How to Plan a Budget Friendly Christmas Party for Children

In the current economy many parents are looking for ways to cut costs where ever they can and celebrating Christmas can get expensive with the costs of presents, decorations, Christmas trees and holiday entertaining. Planning a Christmas party for children doesn't have to be expensive though. With just a little ingenuity, creativity and a few tips anyone can plan a budget friendly children's Christmas party that will be enjoyed by all.

Invitations

Instead of buying expensive store bought invitations make your own. If you've saved last year's Christmas cards cut the backs off and glue a piece of colored paper on the back and either hand print your party details or print them out from the computer and glue over the colored paper. You can also create and send invitations out online or print them and hand deliver or mail using one of the free sites on the web that lets you create and send invitations. One that I like to use is www.pingg.com.

Decorations

The focal point of any Christmas party is the Christmas tree. If you've already purchased yours them use it as part of your party decorations. If not bring a few bare tree branches in, secure in a pot and hang lights and ornaments from the branches. Even house plants can be given a festive air with a few lights and ornaments added.

Cut out snowflakes from white paper and hang in windows and from the ceiling with fishing line. Get your children involved and have them use strips of colored construction paper to make beautiful colored paper chains to decorate with.

There are so many inexpensive Christmas decorations that can be made with just a little construction paper, scissors and glue.

Food

No party is complete with out some type of refreshments. Instead of spending a lot on fancy deli plates make your own snacks. Children usually like homemade foods better anyways. Some favorite main dishes are Mini Pizzas, Pigs In A Blanket, and sandwich's cut into Christmas shapes. Also serve some cut up fruit, veggies and chips to complete the meal. Homemade Cookies and popcorn balls are an inexpensive dessert item you can finish with. You can make a festive bubbly punch by combining fruit punch and Seven- Up

Games

Games are a fun and inexpensive addition to any party. You can do an Internet search and find many games to play at your party. Two of my favorites are Christmas Freeze Dance and Christmas Gumdrop Bingo

Christmas Freeze Dance

This is a fun activity to get everyone moving to some Christmas music and doesn't require a lot of preparation. Have the children gather in a large area.Play a Cd of Christmas music. When the music stops everyone has to freeze in place until it starts again. anyone who moves is out. Repeat until you have one person left who is declared the winner.

Christmas Gum Drop Bingo

This is a fun game to play near the end of the party to help the children wind down and keep them occupied until their parents pick them up. You play it like regular Bingo except that you use Gumdrops for the markers and a Christmas themed Bingo Card. Crayola has Christmas themed Bingo Cards on their website www.crayola.com that you can print out for free to use. A good source of inexpensive prizes is www.orientaltrading.com.

Crafts

Two of my favorite easy and inexpensive crafts are Reindeer Food and Sweet Necklaces

Reindeer Food

For this Craft you need oatmeal cinnamon, colored sugar crystals, Ziploc bags and the following poem printed on a card:

On Christmas Eve spread Magic Reindeer Food on your lawn,
To bring Santa to your house before dawn...
The smell of the oats and glitter sparkling bright
Will guide Rudolph through the night.

Have children mix together oatmeal, cinnamon and colored sugar crystals. Place in a Ziploc bag and add the poem.

Make Sweet Necklaces

For this craft you will need thin licorice whips. gummy Lifesavers and Froot Loops cereal. Have the children string the gummy Lifesavers and Froot Loop cereal on the thin licorice whips. Tie a knot when they are finished stringing and they can wear around their neck like a necklace

Party Favors

Send each child home with a Christmas Cracker filled with treats. You can easily make one by covering a bathroom roll with tissue paper , filling with treats and tying both ends closed with ribbon. For an added touch put Christmas stickers on the tube after you cover it.

Other Budget Friendly Ideas

Rent a Christmas movie for the kids to watch as they unwind from all the festivities. Some good Christmas themed movies for kids are The Santa Clause, any of the classic Rudolph

movies, A Charlie Brown Christmas and The Grinch either version.

Instead of buying Christmas Cd's you can download Christmas themed music for free at

http://www.ez-tracks.com/Christmas.html and play it on your computer during the party.

Christmas on a budget doesn't have to cut down on your fun.By making your own items whenever possible you can have a great Children's Christmas Party for just a fraction of the cost of a party that has many store bought items.Some kids like to do crafts at parties. The Internet is full of Christmas Crafts for kids. A great site for inexpensive crafts is www.makingfriends.com. Oriental Trading www.orientaltrading.com has a wide selection of budget friendly craft kits you can purchase for your party.