I’m planning yet another birthday party, well two actually one for a soon to be 8 years old and one for a soon to be 18 years old. The whole party business seems to be very expensive and very competitive. Long gone are the days of a few sandwiches and cupcakes whilst children play in the garden. The garden thing would be my ideal party but I didn’t plan that well-having babies born in November, January, and February.
Instead, I have always needed to do a party somewhere else. Over the years we have done swimming parties, bouncy castle parties, princess parties, and lazer tag parties. This year it is a trampoline park party and I nearly choked on my coffee at the price! A party for 10 children now costs £200 and that doesn’t include the cake or party bags!
Each party seems to need to be bigger and better than the last and us poor parents find ourselves getting dragged into keeping up with each other when we probably all just want to pull it back a bit. Thankfully my big one is not wanting a huge 18th, instead, she wants to have an open house where family and friends all come together to celebrate.
Much like my wedding, I plan on using the talents of friends to ensure that the party is great fun but also by keeping a hold on the spending. Initially, Chloe wanted a photo booth. However, we don’t have the room for one so I will be buying some props including an Instagram frame, some fun hats etc. This will allow the teens all the selfies that they need. The cake is being made by a friend. I have found the look I want and by getting a talented friend to do it I know it will be what I want and bespoke.
It seems that whenever you add a big celebration onto the mix some suppliers add on a premium price tag. I am currently looking at designing some homemade invitations. To save on postage I am looking to email made invites and we have even made a party logo using logojoy. We have designed a fun logo for her party that I can then use on the invites and also for a few other things I am planning.
Here you can see the logo that we designed with minimum fuss and time.
Another idea I’ve had is to print off a load of photos to make a wall of decorations. Finally, apparently, we have to have large foil helium balloons ready for Instagram too!
I am starting a pinterest board for party inspiration too. Pinterest is a great way to collect your ideas and organise what you want. Now I just need to come up with some present ideas because I have no idea what to get the girl that has everything!
