Hellobee Boards

@creativemomma15: I went to party city and got a roll of plastic table colorings. Having the bright color on all the tables really helped brighten the room. From there we just added balloons and streamers.

Like @rattles: mentioned, a slideshow of pictures on the TV is free and will be good entertainment.

If it's warm, bubbles and sidewalk chalk keep kids entertained at my house for hours in the backyard.

Tissue paper poms and paper fans are easy and cheap. A pack of coordinating cardstock can usually be found for about $10 at my local craft stores (on sale or with coupon), so that's usually my first stop. Then I use that to make pennant banners and a welcome sign.

Crepe paper streamers are always fun and pretty cheap. You can make a nice backdrop by running them top to bottom on a wall. Add some balloons along the top to hide the tails do the streamers and you are set.

You can just focus on one area (like the food/cake table) and don't worry about the rest. Everyone will be gathered around that area for singing happy birthday and most of the pictures will be taken there.

We did an ice cream party so that no one expected a full meal. Scheduled it at 2:00 so that it was in between mealtimes. We did streamers and balloons and it was all very inexpensive. I did a lot of thrifting to get glassware, I did pony up for birch spoons just because I wanted a few nicer looking options. For drinks we just did water, lemonade, and tea. No alcohol. Colors were yellow, aqua , and red.. Easy to match with anything, so I didn't have to buy specific stuff. I designed the invite using an etsy template and printed them out as photos at Walmart.com, so I got 30 invites for 13 dollars (well, plus envelopes so 19). Honesty these days I think word of mouth is just as good....I just wanted invites! We did a big fruit salad along with the ice cream so it wasn't all super rich food.