Throwing a Thrifty Party...........

As a twenty-something mom of two I seem to be throwing a party a few times a year. Its usually birthday parties for my boys or baby showers for my girl friends. I love getting into a theme, making my guests feel special, creating a relaxing atmosphere, and making things "pretty." In the past I have gone "all -out" with these occasions and spent way more money than I had planned on which can quickly take the joy out of the occasion. Along the way I have learned a few things about throwing a party on a budget and have found more joy in knowing I have created something special while keeping my bank account in tact.


1. I find one thing to focus on which will be the center of the table and the "focal' point. For the last shower and my sons birthday party it was the cake.


2. Make your own cake. .it is possible to make a really good looking cake from scratch. This is alot easier to do than one would think. For the spider man cake I found the recipe online and the tiered flower cake I created from a picture on the fondant box. Fondant is one of the best ways to make a cake look great. Get it at michaels or acmoore and use the 40 percent off weekly coupon in the paper. I borrowed the cake pans from my sister in law. If you want to invest in your own cake pans and cake supplies and you have one of these store close by ..build up your collection over time by using the coupon on one item each week. For the above cake I had to use two boxes of fondant at 6.99 each..and one colored box.With the coupons that was under 4 dollars a box..and the cake mix and icing I either get FREE at publix or make from scratch...You are talking a cake for around 12 daollars. Not a bad deal!!!

3. Instead of lots of "snacky' foods..make a meal. This is very decieving but when you add up the costs of tons of teeny appetizers versus three dishes...it is alot more budget friendly- and impressive to do a meal. For this baby shower i did marinated chicken skewers, wild rice, and spinach salad with mandaran oranges and cranberries.I also did a fruit bouquet which is so easy but people are still impressed with!!

4. Plan WAY ahead and pick up the items you need for your menu as you go week to week shopping. Purchase your meal items when you can get them FREE or REALLY Cheap For example i got the chicken from Harris teeter when it was Buy One Get Two free. The rice a roni I got free at publix- 8 boxes!, and the produce I got on a great discount at publix by using their store coupons combined with food lion coupons and manufacturers coupons. You can also use overage from other purchases to contribute to the produce items.

5. Keep decorations simple....I usually do without balloons at baby showers. Tie a ribbon over the table and hang some baby clothes and socks and hats with clothes pins. I got the clothes brand new in packages from a garage sale all together they were less than 50 cents. Or go to the craft store and get the babies name in those train pieces..paint them and spray them with a clear coat for a cute table decoration...For birthday parties keep your eyes peeled for off- seasonal clearance for favor bags, favors, and things to decorate. My son was having a spider man party this year so I waited till after halloween clearance was at 90 percent and then got spiderman stickers, webs, spider rings etc....valentines clearance will be next- think ahead...what could you get and do with it? Be creative!! My friend strung pictures of her little girl across the table and fireplace on string and colored paper cutouts- it was so cute and what little girl doesn't love looking at herself?

6. Favors- for kids favors a good place to look is the craft store- right now they have 50 percent off dollar items at Michaels. Or if you have more time buy some wooden cutouts...buy "kid friendly" paint or spray paint..paint them...and stick pieces of magnet tape on the back for their own take-home magnet. With these you can also buy them already painted and use a marker to personalize your childs name and date on them.

7. For kids party Entertainment..if your house isn't accommodating for little ones- try to borrow a friends house or family members house for the event. Ask around- alot of people own a little tikes jump castle that you could borrow and of course there are good old fashioned party games- just from experience make sure they are age appropriate. For our spiderman party we strung TONS of spiderweb across our screened porch and put different "treasure" items for the kids to pick out and put in their goody bags. We also had a friend come and do 'airbrush "painting on the kids faces. As another option, get your own face paints and designate a friend or family member to paint faces!

7. Whats a party without gifts? For the last baby shower we threw I painted the "maya" train in the picture. That cost 6 dollars. Also, the brand new clothes we used as decoration we gave to the expectant mom- and as i said before those were almost free. As a rule, we shop the after Christmas clearance sales and stock up on gifts to use throughout the year for birthday parties.Walmart will often clearance down character bath play sets and toys to a few dollars. Get creative! I also know of a friend that made her daughter a digital scrapbook album of pictures.She loved it! We also shop for our boys at garage sales. They are not old enough to "want" specific toys so I often collect barely used or new toys throughout the year for their birthdays or Christmas. I also find brand new items still in packaging at garage sales that go in our 'gift stockplie."

