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We've only DS' first birthday at our house. We newly finished our basement so that was the "cost" but obvi not for the party. Our moms cooked, we paid for decor, favors, and other odds/ends. It was minimal. Including invites, we were probably around $200?

I think it depends. I'm cheap too but when we throw parties there is always a TON of food, beer and various drinks. So for M's 1st we threw a party for 40 people and cooked all the food ourselves. We came out to about $12/pp after everything was said and done. I got invites super cheap from Vistaprint but everything else was DIY. So total we spent about $425 and I'm really proud of that number!

I think it's hard to compare total price because some people don't have a home big enough to host so they're forced to rent a venue. While we have a huge house for parties. Some people's guest list are 20 while others have HUGE families and friends with kids and the list can be 60+.

http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/ms-springy-1st-birthday-party-details-amp-budget-pic-heavy

@Mamaof2: We had like 50 people.. it was a pretty awesome party...

http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/pics-from-bs-first-birthday

We spent 200 for 50 for DH's first bday. I would be willing to spend the same amount for subsequent BD parties but we have a strict no-party-every-year rule. I don't think he'll get another party for years. Honestly when the second bday party invites started rolling in for my friends' kids, I was slightly frustrated. I can't have their kid on my permanent to-shop-for list! It just gets too expensive, plus it eats into our weekends too much. When he has his own friends, that will be a different matter. So maybe when he is five. Until then, cake with the cousins and maybe a trip to the zoo or something just our little family. Probably equally expensive for us, but less stress.

1st birthdays are a big deal for Koreans, and we spent way too much even though I didn't go all out.
DD's party cost around 1800-2k.
DS' cost 2500ish.

Our first birthday parties have huge budgets that we saved for for the entire year (we're korean and opted for the traditional big party). I did a home party for Wagon Jr 's 2nd, but it was so crazy and the kids destroyed the house. So for his 3rd and 4th we had it at a play space. We don't have a back yard and his birthday is in December (cold and snowy) so no option for a backyard party. It really stinks an forces you to get creative. The play space parties end up being way cheaper than finding a cool venue and bringing everything yourself. His parties have been between $250-350 for 10 kids and included pizza and cake. I order extra food for the adults, too. (But they never eat it!) We booked a local fire station museum for his 5th birthday next year, and the booking fee alone is $250!! And we have to bring everything ourselves.

I'd like to spend under $500 for this first party and much less for future parties. I will only spend this much because it is really an adult party and feeding that many adults will be pricey.

My LO is half Korean and my in-laws have insisted on keeping the Korean tradition of a huge first birthday party. They are footing most of the bill and it will cost around $1800 total. For future birthdays, I don't plan on having any parties until she can request them, so probably around 4yo-5yo, and will keep it small and simple, no more than $200-$300.

We spent almost $1000 on DD's first birthday party. We rented the party room in our building and had food catered from Giordano's. We invited 35 adults and 12 kids.

A couple hundred, tops. I like DIY stuff and cooking, which helps.

@Smurfette: Our cake was about $200 or so.. things are expensive around here

Speaking of going low cost for parties, DH and I just spent an hour messing around with play dough (LO thought it was fun too) making samples for our DIY fondant decorations. This should be interesting!! Just another way to save...

We've budgeted $200 for her first birthday. Quite honestly that is a lot of money for us and we're having to scrape by to save it, but first birthdays are very important to me and I think it's worth it.
Our guest list is small (10-15 people) and we're having it in the afternoon so that helps keep food costs down.

We just had the boys' first birthday party on Saturday. I think it was under $200 for everything, but excluding their gifts. We had it at our house, bought premade food from Costco to keep stress down and minimal decorations from Party City. We had about 25 people. But if you divide that by 2, we did pretty well, I think!

For Olive's last party, we bought a little mini cheesecake from the corner store ha. In general, we either buy or make a small cake for the kids now and that's it.

@Mrs. Sketchbook: Thomasville. About 20-30 mins north of Tallahassee

We spent about $300 for a baptism party. Mainly the food, we didn't want to cook since my sisters were visiting from out of state. But then my ILs ruined the party so we didn't invite anyone over for his birthday. I made a cake. I had to run to the store because we were out of baking soda and yogurt. So - $6.

I think about 200, mostly on room hire, some balloons, yoghurt bar and ingredients for the rainbow cake but since I did a dry run of it that cake cost $$, lol. I loved her party though, it was fun. Next year will be cheaper for sure.

Spent a lot on her first bday (around $2,000) but first bdays are a big deal in Korean culture. For subsequent bdays, we won't spend nearly as much - probably around $500.