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I need your advice. My oldest girl is turning 8 at the end of the month. Last year we talked her out of a big birthday party, and spent the day with a close friend who has a birthday near hers. It was fun (and expensive), but cheaper than a party.
This year she is determined to have a party. With friends from school, from Girl Scouts, and friends from outside of school. I tallied up the number of kids, plus siblings and cousins and came up with roughly 25-30 kids.
Our house is not equipped for a party right now (with a barky puppy, and no real play space), so I started looking at places to host a party.
I’ve called a few places and they cater to smaller parties and almost all the places would be at least $150-200 for about 15 kids. Each additional kid costs $5-10 more. I started doing the math, played with the guest list a bit, but the reality is it will likely cost $250-300 for a party. For an hour and a half. Or approx. $183/hour. Ouch.
I have budgeted about $250 for a party AND gifts. That may seem extravagant in some circles, but considering we buy the kids very little outside of necessities through the year I think it’s reasonable.
This is when having debt sucks. And the worst is she knows it. She’s been to other kid’s parties and seen what they get, how extravagant some are.
So here are my options:
- Throw a party off-site, and get a very modest gift for my daughter.
- Throw a party at home and use part of the money for getting the house in order to have a party.
- Forgo the friend party, and take her somewhere special for her birthday, maybe even an overnight trip.
- Forgo the party, and get her a few gifts, take her to her favorite restaurant, and do something fun as a family.
- Let her decide.
What would you do? I’d appreciate your advice. I love parties, gifts, and planing events, so this is my kryptonite.
Kelly
Money Crashers is doing it even better and bigger than I am for my blogiversary! Money Crashers is giving away over $7,500+ in prizes and that number is growing daily!
You can enter multiple ways to increase your chances of winning. Comments, tweets, and subscribing to their RSS feed, which is a great way to get their awesome articles, all give you various numbers of entries.
The mission of Money Crashers is to develop a community of people who are trying to make financially sound decisions. They strive to educate individuals in making wise decisions about credit and debt, investing, education, real estate, insurance, spending, and more.
What more could you want? Great financial info, and a chance to win cash, gift cards, gadgets and books. Go enter now, and tell them I sent you. 
Money Crashers is also giving away $25 in cash as part of my 1 year blogiversary!
Kelly
Did you read this post? I‘m donating 10¢ per comment on this post from now until the contest closes on 1/24. I’m also donating all ad proceeds from January, so get busy clicking! You can find more info on how you can help fund Haiti disaster relief in my Help for Haiti post.
photo credit: ilovememphis
Today is my 1 year blog anniversary! I can’t believe it’s been a year already. I have had so much fun blogging this year, and some amazing experiences as well. To celebrate I’m inviting you to win some amazing prizes provided by me, and some generous companies, and amazing friends. <rules and ways to enter are listed after the prizes>
Stay tuned as I may be adding to the prize list over the next week!
Gift Cards and Cash!
- $25 Amazon.com Gift Card Provided by Budgets Are Sexy, a personal finance blog that promises not to bore you, and is one of the few websites that literally makes me laugh out loud. Sign up for the Budgets Are Sexy V.I.P. newsletter and you may win one of 4 $50 Visa gift cards!
- Five gift cards for Turbo Tax Deluxe for State and Federal Taxes (valued at $50). Provided by Turbo Tax
- $15 gift card to iTunes Provided by Brian from My Next Buck who in 1 year “kicked gambling, got out of debt, and invested over $16,000 in retirement all while living in one of the most expensive cities in the country for under $28,000.
Bonus! If you aren’t a member of Alice, sign up via this link, and you’ll receive $10 signup bonus! Alice offers FREE shipping, so this is really $25 or $40 of amazing Sun and Earth products.
Tools You Can Use
- Premium Pocketsmith membership (valued at $60): Pocketsmith is an online budgeting tool that allows you to create a calendar of expenses, debt, and savings. My favorite feature is the ability to download your calendar to iCal or other calendar software. The thing that sets Pocketsmith apart is it’s ability to forecast your money. For my full review, read my post on Moolanomy. Provided by Pocketsmith.
- Your choice of 3 Turbulence Training workouts (valued at $9.95) Provided by Liz from Looking Good for a Mom. Looking Good (for a mom) is a site about nutrition and fitness written by a mom who thought having kids meant giving up her sexy body. Instead, she’s found it’s absolutely possible to be even more fit and athletic than she ever was in her younger years.
