Planning a Child’s Birthday Party on a Budget

Posted by Brian Pietrus on Mar 27, 2017

birthday boy

Party planning can be a stressful activity. On top of the responsibilities of coming up with activities and gifts, there’s also the cost associated with hosting a get-together. You’ll need invitations, activities, decorations, and party favors, to say nothing of the food and beverages your guests will be expecting. While we can’t help you with dessert or punch, we can help you take care of everything else you’ll need. When you make your own party supplies with discount ink or toner from 1ink.com, there’s no reason why you can’t throw a fun party without spending a lot of cash. Trust 1ink.com to deliver professional-quality print work at a budget price, and all you’ll have to worry about is what kind of cake to serve!

birthday invitation

Making Your Own Invitations

In the age of the internet, many people simply send evites or create an event page on social media. This can certainly be convenient for many people, but the advantage of a printed invitation is that your guests will be able to hang a hard copy with your event’s date and time on their refrigerator or in some other prominent place at home. A paper invitation also lets the individual know that you took the time to make and deliver that invitation to them, a personal connection that digital event invitations don’t really offer.

You don’t need to spend money on pre-printed invitations at the store as long as you have a trusty printer at home. You can design your own invitations from scratch or download a free invitation template from the web. Then you’ll simply customize your invitation and print out enough copies for your guests, making sure to send them out with sufficient time to be delivered before the event. It’s a fun, easy way to get customized invitations without spending a lot of money – you can even get your kids involved in choosing the design and customizing the invitations!

fabric streamers

Designing and Printing Your Decorations

There’s no reason to spend money on decorations when you could make your own at home for just the cost of paper and ink. When you’re using ink or toner from 1ink.com, you’re getting even bigger savings while still producing high-quality work. There are so many templates online for party decorations. Some websites, like that of printer manufacturer Brother Industries, even have decorations organized by party theme. You can print out everything you need for a well-curated pirate party or princess party, depending on your child’s interests. If neither of those sounds appealing, you can also find more generic decorations on Brother’s website. They’ve got banners, treat bags, cupcake toppers, and party hats with sports themes, balloons and streamers, or plain polka dot designs. You’ll also find other free party decorations to print out from websites like Chicfetti, Evermine, and elsewhere on the web. Search for “free party printables” or “free party decoration patterns” to find the theme and design that’s right for your little one.

You can also print out your own customized napkins, if you feel so inclined. Make sure you only use an inkjet printer, though, as laser printers get too hot for the thin paper of a disposable napkin. Some crafty printers have reported that there may be some risk of damaging your printer if the napkin gets jammed, so it’s best to save this idea for an old or inexpensive printer rather than your brand-new multifunction printer. Check out our recent blog post, “Branding Your Business,” for a more detailed explanation of how to safely print on napkins.

party favors

Printing Out Party Favors

When you host a child’s birthday party, there’s usually an expectation that the host will provide some type of party favors. These don’t necessarily need to be anything extravagant, and there are many projects you can complete or at least make progress on using little more than your printer.

One easy option is to print out picture frame templates with the name of the event (“Kevin’s Birthday Party – January 1st,” for example) or a customized message to the guests (“Thank you for making this a special day,” “Best friends forever,” etc.). Then you’ll simply use an adhesive to glue the printed frame to a magnet with a photograph sandwiched in the middle. Be sure to use a group photo so that it feels more inclusive than just handing out photos of the birthday child. A really fun treat would be to have a Polaroid or other instant camera on hand to get immediate photos of the birthday child with each classmate/friend at the party. You can then put each child’s photo into a frame for a quick and easy customized party favor.

Another simple party favor would be to print out a small gift box to fill with candy and other goodies. You can buy candy for a fairly low price by hitting up your local grocery store’s bulk section – just be sure to opt for individually-wrapped candy to avoid a sticky mess when your guests take their party favors home!

Yet another easy party favor to include in your goody bag is a small sheet of stickers. You can make your own at home using your printer and a sheet of sticker paper (available at most office supply stores). Choose a design that appeals to your child – perhaps something related to the party’s theme, if one was chosen – and find images online that would work for your party’s age range. You don’t want to be too edgy with your image choices, but at the same time you don’t want to hand out kittens and unicorns for a teenager’s party, either. Talk to your child about what they would like for a sticker idea, then print and cut out images accordingly.

For really young kids, you could also print your own coloring book packet of a few select images related to the party (particularly if it’s a themed party). Then you can pass out a large box of crayons at the table and have kids color in the images together after cake, and at the end of the day everyone will get to take their illustrations home with them!

scrabble tiles

Choosing and Printing Your Party’s Activities

There are a lot of options when it comes to planning activities and games for a child’s birthday party. Cater your party’s activities to your child’s age group, as older kids may get bored with simpler games. A younger child in particular will be less likely to expect video games and other digital forms of entertainment. You can print out the necessary pieces to make a Pin the Tail on the Donkey game for younger kids by searching for a printable version online. You can also print out a number of different types of board games using a free website like Board Game Geek. They’ve got printable game options for every age range, including adults. Talk to your child about what games they’d like to play at their party and find something that will please your crowd and can easily be printed out at home. You can supplement these print-out games with physical activities like red rover, tag, hide-and-seek, and other entertaining activities, assuming you have the physical space to accommodate that type of activity. As long as you put in the effort, your child is sure to have a blast playing any game with their friends!

tricolor ink cartridge

Finding Other Ways to Save

Printing your own decorations and party supplies is a great way to lower your party expenses, but if you’re paying top dollar for original equipment manufacturer (OEM) ink or toner, you could still be spending too much money. Trust 1ink.com to bring you the finest compatible and remanufactured ink/toner cartridges at the lowest prices. We use top-of-the-line materials to create dependable products that will not let you down. You can lower your printing costs by up to 85% when you choose compatible and remanufactured cartridges! Save money without losing quality and you’ll have a little extra cash to throw a fun, engaging party thanks to 1ink.com.