My son is having his 7th birthday in about a week, and we are kind of tight on money, what are some fun, cheap

Question

We usually give goody bags, any other fun ideas?

Answer 1

there is a wonderful magazine and website called family fun - I think its just familyfun.com?? check it out - they give great tips on kids parties

Answer 2

Scavenger hunts are always fun.  ITEMS:  a rock with 2 colors, a yellow leaf, a empty can of soda, a 4-leaf clover (that's always a good if you're looking to draw the game out longer), a straw wrapper, a 3" twig, 2 acorns, 1 pine cones etc.  The possibilities are endless.

Take a walk around your neighborhood, look for things that you can put on the scavenger list, there will be things that you have forgotten or don't think about until you look.

You could also make them work in teams if you have an even number of kids participating.  You can buy or make trophies for the winners--I personally like gluing things together and spray painting them gold and call it a trophy.  You could find a giant pine cone and spray it gold and put a blue ribbon on it for first place, get the idea?

It would be a "timed" game so they could be gone all afternoon.  Make sure you have plenty of hand sanitizer when they return, before you cut the cake!

It sounds like you'll have lots of fun!

Good luck

Answer 3

cake and ice cream and flag football the kids will love it.

now you could print out coloring pages off the computer.

Give them each a picture of your son.  

and throw in a couple of cookies.

Answer 4

Hide a $10 bill in the back yard and who ever finds it gets to keep half.

Answer 5

Get each child a small gift some bubbles a car not loads of toot in a party bag even a balloon made in to a sword or hat.Make each child a cake and decorate it or personalise it with their name.

Answer 6

My son belongs to a group of kids and we decided a long time ago, no goody bags and no presents. These are the best parties we have been to. Whoever is hosting serves food and cupcakes and we usually do whatever the birthday boy/girl is into. At the last one we rode the trains at Griffith Park.

Answer 7

Do an outdoor party - go for a hike, do something nature oriented, and make s'mores.  You could let each boy make his own nature book from stuff he gathers, or make a lanyard for a whistle, or any other outdoor type craft.

As a parent, I'm really tired of goody bags w/ lots of cheap toys and too much candy.  Having said that, what about a sand bucket & shovel from the dollar store.  Put a baggie of candy in there.

Answer 8

I like the scavenger hunt idea above.  My sister did that for her two boys.  She made up a list of about 20 things for the kids to collect from neighbors, like the Sunday comics, a piece of pink tissue paper, and a popsicle stick.  Then she divided the kids up into 4 teams and they were supervised by parent volunteers as they went up and down their assigned blocks.  When each team returned, she had small prizes for them.  Then she served cake.  Except for the prizes (which also served as the party favor instead of a goody bag) and the cost of the cake, it was a totally free party and everyone had a great time.  There is no need to spend hundreds of dollars on a birthday party.

Check out birthdaypartyideas.com for a huge list of party themes and ideas.  I always find a ton a great things to do there, and lots of the ideas are party activities you can do at home.

Have fun at your son's party!

Answer 9

Check out a dollar tree(or the like) for cheap trinkets and even birthday games.. If the weather is nice have the party at a playground. Have a treasure hunt with simple clues that eventually lead to a prize. make a cake or cupcakes yourself or make sugar cookies and let children decorate them themselves. kids could also do potato sack races, three legged races, or egg races( child races across grass with an egg on a spoon hands egg to another child who has a spoon all without touching the egg. that child runs back to start, whoever gets there first without breaking egg wins. Other games duck duck goose, red rover, steal the bacon. Art projects are also good, paint, make playdough(peanutbutter playdough is fun to make and you can eat it!) Try google for recipes.