Invitation
cost: $0
Luckily, all of my family and friends are fairly computer literate, so I invited guests in 2 different ways. Making a facebook event is definitely a good place to start. You can invite anyone you want from your friends list, you can make your event as public or as private as you'd like and with todays technology, most people have their facebook account synced with their smartphone, which means more times than not, they will also get a reminder of your event just in case! My second idea, for those few family members that aren't on facebook, was to create an invitation using microsoft word or something of the sort and email it to them. This is what that invitation looked like:
Lunch for 25 people - $19
I went fairly simple on food. Since the party was from 11am until 1pm, we served lunch, but simply grilled hot dogs, provided all the condiments one would want on a hot dog and then had potato chips with 3 different dips. I bought the cheap hot dogs from Wal-Mart, 24 packs of Bar-S, for less than $5 a pack. Since we had 25 RSVP including our family of 5, I counted on 2 hotogs per person, so I bought 2 packs. Then I bought great value hot dog buns, 6 packs, for right at $7 total. (They were just a little over $1 per pack) I already had ketchup and mustard but I also bought a $0.97 jar of pickle relish and a $1 bottle of spicy brown mustard just so to make sure everyone was pleased. For drinks, I brewed some tea I already had and bought a gallon of punch from walmart. $2
Dessert for 25 people - $37.00 total
For the desert, I tried to go as creative as I could. I decided on Truffula Tree Cake and Brownie Pops instead of a traditional sheet or cookie cake. I bought 2 boxes of Pilsbury Funfetti cake pop mix and 2 boxes of Funfetti Brownie pop mix. Each box was less than $4. Each box makes 12 cake pops, so with having 4 boxes, everyone at the party was guaranteed to have 2 cake pops a piece. The only thing extra I bought was another 2 bags of white Wilton Candy Melts which was $2.50 a bag and a bag of longer cake pop sticks which were $1.50. The cake pop mix in the box comes with 12 short sticks, but I wanted to alternate the sizes so they loked more like trees.
Basically, to make the cake pops, just follow the directions on the box. The only thing differently that I did was instead of making the cake pops white, dipped in sprinkles, like the box calls for, I used white candy melts and added gel icing color that you can find in the cake and candy specialty isle in walmart, to create the colors I wanted. For this cake pop display, I used blue, pink and yellow. Melt the chocolate pieces in a microwave safe bowl, 30 seconds at a time on 50 power or the defrost setting, until chocolate is completely melted. Add color until the desired color is reached. Please note that when you add a gel or liquid based food coloring to melted chocolate, it will make the chocolate extremely stiff. Add vegetable oil to your mixture, about a tablespoon at a time stir well, until the chocolate is the desired consistency. To make the truffula trees, I wanted the chocolate to be spreadable but not runny, so it was still a little on the thick side when I was ready to use it. When you are ready to ice your cake pops, they should be nice and freezing cold. Make sure your hands are nice and clean, spoon some icing on top of your cake pop and work it down and around the entire ball of frozen cake, using circular motions to make them look "fluffy". Work quickly, because the chocolate will soon begin to harden from the cold of the cake. Do this for all of your cake pops and then put them back in the freezer to set them. After they were good and cold, I took them back out and used a black sharpie marker to make little squigly lines down the white stick to resemble the Truffula trees from the movie.
The green "grassy nole" I stuck the pops in was simply a piece of styrofaom I bought at Hobby Lobby and painted green with acrylic paint. I stuck one end of a toothpick in the end of the cake pop stick and the other end into the styrofoam to secure them and keep the heavy cake pops from moving around and leaning.
I then went to hobby lobby and bought a mustache candy mold thats just like the Lorax's legendary yellow mustache, for $1.99 and two bags of yellow wilton candy melts as well as $1 bag of wooden candy sticks. I melted the candy melts, filled the mustache molds, stuck the sticks in and stuck into the freezer until they were set. I made 24 mustaches and it took me less than an hour! I stuck them in some flower arrangement foam I had here at the house and stuck that into a colorful orange bowl I already had as well. These cost me $8 total!
The last desert we had also went along with The Lorax theme. Barbaloots and Marshmallows! I used clear plastic cups and put a handfull of mini marshmallows and chocolate teddy grahams in each. Just like in the movie, Barbaloots LOOOOVE their Marshmallows!! This was quick, simple, cheap and a great hit with the kids! Box of Teddy Grahams - $3, Bag of mini marhmallows - $1.50. Total cost of this dessert was a mere $4.50!
Activity
Total cost for 25 people - $13
We've all seen it, even possibly done it. Your child goes to a birthday party and comes home with a small treat bag filled with teeth rotting candy and cheaply made plastic toy fillers that you wish you could just grab and throw in the trash! Because of The Lorax's most important message, Conservation, we decided to do something a little different. Each of our guests had the chance to plant a bulb that, with the proper care at home, will bloom into a beautiful flower that they can plant and always remember Wyatts first birthday!
The Dollar Tree was perfect for this activity! I purchased the plant containers for $1 for 12, and I also got the Persian Buttercup bulbs, 6 per pack, for $1 each. They also had small bags of potting soil for $1 each, so I bought 2!! The garden trowels were $0.88 each at walmart and the watering cans were $0.97 each! I simply put the poting soil in a large bowl I had here at home, stuck the trowels in, set everything out on a table in my garage and voila! A planting station! This would have been a wonderful outside activity, however, it was rainy and 50 degrees so we opted for the garage! lol
The sign on the table was quick and easy too! I had some chalkboard paint left over from painting a chalk board on my daughters wall, but you can find small bottles of this at hobby lobby for less than $4. I then simply recycled a gift box we had leftover from christmas, painted both sides of it with the chalkboard paint and after it was dry, took a piece of chalk and wrote:
Please plant a seed
but only if you please
For all plants are best
when they're raised close to your nest.
on the other side of my "sign" I wrote:
UNLESS someone like YOU cares a whole awful lot!
The kids and adults alike LOVED this idea and had a great time planting their own flower!!
This entire party cost a mere $69 to feed 25 people lunch, dessert AND give them each a flower to take home! We all had so much fun and I think everyone will remember Wyatt's "The Lorax" themed first birthday party!!
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