Questions? Leave them in the comment section!

Publix Trip 1/24. Spent 33 Saved 80

I usually do my publix shopping on Monday but I can't do it as well with the kiddos..so I went this morning. Will go back tomorrow for a few more items and the penny item~ Since Andrew is still on his fast I stocked up on fruits and veg and vegetable soups for him. I still have tons of bread in the freezer, frozen veg, and my pantry stocked from last week. My total was actually 43. BUT i had a 10 dollar gift card for calling corporate on a coupon question. Also- Jess- they wouldn't accept target coupons today?? They have every other week?weird. At least i only had 1!

Heres What I got:

6 cans of soup
4 cans of tomatoes
2 juicy juice
4 packs of dole fruit cups
1 A1 steak sauce
2 pace salsa
2 packs toaster strudels
2 cartons egg beaters 2 cans muir glen tomato paste
2 huggies baby wash
green beans- almost 1 pound
bananas- 3 pounds
honeydew
pineapple
7 jars of baby food
chopped garlic in jar
bag of salad
2 pounds of carrots
green bellpepper
red onion
2 jars of salsa
2 bottles kraft salad dressing
8 yoplait yogurts
4 pounds of oranges
2 pounds of vine ripe tomatoes

to see how i got most of my deals please head over here

and as always- any questions just ask lindsaypage7@yahoo.com

Publix Trip Monday- the 19th

Since I am pregnant and Andrew is doing an all fruits and veggies fast our budget will be higher this week and next week. I did get some amazing deals this morning. I spent 90.00 and saved 105.o0...that translates to ALOT OF FOOD and alot of savings! This will probably last almost two weeks! since I have a good stockpile, tons of frozen veggies, and meat for when Drew comes off his fast!Heres what I got:

4 boxes jolly time popcorn

10 boxes green giant boxed veggies

2 cantaloupes

1 honey dew

1 pineapple

bannans

apples

red grapes

sweet potatoes

celery

two bags of romane lettuce

1 bad mixed lettuce

carton of strawberries

6 pints of blackberries

4 cover girl lipglosses

neutrogena facewash

kash frozen pizza

sundried tomato tortilla wraps

deli mozzerella sliced

eartgrain bread

3 packs go gurt yogurt

2 glass bottles of light olive oil

3 boxes of huggies wipes

1 bagel (its all i could stomach this morning)

3 cans low salt veggies

gallon milk

1/2 gallon soymilk

white grape juice

box of kashi

2 boxes low sugar frosted flakes

carton eggs

2 kashi frozen meals for me

betty crocker chocolate chip muffin mix


heres how I did it: This list is not exhaustive of every coupon I used but it is a good general summary-

produce:

I used
3 2 dollars off 5 dollar food lion coupons
1 2.00 off any produce for buying earthgrain bread- coupon in store

for lipgloss

I used 4 2.00 off from the publix flyer
and 2 2.50 off 2 manufactureers coupons form this weeks paper

facewash- 1.00 off neutrogena item from the paper
2.00 off neutrogena from store flyer

plus an extra 20 percent off b/c all neut is on sale

green giant veggies were 10/10 dollars. i used 4 1.00 off two coupons from onlin and in paper coupons

frosted flakes were buy one get one..used two 1.00 off manufacturers coupons

kashi cereal- i had a 75 cent coupon from target..not a great deal but i thought it sounded good.

huggies wipes on sale for 2.50 - used three 2.50 off from instore flyer and 3 .50 cent manufacturers coupons which doubles to 1 dollar to make them FREE!!!

yoplait gogurt was buy one get one- used three .35 cent coupons whcih would double to 70 cents off each one whcih made each box 70 cents!!

deli mozzerella and wraps came to five dollars used the 2 dollar off five dollar deli food lion printable!

light oilive oilpompeiin was buy one get one! used TWO one dollar off printable made each bottle 1.83!!!!

betty crocker muffin mix was buy one get one- then used one coupon for 1.00 off one..made it 39 cents!!

things that wern't on sale :eggs, milk, apples, bananas..but had overage from coupons and used the 17.00 i had in produce coupons to cover most of it!

delmonte cans of veggies were 2/1.29 I bought 3 and used two 75 cent off 1 coupons...

popcorn was 3/3.00 bought 4 and used 4/ 1.00 off of 1 coupons to get 4 boxes FREE!!

