So it all started in late August when I decided the theme would be Barbie and the Popstar, her absolute favourite Barbie movie (don't tell but it's my favourite too). So first things first, I had to set a budget. $500 was the absolute most that I was willing to spend. Yes, that sounds like a lot but please read on to see what I did for $500 then you can decide how you feel about it.
Ok, so now the venue. I've had her parties in the past at indoor playgrounds, and although I love the fact that it's not in my home, kids have space to run around, blah blah blah, I hate that the packages are so structured that the parties seem somewhat impersonal. So being that I had so many ideas for this party, I wanted to be able to put my personal touch on all aspects of this party. So I started researching other venues and discovered that my local community centre had an indoor playground and party room that I could rent for $85. No that is not a typo, it really was $85 for 1 hour in the playground and 1 hour in the party room. I decided to rent the party room for 1.5 hours instead so that my guests wouldn't feel rushed which brought my venue total to $100. I could not have been happier!!
Next I wanted to hire someone to come play the 2 main characters in the movie. I searched high and low online and couldn't find any entertainers that had a website or facebook page with actual pictures and testimonials of their work. Not for nothing but I want to see proof that you are as good as you say you are! By sheer luck I found an amazing company called Princess Parties by Simone (www.princesspartiesbysimone.com) who actually had pictures of a Barbie and the Popstar party with a glowing parent review! Once again, I was doing my happy dance. I splurged on this one knowing that my daughter would just go banana's over seeing these 2 at her party so I spent $290 to have the 2 characters for 1.5 hours. Honestly it was so worth it. I don't think it would've been the same if I only had 1 of them there.
Now the invites. Just to put a personal touch to the party theme, I made concert tickets so the girls would feel like they were being invited to a popstar concert (sorry I covered the info part for my privacy). It was so adorable when the parents came to drop off their kids and asked if they needed the ticket to get into the party. I loved it! Total cost, FREE.
So I searched high and low on Pinterest for a how to on how to make a Barbie photo booth. I couldn't find anything that gave me step by step directions on how to make this and to make it well. Also, I was trying to stay on a budget so at the very least I wanted to know what supplies I needed. After an exhaustive search, there is really nothing out there shows you how to do this so I promise my next blog will be a "how to blog" on how to achieve the booth below for $25 :) The girls had so much fun with this.
Now for the food. I really didn't have to spend much on this. $60 for 3 party sized pizzas with extra to spare. $10 for chips and water with another personal touch. Again, I will include a how to do this in my next blog. And finally 2 personalized Barbie cakes for $30! I couldn't believe it cost so little to do when I was quoted $90 per cake by some bakers. Yes mine were not as professional looking but for a $150 savings I was more than ok with it and so was the birthday girl and her friends. One little girl actually said my cake was the yummiest cake she ever had.
So we are now at a total of $490 which only left me with $10 for loot bags for 15 kids. Needless to say I had to get creative on this one. I don't have a picture of this one...sorry. Pinterest is always a good place to get ideas that are creative and budget friendly. I ended up buying 2 boxes of microwave popcorn, wrapped them up in wrapping paper with a card that said "Thank you for POPPING by my POPstar party". Adorable and affordable for a total of $7.
So there you have it. An amazing, personalized Popstar party for my 6 year old for $497. Just seeing the look in her eyes when she saw her favourite characters and the amazement in her friends eyes at all aspects of the party made it worth every penny. Now I am just nesting at home and blogging waiting for this baby to come. Now that the party is over, he is welcome to come at any time :)
