Author name: Karla Nathan

The birthday girl had a great time at her party. Probably almost as much fun as I did!

At a glance, the party might have seemed over the top, but really, it was pretty simple.

I gathered up all the small tables and chairs I could find and set them up under my pop up tent that I have for art shows.

We decorated it all with the Little Mermaid stuff I got at the flea market, a huge bag full of mermaid paraphernalia for only 20 bucks.   Including all the napkins, plates and table cloths. That was a giant cost saver there!

I hung up the disco ball that Beth gave to me for my birthday and pinned Ariel doodads from the never ending bag of Mermaid goodies to it.

 

Each table got a couple colors of glitter glue, a pile of sea shells to paint, hats and horns to decorate, and a few of my old, beat up paint brushes.

Foam and sparkly Princess crowns for the little girls were $4 a 6 pack, but pirate hats for the boys were that much a piece! So, I found black foam visors on sale for 66 cents at Michaels, turned them upside down, and cut them into pirate hat shapes.

 

There was a wading pool with floaty toys, and lots of bikes and trikes sitting in the yard for the little kids.  The big kids played water balloons and football in the field.

Everywhere I shopped, summer things were on clearance. I was able to get 3 bags full of water balloons for a dollar each.

And they are biodegradable! I didn't even know there was such a thing.  

The festive leis were on clearance too, 5 for a dollar.

To make the little sand box seem more special, I sat it in the gazebo and draped it in tropical fabric (that I had in my stash).

It was Sugarwings' idea to add water to the sand box to turn it into a "beach".  I buried pirate treasure (from the dollar store) in the sand for kids to dig up.

Side walk chalk is always a hit with Sugarwings, and we had plenty of that on hand to set out.

We made a slip and slide from a big sheet of plastic drop cloth, and anchored it with sand bags.  We had sand bags around for throwing in the back of the truck in the winter, and I'll reuse the plastic.

  Sugarwings' Hippy Chick Mommy baked her an amazing mermaid cake! She found My Little Ponies that were mermaids. I think that makes them seahorses….

The paper clay mermaids that I made at Kim's event were ideal for table decor. And now, they will be gifts for my two sisters.  I guess those clay sirens were the most expensive part of the day, I spent $500 on Kim's classes!! But I got all sorts of pretties to use all over the house and yard. Every gift that we got in our hostess bags and the door prize of some of Kim's shell art were  all just great to have for this. Kim even gave me the bags of shells she had left over, and I used them for the kids to paint on.

One thing I always have here at the cottage is sprinkles and icing, so I made up a tray of pretties and I brought out some plain cupcakes for kids to decorate how ever they liked.  (the cute little blue baskets are from the dollar store too, what a deal!)

This foam core board was about $5, and I painted it in about an hour. We used it to play "Pin the Shell on the Mermaid's Necklace".  Every kid got to pick a prize from my bottomless bag of Little Mermaid treasures that I only paid $20 for at the flea market.

After our hats were decorated, we took the horns down the fairy trail for a birthday parade.

You might be able to tell that I was enjoying the day…

This little video shows just how much fun my little fairy grand baby was having.  She decided to climb on the "stage" and put on a Birthday Show.

What joy on her face!

Here are my tips for saving money on a kid's birthday party:

1-Use what you have on hand- that is the big one.  Look around your house to see what you can use.  

2- Save your old paint brushes after they look like they aren't worth using any more, kids don't care!

3- For an outdoor party, sprinklers and water games go great with messy paint projects!  Buy glitter glues at the dollar store, and shop around for clearance items. Kids love to glob paint and glitter onto stuff.

4- Make an area look special by draping fabric over it. You can use a light fixture, or tree branch to create a magical little area.  Little ones love tents! Try using sheets, old fabric, or if you have to buy something, tulle is pretty cheap.

5- Have fun yourself!  If you are playing along and enjoying the games, that makes it fun for the kids.  They'd much rather have someone pay attention to them than have you rent them a jump house.

6- Parades are free.  Get a conga line going, and have everyone sing. Or march and blow horns.  Being encouraged to be loud is not something kids get everyday and they eat it up!

7- Bright leis can usually be found pretty cheap and add a lot of color to the area, and kids feel festive wearing them.

8- Shop around! Try a flea market or outlet clearance store for supplies.

9- Think about what kids like, not what adults think is pretty. Put your money where it counts and don't waste it on things that don't matter to the little ones. This party is for THEM!

We've had the best Mermaid Day for Sugarwing's birthday! I'm as tired as can be, but had to take a peek at my pictures from the day before I go and collapse in front of the TV and see how Sookie is doing this week.

This is my favorite, look at the amount of glitter that child poured onto her crown!  I wonder where she gets that from?