Birthday Party Ideas for an 8 Year Old on a Budget

With the economy in a slump, you may be needing some birthday party ideas for an 8 year old on a budget. There are a lot of grand party designs out there but you may need to do something a little more wallet friendly. Here are five cheap 8 year old birthday party ideas.

Scale down the number of guests.

Probably the first thing you will need to is to cut back on the number of friends your child can invite. I have twins and there is no way that we could pay for a party of two classrooms of children. Your child should be encouraged to pick out a set number of friends to invite. It may help to have a girls only or boys only party. You could even take your child and one friend to a special activity which would make the price of admission affordable.

Make the food at home.

A big expense for children's birthday parties can be cost of food. There are plenty of ways to make it cheap. You can make the birthday cake yourself. I am a big fan of cupcakes for kids as these can be easily decorated in very cute ways and do not require a lot of cake decorating skill. You can also serve sandwiches cut into cute shapes with chips and koolaid or eliminate the food all together and just do cake and ice cream.

Have the party at a park.

Another big expense for a lot of birthday parties is renting an expensive location. You probably have a nice park with a great playscape close to your home. Having the playscape as the entertainment gives the kids something to do and saves you a lot of money. This way the other children's parents can come as well and help supervise. Just make sure you have plenty of drinks including water for the kids.

Have a kids make it yourself party.

Another great idea is to have a kids make it yourself party. You can buy an extra large plain unbaked cheese pizza for around $7 and have the kids add their own toppings. While the pizza is baking, you can have them make a craft. Most craft stores have a wide variety of easy craft kits for all ages. From kits for making beaded necklaces or bracelets to suncatchers, they are fairly inexpensive and usually serve 8 to 10 children. This way you have a fun activity and party favor all in one.

Make it a family affair.

All kids love to have their family around making them the center of attention. You can have a great afternoon birthday party picnic or barbeque with just family members or family friends. Often times those closest to you will pitch in by bringing food and other items for the affair especially when they know you are needing to watch your budget. The way my family always organizes family parties is that the host provides the meat, the cake and any decorations. Other family members and friends pitch in by bringing appetizers, drinks, side dishes and throwaway dishes. This cuts down dramatically on the cost of feeding everyone.

You can choose any one of these options or combine several and throw a inexpensive birthday party for an 8 year old that they will remember for years to come.