In this episode, I'm sharing the best tips for maximizing your budget when it comes to party planning - especially kids parties. I have this way of doing it that's efficient and organized and easy to decide what's worth paying for and what's better to do yourself. I'm sharing specific examples from the Party I just threw for Parker because I think it will give you lots and lots of ideas for the parties you plan in the future. This one was a baseball and ice cream theme so I definitely needed ice cream cones. I got two quotes for companies to scoop fresh ice cream and make ice cream sandwiches and both came in around $850. Instead, I bought the mini ice cream cones from Trader Joe's for $.46 each - brushed them with a little water and dip them in sprinkles and the kids were so happy. I took what would have been something like $12 per kid and made it $.46 and if they had two cones, I made it one dollar. And it had the same feeling as doing the expensive vendor, and nobody knew the difference! There are so many ways to plan your parties so you spend the money in the most strategic ways and and figure out ways to keep things low in cost, but have a big impact.

Tips! -spread out your spend -get multiple quotes -start early if you can -set max budgets for some of the creative people -do half vendor, half yourself (balloons and treats) -hat vendor - $450 - DIY would have been similar plus helper time to do it -caricature - $300 for 3 hours - best deal in town -pizzas & taco guy- sometimes make it pretty and sometimes just to feed people -snack table is so easy and so useful and ads to decor -print signs at a store like FEDEX - then I had my sign girl just do 2 main signs -print tags, papers and "stickers" yourself -pizza boxes had our logo on it - just paper cut and taped -Etsy has great resources -before you rent - see what you would spend buying and do you have a place to store? This time I spent too much on a wood wall - but I decided I needed it too late -you either have to spend lots of time or lots of money! But you dont have to do both -use the school of YouTube ***Here's the link to my new party book!!*** https://howtobeawesomeateverything.com/pages/the-ultimate-kids-party-planning-guidebook CHEERS to your next awesome party!!