My baby will be one in October and I was wondering if anybody had some frugal tips on food and supplies on the cheap. I already bought his gifts on sale and I got the invites a long time ago for 25 cents on sale at Wal-mart. The invites have bears on them, so I am thinking of making a bear cake for him. I think we could have it at the park of outside at our house because October is still pretty nice. Any ideas are welcome I am only inviting about 10 to 15 people btw.

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Mom to Kellan 12-16-2000
Brooklyn 12-27-2005
Nolan 10-15-2007
Wife to Russell 10-14-2005

I look at Target and Walmart for paper supplies (plates, napkins, cups, etc). They tend to be much cheaper than the party stores. If you are lucky, you can find things on clearance. You don't have to buy everything to match...maybe cute napkins and solid colored plates.

If there are a lot of kids coming, cupcakes are always a big hit and are inexpensive to make. I usually make a small cake so you can have the traditional picture blowing out the candles too. =) The cupcakes make serving and clean up easy.

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For DD's 1st b-day party last November we had a total of 14 people, including us and DD. As for decorations we got all the paper supplies--- plates, napkins, silverware at Meijer on sale- we bought basic colors for the food (pink and purple and clear silverware) and we bought a special pack of Backyardigan plates for the cake. We only had two mylar balloons filled with helium- we had a Backyardigans one and an elmo one, instead of tons of balloons. DD loved playing with the balloons after the party. We did NOT have any other decorations. The party was at our home.

As for food, I made trays with turkey, ham and pepperoni and american and colby cheeses that I bought on sale. We also had a veggie tray with veggies that were on sale (baby carrots, celery, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes). I assembled the trays myself- a lot cheaper than buying a premade one at the deli. We had chips, homemade pasta salad, and cut up fruit. We had a hamburger buns and wheat bread for sandwiches. We had pop to drink (we bought 2liters on sale) and we borrowed my MIL coffee maker as we don't drink coffee but others do. We did splurge on the cake and got a small one at Meijer that was decorated in a Backyardigans theme (it was like $13.99).

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amber, I cannot believe our babies are almost a year old! my dd was born on the 11th... I remember we were both itching for them to get out of our bellies a year ago!

Have a great 1st birthday!

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married 8 years to a crazy Brit, mommy to a banana, she is 4 and a pineapple who is 1 year, mommy to 3 ~angel~ babies

check out the RAK contest! http://mommysavers.com/boards/random...s-contest.html

I know the year has flown by. You have a great 1st birthday too.

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Mom to Kellan 12-16-2000
Brooklyn 12-27-2005
Nolan 10-15-2007
Wife to Russell 10-14-2005