Here is how we saved money/spent money wisely/made extra money this week:
- Two weekends ago we celebrated Annabeth's birthday with her cousins and some school friends. We had the party at a paint your own pottery place. I made the cupcakes and Annabeth chose invites, cupcake liners, and toppers all for around $10. The actual party place was more than if we had the party at home but fit within the budget that Mark and I had chosen.
- Annabeth requested a Garfield Cake. We got on Pinterest and searched for many ideas until we found one I thought we could reasonably do. I think it turned out well and had great fun getting my butter cream just the right colors and piping it all on.
Our birthday girl with her Mama-made Garfield Cake
- Starting with Annabeth's 2nd birthday, her first in our current house, it has been a tradition that the kids wake up to a decorated mantle on their birthday morning. This year I reused her birthday banner that we've been using since her 5th birthday, some Garfield books form the library, and these purple paper flowers leftover from a bridal shower.
- Annabeth's #1 Birthday Request was an American Girl Doll. After looking through all of them, she chose Samantha. This is the doll I had as a girl. We made a list of ways that she had to earn such a big gift and were very proud of her for completing the tasks. Mark and I gave her some little gifts (all purchased on clearance) and then the Samantha doll, outfits from the books, and school desk that I had as a child.
Annabeth and Samantha headed out on a birthday date
- My parents knew we were giving Annabeth Samantha so my mama found a doll bed at a consignment store, made a mattress, and sourced some blankets, quilts, and pillows for the doll. She also found some sweet nightgowns for both Annabeth and her doll.
- Annabeth's second birthday request was a date with just Mark and me. She wanted to go to sushi and to the bookstore. We had sushi at Kumo at the Greenwood Park as they have an excellent lunch special. We treated her to new books at the bookstore purchased with my educator's discount and a giftcard from our Ibotta earnings so totally free. We also walked the mall a bit and she used a gift card for a Starbucks drink and a coupon for a headband at Justice. We spent just $40 total on this big date.
- We only allow the children one meal out on their birthday. She chose to have cinnamon rolls for breakfast and a simple dinner of hot dogs, mac and cheese, baked beans, and Annabeth Munch for dinner. After dinner, we watched Annie.
- Sunday afternoon we went to Mark's parents to celebrate Luke's birthday as well as Annabeth's. We generally do their birthdays together and they look forward to celebrating at the same time. The birthday people chose Jockamo's Pizza so we split the cost of that with the family. There were also leftovers for each family and for us the leftovers covered two meals.
- For her birthday dessert with the Rileys, Annabeth chose dirt pudding.
She looks pretty happy about dirt and worms :)
We had such a wonderful time celebrating our 8 year old! We always want our kids to feel special, especially on their birthday, but don't want to spend a fortune on doing so. This year it was especially important to stick to a budget as Annabeth also got her new retainers and glasses - those make this a $2,000+ birthday week!
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