# Need Great Ideas For Inexpensive Adult Birthday Parties



## Staceyy (Jun 16, 2007)

We are spending too much for adult birthday parties in my family. Please give me some good ideas for celebrations that will have great impact yet low cash outlays.


----------



## bajiay (Apr 8, 2008)

I don't know if this is what you are looking for or not, but every year for my Dh birthday, I make homemade lasagna, salad, homemade garlic bread, 24K carrot cake with real cream cheese icing, with homemade vanilla bean ice cream, and we invite people over from church. I set out lots of chairs and everyone just has a great time talking and eating yummy stuff! Everyone starts asking about September if we are having his birthday dinner again, as his birthday is in October. People may bring cards but we ask for no gifts. It is just celebrating with friends and great food. Simple and fun!


----------



## lemonthyme7 (Jul 8, 2010)

bajiay said:


> I don't know if this is what you are looking for or not, but every year for my Dh birthday, I make homemade lasagna, salad, homemade garlic bread, 24K carrot cake with real cream cheese icing, with homemade vanilla bean ice cream, and we invite people over from church. I set out lots of chairs and everyone just has a great time talking and eating yummy stuff! Everyone starts asking about September if we are having his birthday dinner again, as his birthday is in October. People may bring cards but we ask for no gifts. It is just celebrating with friends and great food. Simple and fun!


I agree with baijay - for us birthdays are about being together with family and friends. It is never about how much money we spend but about the compainship of being with people you love and enjoy. When we have birthday celebrations everyone brings a dish and we just relax and enjoy our time together. I think as I get older I treasure the time together more then someone buying me a gift. Time with my family and friends IS the gift.


----------



## Country Lady (Oct 2, 2003)

If you want to play a little trick on the birthday person, here's one that was played on a friend at his party. I might add, he is the type that enjoys this sort of thing. His trick birthday cake was a decorated sponge cake, yes literally sponge. A 9X13 piece of sponge was decorated pretty. The birthday boy was asked to cut and serve the cake to everyone. He started trying to cut the cake and couldn't cut it. After the big laugh, his real birthday cake was brought out.


----------



## strawberrygirl (Feb 11, 2009)

In order to keep costs down for our daughter's graduation party (last year) we had a taco bar. It was a huge hit, and pretty inexpensive. The really nice part was that we were able to prepare everything in advance. There was no running around, cooking etc. during her party. It was just lots of fun and mingling with guests. 

If you have pictures of the birthday man/woman and a scanner you can scan them into a computer and make a slideshow set to music. DD did this for her party. She scanned everything into our desktop, put it on a jump drive, and transferred it to her laptop. Then she set it to music. She had her laptop sitting on a decorated table for everyone to see. It didn't cost us anything, but everyone loved seeing photos of her from infancy up to graduation.


----------



## Staceyy (Jun 16, 2007)

Thanks, great suggestions!


----------



## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

Nickle, dime, quarter poker game...Keep a jar near the poker table. Anytime someone wins a hand, they pitch a quarter into the jar. At the end of the night, this is given to the birthday person.


----------



## meanwhile (Dec 13, 2007)

Two parties we enjoy are:
1. A home made pizza making party. We make the dough (whole wheat and plain white and then an herb crust) and we provide the sauce. Everyone who comes bring something to put on top and some cheese. They also bring their own drinks. Someone always makes cookies or a cake.

2. Homemade Bread party. We bake several types of bread - both sweet and savory - and everyone who comes brings something to go on bread. The toppings range from herb butters to jams to fresh tomatoes and meats/cheese. We never know who is going to bring what but it always turns out great. 

We also sometimes have people bring a musical instrument and play music.


----------



## meanwhile (Dec 13, 2007)

Not sure what ages you are thinking about but my older son and his friends have budget theme parties. One time they had a "Lady's Night" party and all the women dressed up in the fanciest dresses they could find. Some were bought at Goodwill stores. Everyone brought covered dish. Another party was called "Anything but clothes" and everyone had to make a costume to wear out of something odd. A lot of people wore garbage bags. 

They had one called "Gentleman's Night" and everyone dressed up fancy and they cooked a steak dinner at home and someone brought a bottle of brandy.

They had Clown Night and also a Pirate party.

It is not my cup of tea - not at my age - but they love it and have lots of inexpensive fun.


----------



## pheasantplucker (Feb 20, 2007)

One time my ex wife and I hosted a "Murder mystery party"...It was a really fun time. We served dinner and had everyone dress in their role...it would make for a great adult party...


----------



## jwal10 (Jun 5, 2010)

Summer and fall all are out at the farm. Summer = hayrides, hotdogs/brats and watermelon. Fall is hayrides, applecider, doughnuts, marshmellows, and smores around a bonfire....James


----------



## soulsurvivor (Jul 4, 2004)

If it's a big birthday, say 70 or so, consider renting a state park rec hall and hosting a family reunion type of party. Everybody brings a dish of food and their drinks. The immediate family splits the cost of the rec hall, meat, and paper supplies. We did this for all of our parents on their 70th birthdays and invited all of their friends, former coworkers, and of course family. 

My FIL passed away this afternoon. He was 87 and lived a good full life. As a family we've spent the past few hours going through the photo albums for pictures to take to the memorial service. Some of the happiest photos are from the birthday party we had for him on his 70th birthday. We discovered we had pictures of him with many of his friends and family taken at that party and are glad we can share them with all who are still with us. 

Hug a loved one today.


----------

