$100 Party Project - decorate and eat

Need to catch up on the $100 Party Project? Here's the first few steps you may have missed:
1. Introduction
2. Planning
3. Venue and Invitations

Theming is a very important aspect of your party and it can have a big impact on your budget.

There are literally thousands of options, though you can be assured the younger the child, the wilder and more complicated their theme request will be! So far, in our short birthday party lives, we've had a Littlest Pet Shop party, a Garden party, a Ballerina party and Ponies and Princesses party. We've also sprung for a High Tea Sweet Sixteen and a Laserforce 13th.... but those last two options were definitely not befitting a shoestring budget.

1st birthday Garden Party food

So while it may drive you mad, it's important to discuss with your special birthday person what type of party they would like to have, EARLY. Or, you can make the decision for them. Regardless, the $100 Party Project requires planning, forethought and lots of DIY - so give yourself at least 6 weeks to get organised.

"I hate DIY", I hear you groan. Not everyone wants to be Martha Stewart (though she does give mums all over the world something to aspire to, notwithstanding financial advice). But actually, Martha's website is an awesome place to start researching party decorations. So is Pinterest, Facebook and your new best friend - Google. Just type your theme and the keyword birthday into that search bar and watch the thousands of results cascade down your page. It would be a very unique party theme indeed that some clever person hadn't already put some inspiration on the wide world of interwebs.

Hiring a character cake tin is
a great way to cut costs

Menu planning is just as simple - you can go with party staples on a themed table display, or you can match your food items to your theme - start with Google, Pinterest and Facebook. One thing you will want to spend some time thinking about, researching and perhaps even practicing is the Birthday Cake. Yes. The $100 party project requires you to bake your own cake, or outsource it to those handy party minions you've previously recruited.

Ballerina Party Food

Once you have a plethora of party paraphernalia pinned, picked or planned, your must CULL. I have learned this the hard way. No matter how wonderfully planned you are, and how magnificent the party will be in your head, SOMETHING will inevitably go wrong. So, minimise your risk. I recommend following The Rule of Five.

The Rule of Five requires you to cut down your wishlist of food and decorations to just 5 items each. This means you bake/buy/plate five different foods:
1. savoury
2. sweet
3. sandwich
4. fruit
5. and one extra cute / wow food item. This MAY be your birthday cake if you're not having a large number of guests.

Bunting made from scrapbook paper and waxed thread.

Then you apply the same principle to Decorations. You can make/buy/assemble five different decor items, for example:

1. table cloth
2. streamers, bunting or balloons
3. table centrepiece
4. food/place cards
5. themed food decorations eg. cake toppers or cute cups/plates/serviettes.

Allow yourself some breathing space. If you get to the day before the party and everything has gone swimmingly, THEN you can attempt a sixth, seventh or eigth item. But more likely, you'll be accepting all offers from family and friends to bring a plate or special tray, esky or drink dispenser just to get an extra 30 minutes back on your day. And that's okay. That's what friends are for!

Cupcake toppers are easy - print your theme
images or characters from the internet
the stick to a paddle pop and voila!

What if I run out of food! I hear your ask, panicked. You won't. I've been to dozens of parties, and I've never seen a completely decimated food table at the end of the celebrations. Kids will grab a handful of m&ms or marshmallows, cram them into their mouths and then go running screaming around the backyard for another 10 minutes before they need to refuel. Inevitable the lollies and sweet food will go first (the icing off the cupcakes goes first, then you find dozens of marooned cake bases crumbling in their wrappers all through the garden where they've been haphazardly tossed during a game of tag), so perhaps consider staggering your food drop - put out the savoury (pizza, sausage rolls, party pies, crackers etc) first, then bring the sweet food out 30 minutes later. If your party goes for more than an hour that's still plenty of time for the kids to run off the sugar high they'll be accumulating.

I have been at parties where they've run out of drinks though - so make sure you have enough poppers / water bottles / litres of punch for at least three drinks each. As a cost saving measure, ask friends if they have a large cooler you can borrow, to fill with iced water or cordial. Some local fast food outlets also have branded kegs you can hire for a small fee (plus safety deposit) if you have no luck with your circle of friends.

So, back to that DIY part. Now that you've narrowed down your part decorations to 5 things that are the essence of your theme, you'll probably have to buy supplies to make / assemble them. There are hundreds of free tutorials on the internet for making amazing decorations. There are also some pretty awesome finds in your local Reject Shop (Things, The Warehouse, Crazy Clarks). Never be ashamed to shop for party items in those shops! Unless your children are lemmings, it's unlikely you'll be throwing the same themed party twice, so it's okay to buy cheap stuff with the intention of breaking it on the day, or tossing it in the bin.

Speaking of breaking it on the day, my clever friend even made her own Pinata! She tells me it was a long process, but her son got a huge kick out of making it with her, and it allows you to custom make your pinata to your theme - Spotlight and clearance stores are usually overflowing with Dora and Thomas, but not so much on the Octonauts....or pigs.

So, are you inspired? Start with the Bloombub Party Ideas pinterest board, and go from there. We've got lots of decorations, table settings, cute food and drink options pinned to whet your appetite.

Do you have a tried and true party menu or decoration idea to share? Post your links or descriptions below!