Fun And Chic Backyard Llama Party - On A Budget

I love parties. I love to think on them, plan them and then have it all come together. Color schemes get me excited, and although baking challenges scare me, I enjoy pushing myself to make something new.

This year especially, with everything going on (2020, amirite???), we decided to make our daughter's 2nd birthday party as budget-friendly as possible. This meant getting creative, and doing a lot of prep work ahead of time, but we managed to pull off a great party that was as fun and colorful as our little girl.

I thought others may find themselves in a similar situation - wanting to give your kid an unforgettable party, but also trying to be budget-conscious - so I decided to give you a few ideas on how to do just that.

1. Plan ahead - way ahead

Okay, I know not everyone gets as excited about kids' birthday parties as I do, but I generally have my kids' themes in mind months before their birthday. This allows me to buy things when they are on sale. For example, I knew I wanted these specific llama plates and napkins, and I knew which store carried them, so I kept an eye on them, and bought them when they were having a 25% off party items sale. This also can work with things like candles (pink and red ones are on sale after Valentine's Day), candy (after Halloween), fiesta decor (after Cinco de Mayo), etc. 

2. Dried flowers (use what you have)

I have a stash of dried flowers and branches and stuff. I have everything from cotton, to poppy pods, billy balls (craspedia), etc. I have collected them over the years, and use them interchangeably. I tend to stay within similar color schemes in my home and for parties, so having them already on hand helps. Dried flowers ended up being a great choice anyway, because it was so blasted hot, any fresh flowers would've withered in minutes.

In addition, I used vases I've had for years, and instead of buying bottled water, we kept refilling a couple glass bottles with water. (Except for a couple large bottles of Radenska, because Slovenian pride, woot-woot!)

3. YouTube How-To Videos/Pinterest

I watched so many how-to videos on YouTube in the past couple months! You can literally find everything on there! I'll reference back to this in my next points, but it deserves its own mention. Also, Pinterest is of course great for inspiration, but you can also find a lot of tutorials, which is fantastic for us visual learners.

4. Home-made decorations

I know not everyone feels crafty, but the decorations I made for my daughter's party were beyond easy, and very affordable.

I really wanted a garland, but they are ridiculously expensive, and I had a large wall I needed them to fit, which meant I was looking at at least 2 of them. Tassels go with the llama theme, but they are also just "in" right now, and oh so easy to make. 

So, I bought some yarn (in the colors of the party) which you can find for really great prices (in Slovenia you can find them at Svet Metraž or at Tedi, and in the States any craft store, or Walmart). I measured the length of my wall, then I measured out how spaced out I wanted them, and started making tassels in the evenings while watching TV, lol.

If you've never made a tassel before, it is beyond simple. There are numerous youtube tutorials out there, such as this one.

After I made the tassels, I sewed them (you could hot glue) to a piece of jute/twine that was the length of my wall.

Once I had that finished, I realized I had a bunch more yard, so I made a second garland to go around the table.

I still had yarn, so instead of buying a number balloon this year, I cut out a number 2 shape from cardboard, and then wrapped it in yarn (using hot glue to adhere it at the back).

I STILL had more yarn left, so I used it as ribbon on my daughter's birthday present. That yarn was the best thing I could've bought!

5. Cook/make/bake whatever you can for food

I've been baking bread (#thanksquarantine), so we decided to have sandwiches, for which I baked the bread the day before.

We also made a veggie tray instead of buying it (not that you could find one here, anyway) - it took one cucumber, 2 carrots, 1 1/2 bell peppers, a small container of cherry tomatoes, and then my husband made a sour cream dip. These were all things we normally already have on hand, so score one for the home team!

One of my favorite parts of the fiesta was this cactus watermelon.

I found an image of something like this on Pinterest, then watched a couple tutorials I found on YouTube, and got to work! It was actually easier than I thought it would be, although you do have to be careful, because as soon as you cut into a watermelon it wants to crack all over. But we did it, yay! (Luckily for us it's still watermelon season, so it was easy to find.) 

6. Bake the cake/cookies/dessert yourself

I've only been really baking for about 3 years, so trust me, I've been there. For our son's birthdays in the past we totally ordered a cake. BUT, I really had this specific cake in mind, and thought that if I tried really hard, I could do it.

I got my inspiration from Peggy Porschen Cakes. I used Chelsweets vanilla cake and buttercream frosting recipe. I added a little more cream than the recipe says (although she suggests doing exactly that to achieve the desired consistency). I made her recipe exactly, and it was just enough frosting. If I were to do something more elaborate with the frosting, I would've made a 1.5 batch, but it was perfect for my needs.

