Planning an upcoming birthday? I have some birthday party ideas to share with you!
The expense can be a bit overwhelming with cost, so let me share with you some DIY ideas. From printable birthday party planners and invitations, to DIY birthday decorations.
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Let’s Talk About It!
Birthday Party Planner Ideas
Whether it’s a 1st birthday or 100th, there are many themes to choose from. Let’s talk about it!
For my kids, I remember that first birthday party was so exciting. How fun it was to have safari animals, or farm animals themes. I loved planning and creating their invitations and decorations.
Here are some great birthday party ideas to choose from for the youngins.
Unicorn, Mermaid, Disney, Superheroes, Farm, Sports, Crafting, Mermaid, Pirate, Any Animation Movies they Love, Art, Jungle, Dinosaurs, Circus, and Fairy.
To make these parties a success, you will want to create themed invitations, decorations, and goodie bags.
Here is a great birthday party ideas suggestion for a Superheroes party. Make some cardboard cutouts of skyscrapers and give each of the children a superhero cape made out of fabric and let them be the super heroes they are. Their imagination will take them to places they can only dream.
For a unicorn party, they can play pin the horn on the unicorn. For a jungle theme, get enough plain headbands for everyone and let them create their own ears to glue onto their headbands.
An art birthday party idea is right up my alley! Create invitations that say “Dress for the Mess” It’s an art party, and buy small easels and corresponding stretched canvas along with paints and brushes and let them paint! How fun!
Now they are growing older, from about 12 – 17, birthday party themes tend to advance, but you can still create beautiful decor and invitations
Movie Night, Glow in the Dark, Spa Party, Beach Party, color Powder Party, Slumber Party, Karaoki, Art Party, Spa Party, Dance Party, and Costume Party.
Movie night could be extra fun with popcorn, movie theatre candy and if the weather conditions are just right, a large white bedsheet hung outside with a projector playing the movie of the night.
Spa parties are so cute and they can each have a decorative goodie bag with all their spa items inside, like nail polish, nail files, foot cream, facial masks, eye masks, headband, and lotions. If you want to really go all out, supply each one with a white robe.
Color powder party is a very interesting one. Each child is instructed to wear a white tshirt to the party. You can purchase color powder packs and have a rainbow of a time. You just yell GO! and they start throwing. Please make sure you stipulate to no throwing in faces.
Now let’s get to the really fun themes – adult birthday party ideas. 18, 21, and any milestone age is usually always a given. With that, you would use their favorite colors, foods, etc. These could also be theme parties as well
Casino Night, Fiesta, Garden Party, Dessert Party, Cocktail Party, Toga Party, hawaiian Luau, Costume Party, Great Gatsby, Game Night, mardi Gras, Painting Party, Wine Tasting, Spa Day, And Any Era Party (70’s, 80’s, 90’s, etc)
Toga, Hawaiian, Costume, Great Gatsby, Mardi Gras, and any era party is pretty easy to plan. Ask your guests to arrive in the theme attire. Serve foods that correspond to each theme.
A fun game to make be would who knows the birthday person the best. Another is Guess the Phrase by only having emojis, or of course the old standby of charades.
Let’s not forget about milestone ages. 50th birthday party ideas are a lot of fun. The dress theme could be black and gold attire and party accessories for the “over the hill” age. On the other hand it could be a pink and gold “fabulous at 50” theme.
The 21st birthday usually is alcohol related as in America, you can legally purchase and drink. Create a “bubbly bar” with some champagne and orange juice in decorative carafes.
Photo booths are still a thing, and how fun to create some props for this! Mustaches, funny glasses, boas, decorative hats, and other props. Many of them you can create on Canva and print out and put on wooden skewers or popsicle sticks.
Pinterest has so many great ideas to help you with your themes! You can follow me on Pinterest for some great party ideas.
For some great tips on party games, visit Aquita and read all about it!
All of these birthday party ideas can be made budget friendly by creating your own invitations, decor, and food.
Printable Birthday Party Ideas Planners
Now that you have your theme in mind, let’s get planning on some birthday party ideas by making a printable birthday planner.
By using a printable birthday planner, you can make sure everything goes without a hitch. Well most everything, as there can be weather issues, health issues, personal issues, etc. This is where you plan for any of those obstacles for a back up plan.
