We just finished surviving putting together our very first child’s birthday party – Little Sir turned one year old last week!

Lately we have been working very hard to stay within our monthly budget, so I was determined to put together a fun and eco-friendly first birthday party on a budget!

Here are some things I did to save money while being mindful of our health and the environment:

• Our friends Bret and Rebecca’s daughter Isolé had her first birthday a few weeks earlier and they were kind enough to let us reuse napkins and tablecloths from her party! Also the “1” birthday candle!
• Plates were from Whole Foods made of recycled paper, and also reused plates from Isolé’s party
• I bought 10 bottles of bubbles for the kids to play with at Party City for 60 cents apiece 
• I did forget cups but my parents went and picked up some paper ones at the grocery store – no plastic!
• Utensils – spoons and forks – also from Whole Foods made of biodegradable corn.
• Hebrew National hot dogs and buns from Costco – not exactly good for you, but contained no HFCS or PHO’s (trans fats). We also bought a HUGE 5 lb. bag of cheese,  and were able to pass on the extra to one of our friends who attended, for a get-together taking place at their house later this week.
• I made the cupcakes myself from Kroger-brand cake mix, which has no HFCS or trans fats. The icing I made from scratch out of butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar.

Location: The party was held at a small park near our house, even though it rained periodically – we were under the park pavilion. This is a cost-effective alternative to having it at our house because it provided activities for the kids and it was free! Some parks do charge to reserve a pavilion, but since Richardson is small city and this is one of the smaller parks, there was no fee and no reservation required. The added bonus of an outdoors party is that when the baby smashes the cake, if cake falls to the ground – who cares?!

Happy first birthday, Little Sir!