake, making sure the party is at a morning or afternoon tea time. I set up play areas with things like, lego table, painting on the fence, a soft toy area near a couch for mums and little ones, and the whole yard to run around in!
12. Bubbles……kids are nuts for bubbles. And cake pops!
13. Start and finish times are a must.
14. Go to a park that caters for the age group.
15. A tray of watermelon or fruit platter works wonders.
16. Sausage sizzles are great.
17. A homemade piñata is cheap and easy and you can get some great little items for party bags from the cheapy shops.
18. Older kids tend to have sleepovers with a movie and popcorn or games night. Nice and easy!
19. Be first at a park, heaps of room and things for kids to do and not a meal time, morning or afternoon tea, cheaper to put out nibblies and a cake rather than a whole lunch!!
20. Hire a jumping or a blow up water slide. It keeps the kids occupied the whole time and you don’t have to worry about too many games. It is defiantly worth it and the price can be as small as $140. Then sit and enjoy the party instead of trying to entertain the kids.
21. do the party at afternoon tea tine so you only have to do snack food.
22. Popcorn cheap and cheerful
23. put the party bags in the homemade piñata that way no fight
24. sausage sizzle at the park works well
25. Go to a park, and enjoy all their toys, especially the ones with water play. Bubbles are always a big hit too.
26. Here’s a useful tip – if you’re having it in a park – double check all the facilities BEFORE the day. We planned a sausage sizzle knowing there was BBQ’s, but when we rocked up – the BBQ”s were wood fired – not electric. No time to get wood, let alone start the fire, then wait for it to heat up and then cook them. WHOOPS 
27. Eating donuts or cheezos off a string without using their hands is a fun game and even more funny to watch don’t do much
28. For older kids water bombs are cheap and fun for summer parties but u need to fill them before the party and I put a warning to the parents on the invitation that there would be games that the children could get wet so a change of clothes in the car would be good also we had targets to throw the water bombs at on the house rather than at each other
29. make 4 batches of different brightly colored play doh, put a ball of each color into a small take away container, put that in a brown paper bag with a personal message to each child on the bag instead of goody bags, super cheap.
30. label a take and toss plastic cup for each child and had a big cooler of water instead of soft drink, you could even put a bit of food coloring into the water cooler to make it more fun.
31. make wizard hats and it was the best kids party we’ve ever had.
32. I bought a pack of el cheapo toilet paper and let them play the Mummy game – they wrapped each other up, had a ball doing so and then covered all the trees, swings, dog kennel, tramp etc in toilet paper. I offered prizes for the top 3 cleaner uppers and all mess was gone within half an hour!
33. I love making home made themed pinatas too – we’ve had soccer jerseys, footy jerseys, footballs, soccer balls, gingerbread men, fairies, disco balls etc.
34. a 6th birthday tea party at home
35. Water bombs, red/blue teams in a park and a lot of fun
36. As long as there are other kids, some presents and lashings and lashings of icing on the cake the kids are happy.
37. Piñata’s are a hit!
38. an afternoon tea sausage sizzle at the park
39. Bowling and laser skirmish at amf bowling… its cheap and hassel free u just have to bring a cake and the kids LOVE IT. After my sons party all the kids that came to his party have went on to have the same one 
40. Bobbing for apples, donuts on a string, pin the tail, egg and spoon, bubbles Plan ahead, buy over a couple of months if possible when things are on special – drinks, party foods and gifts included. Make your own cake, pinata, decorations.
41. Some cheap as chips streamers, in green and orange, stuffed animals, and blow up jungle toys and we transformed our loung into a magical jungle for my baby girls first. The children all had a ball!! And the blow up animals became the hero of the party and were used for make believe games the kids created.
42. keep some of the decorations low at kids height so the party atmosphere is more inclusive for them we used those wall deco stickers, and they pull straight off again after! So now they are in missy’s bedroom on her cupboard door 
43. Underwater theme party. Use egg cartons with paddle pop sticks. Colour each stick a different colour. Then place a different underwater animal on each one ( using the same colour paper as the stick). Make sure you have 6 animals and enough of each. Eg: 10 kids at the party means you will need 6 of each ( to make a set). Then give the kids an egg carton, hide the paddle pop sticks and send them searching. They then come pack with a paddle pop pushed through each egg section of a 6 egg carton. Can then take them home. Blue jelly with fish lollies on top. Painting an underwater scene. Use a huge roll of butchers paper.
44. fruit kababs are always a hit!! also parachute play for little bubs is fun!! I also have a little book for people to write messages / wishes/ dreams in every birthday for a keep sake.
45. for little babies smashing the cake and playing in it is also fun…if you dont mind the mess!!
