Outrageous Kid Parties On a Budget

I have always loved birthdays.  Growing up it didn't matter if it was my own birthday or someone elses, I was so excited for the party ~ Friends, Cake, Presents, and Fun...how can you not be excited!?!?  So naturally, it was predestined for me to want to have outrageous kid parties.  Well, I don't think it's outrageous but some might label that...I prefer "slightly over the top" party but Outrageous made a better title ;)  I know I am not the only parent like this, they made a show documenting the thousands of dollars parents spent on their children's parties.  Some of you may be shocked to find this out but we do not have thousands of dollars to spend on these over the top parties so the next few blogs will be devoted to my endeavor to have an over the top party for Maddie's 1st birthday.  But first - some tips for throwing an Outrageous Kid Party on a Budget:

1. Use Your Resources - In the next few blogs you may think "That's not fair, I don't have those connections!" or "I don't have that just laying around!".  But take a minute to think about connections you do have.  A lot of you will have access to things I don't which means you can save money other places.
2. Innovate - This could kind of fall under the same category as use your resources but with material resources.  Look for stuff you already have around the house.  This will save you a lot of money AND you can use up some of those things you've been hoarding away (I'm notorious for this) that you knew you could use for something.  My impatience helps me here, when I don't want to go to the store I look for something and "make it work"

The Outfit - Total Cost $0.00

It doesn't matter if you are turning 1 or 100, every girl wants to look fabulous on her birthday so the outfit is a must!  So I searched around the house to scrounge up some things and came up with this adorable birthday outfit that I am quite proud of:

 

 How I did it for $0.

1. I pulled one of Maddie's many plain white onesies out of her drawer to jazz up.
2. I pulled out my sewing machine and a bag of scrap fabric from when I made some aprons. (This was one of those times I probably should have thrown away the scraps but couldn't bring myself to part with them, so glad I didn't!)  I zigzag stitched around all of the pieces to prevent fraying - I also used a piece to interfacing to prevent holes from tearing in the onesie.
3. I also used some ribbon that I had (Green polka dot)
4. Oh, and the hat topper - it's cut off from a gerber daisy I saved from one of my baby showers.  I didn't have a pom pom but wanted it to puff out - another thing I'm so glad I kept :)
5. I just drew an owl to make the pattern and freehand cut the branch and one but if you're not as confident in just winging it, print a pattern off and trace it.  Google Images will have tons of things you can use as patterns.
6. Skirt - I had a ton of ribbon from making bows and dresses and other craft projects so decided a ribbon dress would be fun and easy enough.  I cut the ribbons in near equal strips (to give it a little bit of layering) and just randomly sewed it around a strip of elastic I had left over from her Halloween costume.  I used a lighter to melt the ends of each ribbon to prevent fraying.
7. Leggings - I just used a pair she had already to slip on underneath!
8. Bow - not pictured because it's not made...yet! When I had to trim up the skirt I have a bunch of little pieces perfect for a fun and crazy bow! 

I was able to do all of this in about 4 hours (would have been less but I had ribbon too long at first and had to re-cut and re-melt the ends).  While I thought that she probably wouldn't care about her party outfit, I was ecstatic when I showed her the onesie and she just held it and kept smiling and looking at it (she even pulled it off the couch later that night and carried it around).  And the ribbon skirt, she loves it!  And what little girl wouldn't?  Pretty and fun!  Here's a picture of her trying it out:

Hopefully Mrs. Ashley Voss can get some better pictures of her in it, I couldn't get her to stop moving!