When I was growing up, birthday parties were so simple: cake and ice cream, family, and a couple of friends. It seemed like there wasn’t much to plan. Nowadays I find myself at one amazing, unique, seemingly expensive kid’s party after the next.
Once your child is exposed to these outrageous parties, you can find yourself under pressure to make sure your kid has just as great of a party.
In my case, once I was exposed to these kids’ parties, my creative, competitive, “Super Mom” attitude came into play.
Experiencing these types of birthday parties and knowing I have a budget when others may not made it important for me to find ways to have a cool, unique party for my son while staying within my budget. This brought me to a lot of DIY projects to help keep down my cost, bring uniqueness, and to give the party an overall cool factor.
I must admit and share that just because it is a DIY project does not always mean it is cheaper. If you are on a budget, make sure you still plan because sometimes your DIY project can end up being expensive like my first birthday project last year: personalized superhero capes. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea, but they came out fabulous!
Many times parties are themed, and you can find anything in a local party store for just about any theme. This year, however, my 6-year-old wanted a LEGO Ninjago party, the one theme that had zero party goods, zero balloons, and zero goodie bags. The challenge was on because like most parents, I didn’t want to let my son down. I found the eyes of the Ninjago ninjas on Etsy and paid $1 for them. These simple eyes were all I needed to make this Ninjago party happen.
With these printable eyes, I was able to make Ninjago balloons, lollipops, gift containers, cups, masks, and even thank you cards. My little ninja was so happy, which of course was super gratifying for me.
If you are anything like me, you may see some of these DIY party projects and think, “I could never do that.” I learned that I may not be able to do exactly what someone else did, but I can do the best I can. I am not a typical creative DIY mom, but I am a mom who loves a challenge. In the case of the missing Ninjago party goods, this mom rose to the challenge and became a proud DIY mom. I did it my way, the best way I could. Which when I think about it, is the best gift I could give my child. He knew I couldn’t find any Ninjago party goods, he saw me trying my best to make the Ninjago items, and he witnessed me fail at some of the projects (such as the masks with eyes that didn’t line up with his, so we opted not to use them for the party). But most importantly, he saw me not give up and succeed overall.
It was a success not because of how great everything came out, but because not everything did. It was a success because of the process that he witnessed, and the party was perfect for him and put a huge smile on his little face.