Books
I’m a big believer in books. I love to read. One of the best things I did when I first started turning our finances around was to spend all my free time reading personal finance blogs, and books.
- Wesabe personal finance pack: Includes 5 of co-founder Marc Hedlund’s favorite personal finance books in a limited edition Wesabe bag. Wesabe is a personal finance site that helps you manage your money, but also has a vibrant community that includes Marc and many of the staff at Wesabe as well as users who can help you sort out your personal finance questions. Provided by Wesabe.
- See Mom Run: Side Splitting Essays from the World’s Most Harried Moms by Beth Feldman founder of RoleMommy.com. I love this book so much that I’m giving away a copy! Provided by the ¢entsible life.
- How to Be The Family CFO by Kim Snider: My very first review from Get Rich Slowly. Gently used.
Provided by the ¢entsible life.
Cool Stuff
- Mint Swag: Prize pack with all kinds of Mint.com loot. Mint is a personal finance site that helps you manage your money. You can see all your account info in one place, set budgets, and get email reminders when bills are due. Provided by Mint.com
- 5 baby onesies that read “Cutest Little Tax Deduction” Provided by Turbo Tax
To enter:
- Subscribe to get FREE updates from the ¢entsible life in your feedreader, or directly to your email inbox. Subscribers earn 10 extra entries.
- Leave a comment below. Tell me one thing that has changed in the last year in your life. Maybe it’s a new apartment, an addition to your family, or a new job. Each comment counts as 1 entry.
- Bonus entries:
- Have a blog? You can earn an extra 10 entries for writing a blog post or blurb on the contest on your blog. Leave a comment with the URL.
- Tweet about my blogiversary giveaway. Each tweet up to 3/day counts as an entry.
- Head over to my facebook fan page and leave a comment. Counts as an extra entry.
Winners will be chosen by random.org. You can win more than one prize, but not 2 of the same prize. The more you enter, the more chances you have to win! Winners will be chosen on January 24th, and notified via email. Winners will be announced on the blog.
Happy 1st Blogiversary to you my lovely readers, and to me! Looking forward to an amazing 2010.
Kelly
Happy birthday to my silly, funny, amazing boy. I can’t believe how grown up you are!
Kelly
The latest Disney on Ice show just skated through Philadelphia, and we went to see it as a family in late December. The show is called Disney on Ice: Celebrations. The cast of Disney characters cover everything from Valentine’s Day to beach parties.
The pace of the show was quick, and the music and choreography was amazing! I am always amazed by the skaters since it is clearly hard work, but this time they set the bar even higher. I think my biggest wow moment was the fire on the ice during the beach party. (see photo)
The kids all had a fantastic time, even my 12 year old son who was pretty much dragged along enjoyed the show. My girls said their favorite part was the Valentine’s Day routine with all the princesses including Princess Tiana. My 3 year old liked the Halloween part best.
While I know Disney on Ice is not an affordable event for all families I have a few tips if you are a budget conscious parent like me.
- Bring along your own treats, glow sticks, or fancy cups: Unless you want to spend $15 on a snow cone or $25 on a light up sword you should pack your own treats and toys. Make it clear ahead of time that you won’t be buying anything for your kids. If your child gets and allowance or has money saved up this is the perfect opportunity to let them use their money.
- Go to a mid-week show: Shows in the middle of the week are less busy, and you can find discounts or coupons that will save you more versus weekend shows.
- Don’t go late if you have little ones: Unless your child is able to party late, staying out late is a recipe for disaster. We went to a 3pm show which was perfect.
- Look for contests: My contest is over, but if Disney on Ice is coming to your city do a quick google search for Disney on Ice giveaway and your city’s name. There are other bloggers that are offering giveaways across the country, and you will also find a coupon code to go along with the giveaway just in case you don’t win.
- Stay home: I love experiencing things with my kids, but in some cases I don’t attend events because even though I want to have the experience I know it’s not right for me kids. If you have a child who doesn’t know Princess Tiana from Mulan, a child under 2, or older kids this might not be the best use of your money. It’s up to you to judge, though now I know my 12 year old can have fun at a Disney on Ice show (just tell his friends).
Kelly
Disclosure: Thanks to MomCentral and Feld Entertainment my family and I received tickets to see the show.
by Catey Hill, the money editor for the New York Daily News online. Provided by 
by Phil Villarreal: This is a copy I received for review. Provided by 
by Amy Dacyczyn. This is a well loved copy, but what else would you expect? Provided by 
by the writers of 
