by Carol Gioia

Created on: September 11, 2010

Children’s birthday parties these days seem to have become a contest in one-up-man-ship; parents spending inordinate amounts of money to provide lavish parties at commercial venues to entertain their birthday child and invited friends. What if you don’t have the financial resources to compete?

It is possible to have a birthday party in your home, or a local park, that will be a hit with your birthday child and all of his guests. With some creative thought and planning, you can entertain the kids without spending a lot of money.

Entertaining the kids and creating a memorable birthday party:

* Entertainment

Get a couple of friends or relatives to dress up like clowns to amuse the kids with corny jokes, face painting, a puppet show, magic tricks, juggling or balloon figures. Your clowns don’t have to possess major talent, the kids will consider their mistakes part of the show.

* Games

Don’t underestimate the value of the traditional old-fashioned party games. Musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey, clothespins in the bottle and sack races are as popular with children today as ever. Ensure to have a prize for the winner and tokens for all who participate. Your prizes can be obtained at the local dollar store for a minimal outlay of cash.

* Crafts

Children love to make things. Set up a work station with glue, glitter, fabric paint and magic markers and provide each child with a plain tee shirt to decorate and take home.   Other items to consider decorating are flip-flops or a generic baseball cap, both available for a pittance at many dollar stores. The finished craft can double as the child’s favor to take home from the party.

* Dress-up

Get all the outdated clothing out of your closets, dig through your Halloween costume box and visit the local thrift shop to come up with lots of clothing for a dress-up party.  Kids love to get all dressed up and pretend they are someone else. Place some full length mirrors around the area so they can check out their ingenuity. Have a Polaroid camera handy so each child go home with a picture of himself in his most imaginative disguise.

* Sleep-over

For a kid’s party with built in entertainment, consider having a sleep-over. This is perhaps one of the most cost-effective ways to celebrate your child’s birthday and create lasing memories for all the kids. For young girls you can have a make-up session; both genders will enjoy a scavenger hunt or a backyard camp out. Be sure to rent lots of cartoon movies for viewing during your all-nighter and have bowls of popcorn or snacks scattered around the area.

Children are more easily entertained than some adults realize. Most do not require costly, upscale parties to feel special on their birthday. Any time you put together a few kids and a few inexpensive, clever party ideas, such as outlined above, the end result is sure to be lots of fun and happy memories.

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