Pages you will want in your birthday party ideas planning checklist:
Cover page with date and time of party | |
Guest List | |
Invitations | |
Decorations | |
Menu | |
Activities/Games | |
Schedule | |
Budget | |
To-do/task list | |
Backup Plan |
For a more detailed printable birthday party ideas planner, I designed a post just for this where you can read all about it
Other printable birthday party ideas for your planner pages could include: Caterer, Destination, Special Needs Guests, Vendors, etc., if that is part of your plan.
Crafting Your Printable Birthday Invitations
Making your own birthday party invitations have many benefits. They are cheaper, you can customize them, you can make it work to your theme decor and planning.
Canva has a wealth of ideas as well as Pinterest. What I love is that I can make my own with fonts that I love, customize with name of person and any funny quotes I want to add.
I created a template for you to access on my post I wrote about how to make a printable party birthday invitation. You can find it here.
You can also make postcard style as well as create on Canva and send them electronically. I prefer to send them in the mail or hand them out personally.
I prefer to print them out on cardstock and put them in a customized envelope that is also included in the template you received if you went to the above link.
Now that you planned your invitations, you can start printing and sending. Use your checklist on your planner to tik off the ones you sent and tik any RSVP’s you received.
Once you have all of your RSVP’s, you can create your food and supplies shopping list to pick up the right amounts. I recommend you purchase a little bit extra, because you never know if that unexpected guest decides to show up.
If you created any of the printable birthday invitations, I would love to see photos of them in the comments!
Use fun a fun photo of the birthday person on the invitation. Add a party hat to them and jazz them up for fun!
DIY Birthday Party Ideas Decorations
DIY birthday decorations are the way to go! There’s the old standby of balloons, streamers, party bags, etc., but there are more things you can create!
Your guests will be impressed with your homemade party decor, you will be the hostess with the mostess or host with the most!
On the blog I shared a post on making party banners, party hats and cupcake decorations. Read about it here.
On your birthday party planner, you will make your list of items for decorations. Don’t forget to write any printing paper and printing supplies you will need and add to your shopping list.
Bringing It All Together
Now it’s time to put it all together.
After you check out the post on creating a printable party planner, you will have it printed out, placed in a binder and ready to fill out.
Get it all synchronized together and have a memorable birthday party experience!
It is so important to have a good plan in place and making your birthday party planner and using your birthday party planner will help to ensure it is a success.
Remember to take care of yourself during this party planning time. It can be stressful with so much to do, and creating your birthday party ideas planner can help you alleviate some of your work.
Also, delegate when you need too! You may be too busy during the party to take photos, so ask a friend or family member to be the photographer/videographer.
You can bake your cake or cupcakes ahead of time and freeze. Actually any food that is freezable can be made ahead of time and then heated up for the party.
On a budget?
You can save money buy buying a small helium tank at the local party store and purchase balloons online at a cheaper rate than paying for it to be done if you are on a budget.
Side note – I worked retail for many years, and we had a party section and I have blown up thousands of balloons and the cost for those balloons to the customer was a pretty penny. We also sold party supplies, and even at my store discount, I could make my own cheaper.
Other ways to save money is to purchase colored paper plates/napkins instead of preprinted ones and also buy plain white paper cups and let the kids write their names on their cups with colored markers. A coordinating plain color tablecloth is just as festive as a pre printed one.
Once the party is over, you can chill and relax and look back on the fun times you had with your loved one celebrating their birthday.
From creating your printable birthday planner, your printable birthday invitations, and your DIY decor, you have done the work. Stand back and be proud of your creativity and all of your hard work. Plus, I bet you saved some money in the process!
If you find that this is something you love to do, I recommend you start a side hustle of creating planners for birthdays, retirement parties, gardening, the list goes on. Once you frontload the hard work, you can start to create a passive income from that.
I’m so glad you stopped by to read all about birthday party ideas planning and how you can do it yourself, save some money, and start your own printables biz!
I invite you to subscribe to my weekly email, The Colorful Creative Express for more ideas and tips on making printables. Just for doing so, here is a freebie just for you!
Stay Colorful, Stay Creative, and HAVE FUN!
~Laurie