As exciting as celebrating the birth of your child is, a slight dread may creep up too at the thought of emptying your wallet on the festivities.  Don’t despair.  There are plenty of ways to trim costs across the board.  Even if your son is dead-set on having a Super Mario party, here are a few tips on how to save without compromising on throwing a fun and memorable birthday party.

Tips for Hosting a Kid's Birthday Party for Cheap

• Make your own invitations.  Printers these days are fully equipped with photo quality, color graphics that enable you to produce your own, creative invites.
• Schedule in the afternoon to minimize the amount of food you’ll need to provide.  If the party has a 2 or 3 o’clock starting time, parents will feed their kids lunch before coming over.  You should have cake, ice cream, drinks and something salty like pretzels or peanuts.
• Unless your child has specifically requested a character theme party, browse online and at party favor stores for discount decorations.  Sometimes one color in particular will go on sale and you can capitalize on it by using that for 90% of the flair and buy 10% more elaborate or theme specific decorations.  Make your own signs out of poster board and glitter too.
• Every kid’s birthday party has to have party favors, but they don’t have to be elaborate to be awesome.  Head to the dollar store and bake a batch of cookies.  These items don’t have to be fancy, just fun for a day or two.
• Inexpensive activities for the party sort of depend on the weather.  For summer parties, all you need is a sprinkler and/or a slip-and-slide.  Winter parties might be more video game or movie-viewing focused.  You can even make a simple craft together like a picture frame out of popsicle sticks using paint, glue and knick-knacks from the party favor bags.  Then take photos during the party and print them out at the end so that each kiddo has a picture for their new frame.

However you decide to cut corners when it comes to throwing your kid’s party, remember that the more creative you’re willing to be the more money you'll save in the long run.  Your kid is going to be excited as long as they feel like they’re getting a little extra special attention and everyone is having a good time.