I baked the cake layers 3 days in advance and froze them (according to her instructions). This made them easier to torte and frost.

I frosted the cake the day before the party, and stored it in my fridge. (Again, I watched a LOT of tutorials on how to frost a cake as smoothly as possible. Mine isn't perfect, but considering it's only the second or third cake I've every frosted, I'm happy with the results.)

Now the cookies. Ah, the cookies. So, I'm not going to lie, these were hard, and took a couple days' work, but were totally worth it in the end. 

About a week before the party, I baked the cookies (I have my favorite recipe here), then I put them in the freezer. 

A couple days before the party, I made my icing according to Ann Clark's royal icing recipe (their website is also where I found the cookie cutters). 

I watched a bunch of "llama sugar cookie decorating" videos (mainly to see the order in which they iced certain parts). Then, I spent a whole day (thank goodness for school) icing the cookies.

Then, on the day of the party, I assembled it all, and was thrilled with the final result!

7. "Entertainment"

Since we were having the party in our backyard, we once again just worked with what we had. The kids spent the majority of the time on the trampoline, we took the kids' play tent outside, along with some Mega Bloks and our a doll house. We also had a little "coloring station", which I'm not gonna lie, not a single kid cared about, lol!

OH! And we had a piñata! Which was a complete hit! (Get it?)

And there you go! A very budget-friendly and super cute backyard llama party! At the end of the day, what the kids remember the most is that so many people who love them were there, and that they got to eat a couple too many cookies. And that, we had in spades!

10 Tips On Having An Elegant, Budget-Conscious Wedding

Hey everyone!

So, my handsome and genius brother is marrying his gorgeous fiancee in August.  We are honored, that they have asked us to be a part of their special day!  This does, however mean that I've been reminiscing, and thinking about our wedding.

Which brings me to my confession.  I am a wedding freak.  Dan has to remind me, whenever I talk to someone getting married, that unless they specifically asked for my opinion, I shouldn't be giving it.  I would never want to marry anyone but Dan, but I would be happy to renew our vows... as many times as humanly possible.  

I have entire weddings planned on pinterest, and I honestly LOVED planning our wedding!  We had a limited budget, but I was determined to have an elegant and unique wedding.  There is nothing that I would change, everything went off without a hitch, and we had the best time!

I learned a lot, and thought I would share my knowledge with you.

So, here are my 10 tips for having your own perfect, elegant, budget-conscious wedding:

1. Get a wedding planner (book- not person) - I found mine and Barnes and Noble.  It's called "Simple Stunning Wedding Organizer".  You can find it here.  It became a life saver!  I could put all my information in one place, and it even had pockets for things like business cards, fabric swatches, brochures, etc.  It had pages and pages for invitees, with boxes to check concerning their RSVP, gift, thank you note... SO HELPFUL!!!  It's a must!  

2. Find out/figure out you budget - and STICK TO IT - This one was a big one.  It sickens me, when I hear how much people spend on their weddings!  Between my parents, my hugely generous uncle, and myself we had about $5500 - $6000.  Considering the average wedding in America is over $20,000, that is a very small budget.  But keep reading, to find out how to make it go as far as it can.

3. Have a long engagement - but nail down a date as soon as possible!  Of course, this isn't possible for everyone.  However, I found that being engaged for 2 years was a blessing.  The reason?  Sales.  With that long to plan a wedding, I could track things as they went on sale, and buy them at their best price.  Best example?  My wedding dress.  It was originally an $800 dollar dress at David's Bridal, which I watched go on sale, all the way to $99.99!!!  What a steal!  This is a really great thing to remember if your colors/themes revolve around a specific holiday, or a holiday color.  For example, if you're incorporating pink, wait until the after-Valentine's Day sale to buy things like ribbon, candles, candies, paper, favor bags, etc.  If you're having a spring wedding, if you're already engaged at least a year in advance, you can snatch up those seasonal sale items.

My gorgeous dress!

I fell in love with the beaded back the minute I saw it!
I also liked that it wasn't strapless, like all the other
styles you see around.

