At the beginning of the year Popette turned 6! I can't believe how quickly she's growing up. She's no longer my sweet little bubba. She's now a very bright, funny, smarty pants who answers back (not too happy about that), but also a very loving, caring, sweet little girl.
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| The girls striking their best "Let it go" pose! |
Like most little girls, Popette is obsessed with Frozen. So when I asked her what theme she'd like for her birthday party (I don't know why I bothered asking, because I knew what the response would be) I got a
"FR-OOO- ZZZ-EN" squeal back at me!
Her attendance list included all the children from her class (last year's Kindergarten class), along with friends from other Kindy classes, and a few girls she knew outside of school...a whopping 26 kids! Most of the kids were girls with a handful of boys thrown in to the mix. Rather than try and fit them all into our house (I don't know what I would have done if it rained) we booked a party at a dance studio not far from our place. While it was a little expensive, it was value for money, as the hosts played games like musical chairs, the kids did lots of dancing with a fog machine and twinkling lights going, and could dress up as a pirate or a princess/fairy dancing to Frozen songs and pirate music!
You'd never guess which one Popette chose?
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| Ahoy there! He he, I love her expression! |
Hehe, actually she picked both!
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| Popette dressed up as a fairy (red skirt) |
Thankfully the party was a success, and everyone had a great time! I was told by one parent that it was "the best party we've ever been to" so I was very chuffed!
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Popette's Frozen cake - a chocolate swirl cake covered
in fondant and Frozen figurines |
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| The cake on top of my bargain Frozen tablecloth |
I was very pleased with the cake. I had worked hard on it the day before, so hard I overdid it with the heat and felt unwell before the party. Thankfully after some rest, and Hubby helping me with party preparations I was fine to go to the party.
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| Let it go, let it go! |
While this party was a little expensive with the cost of the dance studio, I thought I would give you some tips on how you can create a Frozen party on a budget.
1. Buy 3 "themed" decorations - less = more
Its amazing how much Frozen party merchandise you can buy from the shops. I could have gone to town and bought a whole lot of stuff, but as I was keeping an eye on how much I was spending I decided to spend money on only 3 Frozen decorations.
This included a pack of Frozen balloons, a bunting & the Disney Frozen scene setter that include 2 very large posters of Anna & Elsa and two smaller posters, plus a large "Happy Birthday" banner - this was my favourite item, as it was good value for under $10.
We then purchased items like napkins, dangling pom poms, a snowflake decoration and cups & bowls in Frozen colours to tie it all in with the theme.
2. Do your research before you buy
Before buying anything have a look around at the $2 discount stores, supermarkets (ie. Woollies and Coles), and departments stores such as Big W, Target and K-Mart. I found items on sale from each of these stores that fit the "Frozen" theme, and that didn't break the bank.
For instance, I found a plastic patterned tablecloth in Frozen colours for $3 at Coles. I'm sure if it was licensed and had pics of the characters plastered all over it, it would have cost a lot more, but this did the trick.
3. Don't go too crazy with the lolly bag
This was a mistake I made with Cherub's birthday. I spent a crazy amount ($50, I told you it's crazy) on crap to go in the kids lolly bags....I know how silly of me. So instead of buying every single Frozen party favor that was available, I couldn't afford to buy 26 of everything, I decided that we'd include things like a few lollies, some Frozen stickers, a pencil with a cute rubber in a blue and white chevron paper bag with a "Frozen" sticker holding it all together - the kids loved it!
Don't worry if all the kids don't get the same party favor...think of it as a lucky dip, where each child gets something different. We still had a pile of party favors leftover from Cherub's party, so I included a couple of different things (ie. yo-yos, stickers, pacer pencil & notepad, rubbers, pencil toppers etc) in each child's bag.
4. Pinterest and Google is your friend
If you are needing ideas for a themed party don't be afraid to use Google or apps like Pinterest. Pinterest became my best friend when searching for "Frozen themed party ideas" or "Frozen party food ideas". There is hundreds of Frozen party ideas on the web. I found some great free printables
here, which I was able to print off and make for the table.
I searched for "Frozen" inspired party food names, which I found
here.
For the invitation I first searched the shops and found some, but they were a little expensive for the amount of children we were inviting. So I decided to make my own by Googling "Blank Frozen invitations". I came across this
site with a bunch of great Frozen wallpapers. The backgrounds have loads of space that allowed me to add text using a program like Photoshop.
I decided to print the invitations at Officeworks. It was a little expensive ($35 for 40 invites, we handed out 35), but it still worked out cheaper than buying proper invitations from the store.
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| This is the image we used for Popette's invitation |
5. Time your party well
The dance studio only offered one session (2pm - 4pm) which made it quite simple in planning the menu. What was great is that we didn't have to include hot food since we weren't having a lunchtime party.
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| Some of the party food |
For our menu we decided on; pretzels, cheese blocks, cabanossi, crackers, popcorn, marshmallows, lollies, chips, cupcakes, these
bounty balls (they are delish!), snowflake biscuits, drinks and of course the cake.
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| "Snowballs" |
Well that's my 5 tips, if you are planning a Frozen party I wish you luck! :)