Alos used 10% off 100 purchase BiLo coupon from my entertainment book...

Branching Out- Rite Aid

I went to Rite Aid today based on their offers for 1/11-1/17 and the info from The Thrifty Mama and Money Saving Mom.

I had a prescription to transfer and used the "in ad" coupon for a 25.00 gift card back when you transfer a prescription. I took this to the back of the store and made sure I'd get a gift card right then. They were very kind, and said yes.

So, I got my cart ready and my coupons in order.

I did miss using an "in ad" coupon (a coupon from their weekly flyer, and I would've saved $1 total). And, I also didn't remember that the Thrifty Mama blog said there was 5/25 purchase coupon which would've really been a good deal for me to have paid attention to.

So, I should have used:
5/25 coupon
In ad- 50cents off each Ziploc coupn

I did use:
My 25 gift card from transferring my 5.00 prescription
Two 1.50 off Huggies
One .50 off Huggies Wipes
One 1.00 off 2 Ziploc bags
One .40 off ziploc bags

I bought:
2 packs of of 29 pull ups at 9.99
1 Huggies Tub of wipes, 64 count at 3.49 (booo!)
2 Bath Puffs (1.00 item bins) and they were on my list
2 Boxes of Ziploc bags at 20 ct and 15 ct for 1.99

My total out of pocket was 1.67.

I messed up b/c the Diapers were not marked on sale on the aisle and thought the diapers were 12.49 each... So, I messed up my total of spending 25.00 on Huggies. I wanted to do this b/c there is another rebate offer for 10.00 Rite Aid Gift Card for spending 25.00 of specific Kimberly-Clark products, rebate in the Jan Rite Aide Single Check book in stores.

So, I should have bought an extra tub of wipes, with another coupon to get my total to 25.0o. Then I could have bought another Bath Wash puff, and used the 5/25 coupon b/c I would've gotten my total up higher.

I would have spent nothing out of pocket, and would've qualified for the gift card right away.

But, that's my first lesson from Rite Aid.

I also came home, logged into RiteAid.com and set up my Single Check account. Pretty simple, you add in some numbers from your receipt. It takes 2-3 days to process. Then, I guess I'm going to log back in a few days and add the rebates I qualify for. So far, I should be getting back

2.00 on Huggies Diapers

I am going back to Rite Aid this week, and I will buy another container of wipes w/ another coupon. This will qualify me for the 25.00 spent to get 10.00 back, and I will also qualify for another 2.00 (i think) in SCR (Single Check Rebate).

I think I still have a 5/25 coupon to use til March. So, I'm hoping that when these SCR things start coming through that I can figure that out.

So, that was very long; but it's our blog and we can post what we want to...

Linds, I'd like you to scan your Publix receipt for me and post it...

I guess, I'll try Walgreens more intently soon.... I'll post my good find at Walgreens last week.

Publix Shopping 1/5 Total 55.14 Saved 66.16

What a way to kick off the new year!!Here is what I picked up. This is our groceries for at least a week. I usually pick up alot of cereal but like to be heavy on the produce. I make Judes food from the frozen and raw vegetables.

frosted flakes
2 cantaloupes
2 brownie mixes
2 post grape nuts cereals
2 blocks of cheese
2 bags of raw carrotts
1 box honey glaxed frozen carrots
1 box creamed spinach
2 boxes puillsbury savorings appetizers
2 boxes betty crocer potatoes
1 bag dinner rolls
1 tub yogurt
onion
croutons 1 bag
5 boxes of blackberries
1 bag of senseo coffee for Drew
bottle of wine for me!
gillete fusion razor- this razor is amazing!
3 bags of lettuce
1 bag of spinach
bakers joy cooking spray
lucky charms
reduced sugar cinnamon toast crunch
fiber one granola bars- big box
quaker instant oatmeal
freshetta breadsticks
white potatoes

I am going to harris teeter tomorrow for skinless boneless chicken breasts. All meals will be made out of this weeks shopping trip and my pantry which is pretty stocked! My goal this year is to stay around 70.oo a week but I am not going to be legalistic about it. Here is a pic from this week and last week. Last week I did 48.00 at publix and we have surplus running into this week! I absolutely love Publix. Either Jess or I will at some point post their rules for shopping!

Go be resourceful with what God gave you- in your womanhood and your wallet. Go get em' Girls!