4. Be smart about flowers - Flowers tend to take up a huge chunk of your budget.  So to keep things inexpensive, think seasonal, and local for your best prices.  Another great option, is to buy the flowers whole-sale, and have someone who is creative, or knows a thing or two about arrangements, put them together.  That's what we did!  I wanted these specific calla lilies, called Diva Maria.  I found a wholesaler, flowers.pacificcallas.com.  I got ALL my flowers (all bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages, pew decorations and centerpieces) for $500.  Pacific Callas delivered my flowers a couple days before the wedding, and then my mom arranged them.  Here's another quick idea concerning flowers; I just had callas as my pew decorations, and centerpieces (they're so elegant all on their own).  So, I had someone take off the pew decorations, and run them over to the reception before everyone else got there.  Got double use out of them! :) 

Our fabulous pew decorations.

My beautiful niece, and a great shot of my bouquet.

Boutonniere 

Centerpieces

Bridesmaids' bouquets

Another great shot of my flowers. :)

5. DIY - Not everyone is crafty, and I totally get that.  But there are a couple things you definitely shouldn't spend a whole lot of money on.  One is invitations, and other paper products, such as programs.  Michael's and other craft stores have boxed sets of everything you need to do print your own.  THEN, if you use your coupons - even more savings!!! They always have 40% off one regular priced item ones.  (Download the Hobby Lobby and Michael's apps.  You can thank me later.)  I also made my bridesmaids', mothers' and grandmothers' thank you gifts.  I made them jewelry sets.  You can see them in the picture of the bridesmaids' bouquet.  If there's anything you're crafty at, put it to good use.

6. Choose what's most important to you - splurge there! - This also means cut back on things you don't feel are as important.  We splurged on the food (Dan's most important), photography (my most important), Georgetown Cupcakes and the calla lilies.  If you're smart about it though, even your "splurges" can be reduced. I already told you about the flowers.  Well, as far as the cupcakes, we got married in D.C., so the cupcake thing worked out well.  Their cupcakes are $35/dozen, we got ten dozen - so the cake was only $350!  Other wedding cakes can cost $1000 or more.  So, score!  Also, a friend of mine is a photographer, so she just charged us $500, and the plane ticket to get there.  I had miles saved up, and bought her ticket with that.  Voila! :)  So, be smart with where you spend your money.  Things that weren't important - music.  I know, I know, terrible!  But it really wasn't.  So, we had a playlist. No band, no DJ... saved a ton that way!  Also, our families don't drink, so we didn't spend money on alcohol, which is also a generally large wedding cost that we avoided.  We didn't rent a limo or car - my uncle has a really nice Infinity, and was gracious enough to drive us.  So, spend where it matters, forget about what doesn't.

Love this shot! 

One of my favorites!

Georgetown Cupcakes!!!

Our cupcake cake! (My cousin baked the top layer, 
and a friend built the stand)

7. Have your pictures taken before the ceremony - I love the idea of the groom not seeing the bride until she walks down the aisle.  However, people really dislike long waits between ceremonies and receptions.  So, when people get their pictures taken before the ceremony, it lets you and your guests go right to the reception.  Also, if you have your pictures taken before the ceremony, you will look your best.  All your makeup and hair will be fresh.  Also, you can go to more places, and take your time.  You won't feel as rushed as you would if you were doing it between the ceremony and reception.  We went to the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Capitol Building, and even the actual Georgetown Cupcake shop!

8. EAT - make it your maid of honor and best man's job to get you and your new hubby plates of food.  Then, actually sit down, eat, and THEN make the rounds.  It'll help you stay calm, not jittery, and as much as you're spending on it, you want to at least try it.

9. Have a "Day of Coordinator" - ask an aunt, cousin or friend (not bridesmaid) you trust, to be your right hand on the big day.  Go over your schedule, have them direct people to the reception, run pew decorations over to reception (as mentioned earlier), start playlists, make sure people get seated, and things start on time.  Make sure it's someone who can make decisions, and whose decisions you trust.  Mine were two dear friends, who happened to be sisters.  One of them even did my makeup!  They were so helpful, and I appreciated them more than I can say.  Hopefully this goes without saying, but DO make sure you show your gratitude.  I gave gift cards, and thank you notes.

10. Relax on your special day! - The more you have planned ahead, the less you'll be worried about it on the actual day!  I wasn't at ALL stressed, because I figured, if hadn't been planned yet, and didn't go the way I wanted, no amount of planning would've helped.  At the end of the day, if you're marrying the man of your dreams, and your family and loved ones are around you, that's all that really matters!

You may kiss your wife!

So, basically plan ahead, be a savvy spender, and enjoy your day!

Please, share any tips or ideas, of what made your wedding day (or planning) perfect!