$100 Party Project - venue and invitations

So - you've mapped out your party plan, know what your theme is and how many children you're going to invite. Now comes one of the hardest (and potentially most expensive) parts of the party decision making process - where to have it! 

The cheapest and most practical place to host a party is a home. But that isn't always possible, especially if you live in a small unit, have no yard, or want to invite more people than will fit in your house! 

A nearby park is the next most popular option. It provides free entertainment in the form of playground equipment, lost of space for children hyped up on sugar to run-around, and it's easier for parking. 

Party in the park = free activities!

However, not all parks have toilet facilities (a must for pre-school and primary aged kids), there is often competition for the picnic facilities with other parties (not all dads are willing to stake out the rotundas at 6am), and you'll need a wet weather backup plan. Plus you need to cart all your food, decorations and serving ware to the park and home again - which can be a logistical nightmare. 

So what other options are there? For the purposes of our challenge, we need to identify a free venue. It's unlikely you'll find a playhouse or dedicated party venue for less than $15 per head (unless it's the local fast food joint).

My suggestion - a family member or close friend's house with a big yard (and if it's summer, a pool! There will be an indoor option, easy clean-up, a kitchen / fridge / toilet and you can call for extra adult support to wrangle the kids.
 

So, once you've conned convinced your nearest and dearest to help with your party, you'll need to send out some invitations! 

You could buy a pad of ten from the local newsagent. That would be supporting a local business. OR you could buy a custom designed piece of themed magnificence from a wonderfully creative person on etsy, and print them on your home computer. Some of my favourite sellers offer complete print-at-home party packages including decorations for less than $30, and you can definitely get a set of invitations for less than $10. Have a browse - you'll be surprised how many beautiful options you have. 

You could also make your own - some craft paper, character/pretty stickers and a wrapping-paper envelope is all you need to make a pretty clever invitation. Of course, you'll need some time to do this, and you may want to consider the age of the child you're inviting, as I'm pretty sure I went to way to much trouble with my flocked-paper ballerina invitations last year for Miss C's 3rd birthday. Those enveloped got ripped in less than 10 seconds, and the kids were more interested in the glitter side of the cardboard than the side with all the details on it. Never mind.....

Make sure you give a good lead time with your invitations - no less than 2 weeks, especially if you are inviting children from daycare or kindy, who many not attend everyday to collect their invitation.

Plus, the longer you have to collect RSVPs, the longer you have to construct your menu and decorations! Which is the next installment in our party challenge!