A cheap birthday party with games and activities can be as much fun as an expensive one.
A cheap birthday party can be as entertaining as one that costs more when imagination and creativity are used to take advantage of inexpensive materials available at party stores and around the house. Since the date of the birthday is known in advance there is plenty of time to shop garage sales for cheap props and other materials to make the games and activities a success.
Blow-Paint Party
Painting is fun for all ages, and this variation on finger-painting is the next step up for a preteen. Include a sample of blow-painting on the cover of each invitation. Blow-painting can be the principal activity of the party. Dress each child in a cheap plastic apron at a covered work table and give her a straw. Have bottles of different colors of ink available. An adult uses an eye-dropper to place a small drop of black ink on a poster board. The child uses the straw to gently blow the ink around on the paper to create a design. The adult places a drop of a different color ink on the poster board and the guest repeats the procedure. The process continues until a number of colors are used and the desired design is achieved.
Cupcake Party
Decorating cupcakes is an inexpensive party activity that you can turn into a game. Preteens are old enough to enjoy the activity and competition, especially since the reward at the end of the game tastes even more delicious because they created it themselves. bake up to 3 chocolate or plain cupcakes per child. Set up a covered work table with a supply of brightly colored homemade frosting already placed in disposable pastry bags. Provide some technical guidance to the kids but allow them to create the designs for themselves. When they are finished, each child can pick out her best effort, and then the group votes on the best creation. The winner gets a prize. Serve ice cream with the cupcake creations.
Toothpick Party
Preteens love this party activity and it becomes very fast paced and hilarious. The game costs very little for materials and the kids supply almost all of the fun. Divide up the guests into teams of 4 players or more. Each guest receives a toothpick and each team receives one small piece of candy with a hole in the center. The kids stand in line behind each other with the toothpick in their mouth, and starting at the front the first guest in line slides the candy over the toothpick. The guest then turns around and the next person in line has to slide the candy over their toothpick without dropping it. If the candy is dropped, that team has to start over at the front of the line. The winning team is the one that is first to get the candy to the last person in line.
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