Birthday on a Budget!

            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?