Saturday, December 4, 2010

How to do a Birthday Party Cheaper!

~Make the food yourself. We planned for 35 people and made 5 pans of homemade lazagna, 1/2 pan of vegetable lazagna and a crock of gluten free lazagna. Ingredients cost me around $70 total, including lettuce for salad plus croutons, parmesean cheese and 2 dressings and 2 loaves of french bread and cheese for garlic cheese bread.
~Drinks were 2 liter sodas - I picked these up on sale for $1 each, then bought ice and had that next to the 2 litres in an ice bucket.
~We chose a theme of Curious George, but only bought 8 plates, 8 napkins, and the invites in the "theme." The rest of the paper products were solid colors from Target - about $12 for 3 packs of large plates, 3 packs of cake plates, and 3 packs of napkins, then about $10 for plastic silverware and cups and $6 for table cloths. Big savings over using all products in the "theme!"
~We had a friend with a wonderful talent for making cakes do our birthday cake, the smash cake, and 12 cupcakes. What I paid her for all of this was a fraction of what I would have paid at the store, and I got a custom cake with fondant monkeys! We skipped the ice cream.

2 comments:

  1. I'd love your gluten free crockpot lasagna recipe.

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  2. http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1841,150167-225206,00.html

    This is loosly the recipe: instead of baking, layer it in your crock pot.

    For gluten free:
    ~I got a gluten free rice pasta and used all 16oz
    ~I had to use cottage cheese but my mother in law is sensative to both corn and gluten, so be sure to read the ingredients carefully: it had to be full fat and brand name to avoid allergens for her.
    ~I used my homemade spaghetti sauce for more flavor.
    ~On high for 2h this was piping hot, otherwise on low for 4-6h.

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