When you get into planning a birthday party, ideas pop into your head and the most common thought is one that will be cost effective and fun at the same time.  Birthday party supplies can cost more than the actual gifts but not if you look around and see what you can get for your money.  The most common thing that people want to do now is throw a birthday party with a theme.  Birthday party themes come in all shapes and sizes, from sports to theater to Barbie and super heroes for children’s parties.  The following birthday party ideas are meant to be cost effective for the party thrower and fun for the party goers.

Instead of buying supplies, try making your own decorations and cake.  If you have a computer, you can use one of your programs to make your own “Happy Birthday" banner.  This will save on buying a banner or special ordering a banner so that the name will be included.  Other decorations can be made from paper plates that have been drawn on and colored, as well as using blank white or colored paper that has been drawn on and colored as well.  These homemade decorations can be hung up with cheap cloth string that can be bought at the dollar store or can be hung up with fishing line.  As far as the cake goes, you can buy a nice brand of cake mix, some frosting and sprinkles, then bake and decorate the cake yourself.  This won’t only be fun for you; this will also mean more to the person whose birthday it is.

The second birthday party ideas should be to make your own theme.  If it is a child, find out what their favorite sport is or their favorite color.  A university student once chose to have a “Rubik’s Cube" theme party.  With this theme, he called everyone who would be coming to the party and asked them to wear an outfit where each piece of clothing was a color from the Rubik’s cube.  The object of the night was not only to celebrate his birthday but also to see if everyone could end up in an outfit of entirely one color of the Rubik’s cube by exchanging clothing.  His made up theme for his party ended up being a huge hit for not only himself but also for all of his friends that came to celebrate his birthday.

Finally, when making decorations or creating your own theme is out of the question due to time constraints, your local dollar store will have everything you need.  Different color streamers, ribbons, and balloons can be bought for less than ten dollars.  Though these decorations will only last for one party, they will be cheap and fun for all.