Birthday House Party On a Budget

I’m a packrat, coupon clipper and a daydream believer, and I love to make something out of precious little, be it a book out of an idea or a party out of a shoestring.

We celebrated our youngest grandchild’s 9th birthday a week ago.  She wanted a sleepover with The Wizard of Oz as the theme.  Perfect! says Nana.  There’s a limit of 6 on sleepovers, but no limit on the magic.  Because we seldom use our living room, we can take a week decorating.  Out comes the party box—bits of fabric (also used for dress-up and costumes), strings of white lights, hats, colored paper, and assorted treasures I’ve picked up on holiday clearance—and we start scouring the internet for ideas.

The Wizard of Oz is almost too easy.  We have a glorious witch’s hat, put it on a black paper puddle, green cutout hands, wrote “I’m melting” in chalk.  We watched the movie and put out signs with movie quotations all over the place.  We didn’t have to do much shopping, and when we did, we used our 40 or 50% off Michael’s and Joann’s coupons.  Here are some of our party bits:

I use Smilebox to make invitations, birthday cards, thank you notes.  Often I use a photo in the invite, but this time I wanted Oz.  Thank you note features party photo.  You can e-mail, but I prefer to print.  Smilebox is $6 a month, and I only subscribe by the month. .

My favorite bakery offers half price Groupons periodically.  I get them when a special occasion is coming up before the expiration date.  Love Groupon.

Yellow brick road is 2 yards of felt.  Munchkin land back drop is folded tag board from Michael’s.  Birthday girl painted the landscape.  Bottom right is a Michael’s birdhouse she painted—witch of the East is underneath.  The little dolls are from McDonald’s a few years back.  I have the whole Wizard of Oz set.

Two $2 plastic tablecloths cut up to turn lighted curio cabinet into Emerald City.  Look closely—the yellow brick road has a hopscotch board.  Other activities included making paper Munchkin houses, Apples To Apples board game, and glow stick jewelry to highlight a dance party.

Two or three shades of tulle on a length of thin wire and a few cutouts from the internet and voila!  Instant tornado.

No store-bought centerpiece—just the ball, please.  The balloon basket is a stack of plastic bangle bracelets in a plastic bag.

It only took one roll of each rainbow color of crepe paper streamer to deck the window, fireplace, chandelier and a few other places.  The sign:  “Lions+Tigers+Bears…”

Dorothy is from my doll collection.  It’s hard to see my apple tree, but it’s a diamond willow stick—the knots look like faces—with nearly invisible wire branches with a few cutout leaves and apples.

Party favor baskets and most of the filling—little puppies, little grow-your-own poppy seed kits, rainbow glitter nail files, lollipop—came from Joann’s and Target’s dollar section during the post-Valentine’s Day 70% off.  The dress on the wall was b’day girl’s Halloween from toddler days.  Used lots of printouts and coloring pages from the internet.

Breakfast:  a basket of apples, a basket of strawberries, a basket of blueberry muffins.  Six sleepy girls won’t eat much.

Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?  Are you crafty?  What’s the best part of partying for you?

I’ll send an Amazon or Barnes & Noble e-book download of my new (March) Special Edition ONE LESS LONELY COWBOY to one randomly chosen visitor who comments today.  (U.S. winners have the option of a print copy.)

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