Hey folks! I started this blog when my
first daughter was only 3 months old. Now she's turning 3 YEARS old.
Can you believe it?! This year we decided to do the low-key thing for
her birthday. Last year we had the party with family and friends with
all of the cutesie decorations, homemade cupcakes, and all that fun
stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with those types of parties,
but I think we'll wait until she's 4 or 5 before we do that again. I
want her to be able to remember some of it if I'm going to go to all
that trouble. ;)
This year, since her birthday is in
October and Myka loves picking apples so much, we'll be joining a few
close relatives at a farm that has both u-pick apples and pumpkins.
We decided we'd rather spend more money on an experience than a ton
more stuff that she may or may not play with for very long. That
being said, we did still buy her some presents because consumerism
gets the best of all of us, but it mostly ended up being small, cheap
things. (No customized unicorn stuffed animal this year. O.o) So,
let's look at some ways you can save on your kids' birthdays this
year...
*Don't be afraid to shop at dollar
stores. (Don't even get me started on how much I love the Dollar
Tree!) You can find some fun stuff there. I'll tell you what I
snagged at ours below.
*Check the clearance aisles. Depending
on what store you're at and where it's located, sometimes you can
find a good deal and other times you wonder why they bothered moving
an item from it's normal spot. Again, see below for what we found on
sale at Tractor Supply Co.!
*Borrow from friends or family. Wait,
what? Not necessarily the gifts themselves, but all the extra junk
you need, such as wrapping paper or bags. Who doesn't
have some extra of either of those laying around in a closet? Let's
face it: Gift bags and wrapping paper are kind of expensive for what
they are.
*Check out your
local resale shops and/or join a Facebook group for your area where
people buy and sell items they no longer want. More often than not,
there are a lot of toys and clothes on there, most of which are in
good or better condition for less than you would pay at the store.
*Do something fun
together instead of buying more “stuff” that won't get played
with or used, such as a trip to a children's museum or aquarium.
So, what did we
end up with? Admittedly, once I added everything up, we spent more
than I thought BUT, we did splurge on a couple of things:
-Mini bottle of
nail polish from the Dollar Store: $0.50
-Magnifying glass
(DS): $0.50
-Lisa Frank
stickers (DS): $1.00
-Fairy board book
(DS): $1.00
-Doc McStuffins
magic marker book (DS): $3.00
-Horse Webkinz
(TSC): $3.89 (was $4.99)
-Chick & duck
animal set (TSC): $1.99 (was 4.99)
-Cat Webkinz
(Amazon): $5.99
-Rabbit Webkinz
(Amazon): $14.99
-Minnie Mouse underwear (Amazon): $15.00
(roughly)
-2 rolls of
wrapping paper (Dollar Tree): $2.00
-Happy Birthday
sign (DT): $1.00
That's
a grand total of $50.86. Like I said, more than I had realized, but
we did splurge on the rabbit and licensed character underwear. (Have
I mentioned she has a slight obsession with stuffed animals?) If we
hadn't splurged on those things the total would have only been $20.
87. Crazy, right?
How are you when
it comes to birthdays? Do you go all out or opt for something a
little quieter?
