We’ve had a very busy weekend.  My son’s birthday was on Saturday, we had a party for him on Sunday and on Monday a big special surprise.  But it doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg to have a great celebration here’s what we did to save.

• I started buying gifts right after Christmas.  We managed to pick up legos at 50% off and through the year I’ve picked up all the gifts for his birthday and Christmas at 50-75% off.
• We went to a Character Breakfast which we do every year and is a bit of a budget buster.  But to help we made the reservation for 10:30 and since it was a buffet we managed to eat enough to not have to get lunch later in the day.
• For his party I’ve been shopping sales and Sav-A-Lot to make sure we had food and drinks.  Hot dogs, chips and hug jugs make for very happy kids and are really easy on the budget.
• I made cupcakes instead of a cake because they are easier for kids to eat.  They are also really cheap and with printed decorations I found online they looked really good and cost nearly nothing.
• I picked up fabric from the remnants bin at Joann’s and sewed the goody bags and filled them with clearance finds, homemade crayons, copied coloring pages, and a few things from Oriental Trading Company (not a bad place to find lots of great goodies)
• And for his big surprise we went to the brand new Lego Land.  With careful planning and quick action when I got the lego catalog we were able to go for $55.  Lego offered free admission to their VIP members so we signed up so that hubby and I got in free, my mother in law signed up so she could also get in free and then we paid for Shawn’s ticket and received $10 off it.
• We had a fantastic time at the park and did purchase lunch while we were there we could have packed a lunch but I was so exhausted from the rest of the weekend festivities that I didn’t.  We were surprised to find that the food costs in the park were very reasonable.

So there you go.  We spent less then $50 on probably $150 in presents and that cost was spread out over the year, we spent less then $25 on goody bags, decorations and food for his birthday party and had a fantastic time.  With lots of careful planning we were able to have a fantastic weekend without spending a small fortune.  Plus since I’ve been buying presents all year we have plenty of gifts for Christmas and won’t have to be spending much with the exception of a few gifts he may ask for I am done with his presents for the year.  You have no idea how great it feels not to have to rush around in holiday craziness at the stores to pick up presents.