Over the years we have thrown some epic kids’ birthday parties! With each party, we learned a thing or two about how to throw a successful party at home. We have tons of creative DIY ideas to make your party decorations and activities budget-friendly. Tasty food, drink, and dessert inspiration. And some unique birthday party activities that will have your guests raving about how much fun they had!

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Keys to Achieve a Successful Kids’ Party

• An Epic Activity. We don’t want a bunch of bored kids…
• Delicious Snacks. Every party needs some munchies!
• Creative Party Favors. Did they leave with something they will use/want?
• Flow. Did those kids have fun from start to finish?
• The Perfect Theme. This pulls it all together!

Your party doesn’t have to break the bank to achieve all of these things! The best parties we have thrown over the years were very budget-friendly. We have lots of low-budget yet big impact ideas to share with you!

Tips to Throw a Kid’s Birthday Party at Home

The first thing you need when planning any kids’ birthday party is to pick a theme. It can be anything! We have all of our parties listed below to get you inspired! Then you need to get planning… there is nothing worse than everything landing on your plate at the last minute. If you are going to make your at-home party budget-friendly that is going to come with a bit of DIY. So planning ahead to is a must!

Party Food Ideas

Feed the Kids. Start with what your kid would want to eat and then grow your menu around that. If their favorite food right now is box Mac and Cheese it’s OK to serve that! Maybe you can find a fun shape that goes with your theme.

Drink Stations. You can work a theme into your drink station by letting your kid pick flavors. Pick your pink lemonade or mix your moo. You can also add DIY-themed cups. We made ours for Minecraft with a template. Putting stickers on paper cups is fast and cheaper than buying themed cups.

Quick Printables Ideas. Find your characters online to create signs, decorated skewers, or even cupcake toppers for your food table. Print on thick cardstock at home or order online at a local Staples/Office Max.

We are always our own worst critics! Fancy cakes are expensive! If you aren’t the best cake decorator that doesn’t matter. Adding a theme to a cake can be as simple as a couple of figurines or printables on cake-pop sticks. Your child will be happy to keep those decorations to play with later!

Working in your Party Theme

Favors can be used during the party! Have the party favors be props for your main activity or part of your decorations! This gives them 2 uses and helps the party’s memory live on long after it’s over.

Easy Themed Food. With access to the internet, you can print off (or order prints) of just about anything for your party. Adding characters to the ends of toothpicks or cake pop sticks is a fast, and affordable, way to add your party theme in another place for next to nothing.

Stuff balloons with little toys. It’s a 2-man job, but you can add candy, toys, bracelets, and more themed prizes into balloons before blowing them up. It’s the excitement of a piñata for each kid! They can pop a balloon at the end of a Justin Time adventure. Use a sword to pop the balloon spider in a real-life game of Minecraft. We even had balloons at the end of our Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle training! Keep a few baggies with the toys to the side for any child who is too scared to pop a balloon.

Buy plastic tablecloths. They can be used for so many things!! The floor or doors to a castle. Dragon wings, curtains, giant arrows, obviously tables… They are cheap and big which is a win-win!

Birthday Party Flow

Move things around. When throwing a birthday party at home you may need to do a bit of rearranging. Weather permitting you can work with inside and out, but that isn’t always the case.

Think about how you want people to flow through your house and if you want to block anything off. We put post-it notes with giant Xs on the bedroom doors and any other “off-limit” spaces. A strategically placed table can block off a whole section of your house or at least keep the kids from running in circles… You may want to move your table up against a wall to allow people to walk around more freely. Get those extra chairs placed where people can relax (out of the way) and see what’s going on.

Create a Timeline. Have something for guests to do when they arrive. You don’t want everyone waiting around for the last person to show up. This can be something simple or part of your main activity later. Like coloring jerseys for a scoreboard. Or having a photo-op in a summer selfie booth.

Plan Ahead. The biggest tip I have for having a successful party is to get organized, plan ahead, & break things apart. On the day of the party no one knows what you didn’t do… so give yourself some grace and enjoy the day!

Check out our Easy Party Planner! This planner contains step-by-step guidance to help you plan and create an unforgettable party that your kiddo will love. It also includes 9 worksheets designed to help you get organized and feel in control of your event.

* Printable details:
13-page E-book on planning kids’ parties.
9 Pages of party planning worksheets and checklists
Just need the worksheets? You can buy them here: https://twitchetts.etsy.com/listing/529858939

Brainstorming the Perfect Party Theme

Party Themes. Everything can be pulled together with a fun party theme. They can be seasonal, character-based, colors, really anything goes. We talk a lot about how to brainstorm this if you are stuck in our ebook.

In each party we have listed below you can find fun activities, food, decorations, and more. Many can be “theme-swapped” so even if you’ve never watched Justin Time, maybe a stick horse would fit in a cowboy-themed party!