Planning a Birthday Party on a Budget

All parents want to plan a birthday party to remember, unfortunately in today's economy the cost of that party matters. The good news is you can plan a great birthday party without spending lots of money. This article will outline some tips and suggestions on how to plan a birthday party that you will always remember without spending.

Start Planning Early
This is essential for spending as little money as possible. Many people ask how planning early helps spend less money and the answer it quite simple. The earlier you start the longer you have to shop deal, sales and always find the things you want for super cheap!

Don't limit yourself to local stores
When you shop at all your local stores you usually end up spending more money. If you want to find things cheap, you must shop around! Look into the prices for the things you're looking for from lots of different places. This includes local stores and stores and websites online. Many times you can find things for a fraction of the cost when you purchase them online.

Be Creative
A little creativity can go a long way! Instead of buying all your invitations, why not make them. This can be not only fun, but it will definitely be something you will remember for years to come. You can take some pictures of the process or keep an invitation for in a scrapbook. It will be something really neat to look back on years from now. If your child is old enough they may even want to help and it can be a great bonding experience.

The creativity does not need to stop with invitations, why not attempt making a birthday banner, or making a cake and decorating it too. It may not look perfect but it saves a lot of money, creates a lot of memories and will be one of a kind!

Feeding the Party
If you don't want to spend a lot of money on food, you can always choose not to serve any. If you have the party at hours in between meals then people will not expect to have a meal, and you can just serve cake. If however you want to serve food there are lots of options that cost effective and still yummy. Pizza, kids and adults all love Pizza you can buy it premade or make it for pretty cheap. Hot Dogs or hamburgers, these work especially well in the summer on a grill! Don't forget that you can always leave things like chips, pretzels, watermelon among many other things out for people to snack on.

Check out the Dollar Store
You will find a lot of great party supplies there at a fraction of the cost of department stores. You can find so many things there from napkins, forks and plates of all colors. Loot bag supplies for really cheap and even premade loot bags although they are not the greatest.

Loot Bags
Look for things in bulk that you can split up; for instance a bag of candy and divide it amongst the guests, you can make up little bags using snack or craft bags with candy. Also you may want to consider buying one thing for each child such as a notebook and pencil, or a toy that you find cheap someone maybe even the dollar store. This can help cut down on costs a lot!

You don't have to spend a lot of money to have a great and memorable birthday party. The most important advice I could give is take lots of pictures and enjoy the day, because no matter how much money is spend the memories and pictures will be what's important years from now!

Do you have any tips or suggestions on how to plan a birthday party on a budget?

Ice Cream Cone Cake – A great Birthday Cake Idea and super cute!

Participating is Message Boards and Forums Safely

All of us Mommies need support! We all find it in many different places and ways one being the Internet, and message boards and forums. It gives us a great way to talk to other mommies like ourselves who are going through similar experience's. Many times we are able to receive invaluable advice and give some too.  Some of us are even lucky enough to make great friends.

Message boards and forums are a great place to go for support the problem is not everyone on the message boards you frequent are real people or rather the people you believe them to be. Some are there to steal your information, and your life. Some are there to form friendships with people to later exploit them and take advantage of their services, kindness and in some cases even money.

There is nothing more creepy then finding out someone has been using your pictures or information or pretending to be someone they are not using someone Else's pictures or/and information. Here are some tips to help you spot these fakes, and also how to keep yourself from being the victim of having your pictures and information taken and used elsewhere.

• Talk with caution - don't assume everyone is real when you are sharing information that you wouldn't want to share with everyone. If it's personal then don't post it on an open message board.

• Pay attention to all the little things - When someone is a fake and developing a fake life they will eventually slip up. They cant possibly remember all the lies they are telling and eventually they will mess something up unintentionally. If you have been paying attention these little things could send off red flags to you.

• Watermark Pictures - Sometime's when talking on message boards we want to share pictures from our lives, with are online friends. This is harmless and we shouldn't have to worry about it, but reality is we do. People can take these pictures and claim them as their own, and take your life online. A great way to prevent this is by watermarking your pictures before posting them online. This can be done using free software found online, or many photo editing programs. A quick google search will bring you to lots of resources regarding how to watermark your photos. You could watermark your pictures with the name of the message board you will be posting them on, maybe your screen name; really anyway you want that would stop someone from using the picture. Try to link back to you or where it was taken from in some way. Ex- a user name that when searched will bring people back to you.

• Protect your Address - Many message boards will have regular member and do gift/card exchanges and things like that. This is a great way to get to know people from all over the place and make a lot of really great friends. You must be careful though because these exchanges require addresses to be used and this can become dangerous. First off, if you don't feel comfortable with it then you shouldn't do it! If you choose to participate then only give your address to someone you feel you know well and trust. Perhaps someone you have been able to validate is real in someway. This could be by phone conversations, video chat, pictures you trust ect.

• Meet in Public - Sometimes you talk to a person or people so much and you truly feel like you know them, or would like to. So people will decide to meet up and become friends "in real life", this is a personal choice and should only be done if you are comfortable. If this is something you decide you want to do always do it in a public place, never at a house. You should also make sure at least 1 person knows where you are going and who you are going to see. If possible it would be great if you could go with someone else and not by yourself.

If you follow these tips and use your intuition and common sense you will be able to enjoy chatting and meeting new people and finding support on message boards/forums. Keep yourself and your information safe and have fun!