How To Hold A Small Personalized Party for Less Than PHP 10k

This entry is all about how I managed to pull of a personalized 'Pirate Party' for my son's second birthday on a measly budget of 10,000.00 Pesos with around 35-40 guests (BTW, we actually spent less!).

First up, I am a very creative person (insert more bragging here) and I love art so I made it an absolute excuse to DIY a lot of stuff for the party. First on my list was to create the e-vite. I decided to make an e-vite instead of an actual invite because of the following reasons:

1. invites are expensive (need to commission an artist to make it then pay to print it)
2. shipping is an added cost
3. people throw away invites anyway so it's a waste of paper. 

So I just decided from there to get a cute pirate image online and just mixed and matched some fonts to use and did it all on MS Powerpoint, being the super trooper that I am. Below is the result of my effort:

 Second on my list, I set a budget for buying supplies and decor for the party. The first thing I decided to make for the party was the birthday banner which tied in the pirate theme. To make it, I bought some cardboard paper and assorted pieces of art paper which I then cut and pieced together. After that, I made some buntings and pompoms to hang as an added touch to the banner and just so that people would get the sense that the theme colors were black and red.

After that, I wanted to buy some party favors but ended up with a more creative solution: I had a biscuit buffet set up which I had made with the help of my engineer husband using paper plates and paper cups. I then stenciled a "Thanks Mate!"onto some brown paper bags for the guests to use as a loot bag to get and take home the biscuits from the biscuit buffet.

Last of all, I had to buy us some outfits for the event. I dropped by at Landmark and got me and the husband some el cheapo stuff: black and grey striped shirts for 150/200 each and Advan canvas shoes for 200/400 each. My Son Adan of course got better stuff from moose gear, more expensive since, he IS the celebrant after all. I also got some textile paints, just the primary colors red, white, yellow and blue to use for painting over our cheap shoes. The end product of my experiment is as seen below:

You might be wondering if I skipped the most important part which is the food. I definitely did not. In fact, I cooked some of the food too! My hubby and I decided to make our specialties during the day itself: his being his uber delish fried chicken and mine being my extra creamy cheesy tuna & hibe (dried young shrimp) pasta. We also had some food from our favorite take out place, Amber's, delivered to our (my grandma's) doorstep.

And as you might have guessed by now, the event venue was absolutely free. My grandmother was kind and awesome enough to let us have our small party at her house and even paid for the birthday cake. Our visiting relatives from Australia were also very generous and bought us softdrinks and buko pandan! Truly, blessings come in every shape and size!

So simply put, this is how to save on throwing a birthday party:

1. Take advantage of technology. Text, e-vite, skype, facebook event, email, utilize these tools to get people informed about your little event.
2. DIY all that you can and space it at least 3 weeks ahead so you have a couple of weekends to do some full-on artwork
3. Make your favors part of the party. Aside from the biscuit buffet, I know some people who have used their lollipop giveaways as centerpieces and that is just one of many ideas.
4. Don't be afraid to tell people you are on a budget. Sharing with others that you are trying to keep spending to a minimum will help manage their expectations on your event and you will be surprised at how much they will even want to help, giving goods and all!
5. Pitch in some cooking skills. More often than not, cooking it yourself will save you so much money. That and you get to advertise your skills for future use! ;) you never know, someone might ask you to cook your good stuff for a good price for their party.

all that being said, do not forget to enjoy the party making process. It is a must that you do because you are creating something cool and unique and for a price that doesn't burn a hole in your pocket. ;)

~K