How To Spend Under $100 on Party Supplies

Sorry I have been a bit MIA with the blog this past week and a half.  I came down with a serious cold, Dean developed a double ear infection and between feeling run down and picking up around the house, I've been a bit distracted.  This past week we prepped for Dean's first birthday.  Since we've had a lot going on recently between birthdays, baptisms, and dance recitals, I waited until the week of the party to get organized and gather all my party supplies.  If you recall, my party theme was a Mustache Bash; my inspiration pulled together in this post.  Between my stops at Dollar Tree, Target, and JoAnn Fabric store, I was able to gather my plates, flatware and decorations for under $100.

PLATES & FLATWARE

All of these items totaled $11 - can't be beat!  If I were to buy these at my local party store, I would be spending 3x as much money.  I really hope you have a local Dollar Tree or 5 and Below store that you can shop at for these occasions.  I bought white and black dinner plates and napkins so I can alternate and layer them to go with my birthday theme colors, which are black, white, and gold.

TABLECLOTHS

I needed coverage for three tables - 1 banquet table and 2 picnic tables.  We used the banquet table for laying out the food and the picnic tables for guest seating.  I purchased 2 white and 2 black rectangle tablecloths for $4 at the Dollar Tree.  I wanted to layer the black and white together on the banquet table as seen below.

Image Source via Etsy Shop House of KA

DECORATIONS

During my Dollar Tree jaunt, I also picked up a 15 pack of white latex balloons and 6 balloon weights to provide me with 2 balloons per table.  I made a trip to Target a few weeks ago and found two pennant sets in the Spot $1-$3 section of the store along with black & gold twine.  I used the burlap pennant set to make my high chair banner and the linen pennant set as a hanging decoration for our three season porch.  The ribbons featured below were all clearance finds at Jo-Ann Fabric, which I incorporated into my high chair banner.  The last decoration was the first year milestone poster (which I discussed in this post) Jill made with Dean's stats and facts.  My total spending on this effort was $36.

BAKING 

The majority of my baking item purchases were for our mustache lollipops.  Instead of doing party favor bags, my mom made 48 mustache pops that the kids could enjoy after pizza and/or bring home.  I purchased 2 mustache molds with 3 mustaches per mold, a bag of 50 lollipop sticks and several bags of candy melts.  According to the mold purchased, you needed 2.5 oz melts per fill, which would give you 15 lollipops (3 mustaches in a mold or fill) per bag.  I would say this is generous - we got 48 lollipops out of 4 bags and still had leftover melted chocolate.  My last purchases were for tricking out my Stop n Shop cupcakes as seen in the right hand corner picture.  My total spending for baking items was $24.61.

SUMMARY

In total I spent $75.61 and that covered my plates, flatware, party decorations, and baking supplies for some stachestatic pops.  By going to the Dollar Tree for the majority of my supplies, I really cut down costs.  I'm going to do a few follow up posts on the high chair banner, Dean's milestone poster, and how the party's decorations came together.

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