October is full of so many festivities – it’s always one of my favorites!
It also is home to my favorite holiday and my favorite person’s birthday, my husband. He said he wanted something very low-key at home with his closest friends. Nothing major, just a night where we could have a few cocktails and catch up. I took the opportunity to make the party special, while not breaking the bank. I used items that were either under $5 or that I found laying around the house. It is totally possible to throw a party at your home without saying goodbye to a quarter of your bank account, I promise.
These quick little photo clips above are the perfect representation. I grabbed multiple $1 packs of balloons from the Dollar Store and taped them to our wall. As an after thought, I’m sure taping a big square of kraft paper to your wall and then using more powerful tape to secure the balloons onto it would be better, as we had to keep putting some of them back on throughout the night if someone passed by them too close. But either way, it did not take us long to put them up and it was a great statement piece for the party that caught everyone’s attention. We didn’t even use one pack! To make the hubs’ birthday candle a little more special, I grabbed a pack of small animal figures from Target’s Spritz party line which was $3.99, and chose the polar bear (what I refer to him due to his strange affinity for below zero temperatures). I hot glue gunned a striped candle (also from the Spritz line) to it, held it down and let it sit for a bit. Voila! Instant kitsch.
As usual, I have a ton of party supplies I never used (or just reuse) from previous parties, so I threw those all out to decorate the main party table and added some quick “table confetti” in the form of construction paper cut outs. Again, a huge pack of construction paper from the dollar store did the trick, along with a circle cutting tool. I scattered the table full of these and it took me all of 5 minutes. Despite being one of the easiest things you can do decor-wise, it helped make a colorful and fun accent, and also helps pull together any color palettes you may be using (blue and green, in the birthday boy’s case). Finally, making your own cake can really save cost, while also making it more personal. The hubs decided he was going to make his own brownie cake and it was not only beautiful, but also a hit with all our guests. Add an adorable $2 birthday boy/girl ribbon to make the guest of honor feel special and you are good to go!
Party planning does not have to be arduous or expensive – it just takes a little bit of thought and a whole lot of heart.