Party on a Budget

You guessed it, another post having to do with the Dave Ramsey budget! Usually when the kids birthdays come up, we get them an extravagant gift and throw them a big party. I honestly don't know where the money comes from. I just know that after the birthday, we are praying that we somehow have the money to pay the bills the next month. After all, we want our kids to feel special, right? Who cares if we are irresponsible with our money? I've realized how irresponsible that is and decided to make a change this year.

Since, we are now on budget, I had to be very creative with Noah's party. I knew that having a "small" party was not an option because both Ricky and I have HUGE families. So, I had to feed a lot of people, come up with something fun for the little ones, and get Noah a present on a small budget. I am proud to say, I was successful!

I enlisted the help of family members to bring a side dish, which they were so helpful in doing. I, then, decided that since Pork shoulder roast was on sale last week, I'd do BBQ pork sandwiches. I fed this to about 30 people for about $35.00. For entertainment, I did an Easter Egg hunt for the kids. Because, I don't let my kids eat candy, I filled the eggs with little trinkets from the $.99 store. This was a little more pricey than candy, but since I was not buying themed plates, table cloths, decorations etc. it actually worked out just fine. Then, I got a Toy Story cake form Albertson's which Noah loved. For his gift, we limited ourselves to $50.00 and got him Toy Story bedding from Target. After all the formalities we had the kids go swimming which kept them entertained for the rest of the party.

We stayed within budget, I am not worried about bills next month, Noah felt special, the kids loved the party, and the adults loved the food! So, I've realized that working within a budget is actually freeing even though it seems like it should be binding.