When I read that Candy from The Party Bakery spent $125 on her daughter’s Tangled Up in Fun Rapunzel Birthday, I almost flipped. How did she do it? Well, I asked her how, and she was kind enough to write up her money saving tips. Thank you, Candy, for all your practical and creative ideas. Take a look…

Have a Little Princess who’s dreaming of a Royal Birthday Bash? Gonna need a fairy godmother to pull it off on your budget? No problem…you’ve got this!

My little princess wanted to have a Tangled Birthday party for 6th birthday this year. Being an excited kindergartener with a classroom of willing party guest she, of course, wanted to invite 18 kids to the party…never mind her siblings, family friends, and family.

We were able to explain that we couldn’t invite every child from her classroom but that she could invite her best friends from the class. Apparently, she has many best friends…lol! So we still ended up with a large guest list when it was all said and done. She skipped away happy as pie, dreaming of her upcoming Royal bash, and I was left a bit stressed and frazzled trying to figure out how we were going to pull this off.

Long story short, we were able to do it and stay very low budget. In all, I spent about $125 on food and decorations and the whole shebang. Now in full disclosure, I do own a party design and printable business. So I was able to make a great deal of the accessories including my invitations for cost. However, you can access printable elements yourself online inexpensively.

So let’s dig in and let me share my top money saving tips with you.

TIP 1

Invitations. You could run out to Party City and buy the 8 pack of the Disney licensed Rapunzel party invitations BUT do you really want the same invitations that everyone else has? Your invitation sets the entire tone of your party! It is in my opinion, the single most important piece of your party. When I design my party sets, I first start with my invitation and then build the rest of my pieces around it. That being said, I love the idea of a custom invitation.

You can find so many wonderful party vendors on Etsy and on the web that have pre-designed invitations, and complete party sets that you can download and print yourself. Or if your budget allows, you can order them ready made. Like I said, I am in the business of party design, so I designed my own invitation which is available in my Etsy shop (shameless promotion time). For $12 you can download the printable file and send it to your favorite photo print shop (Walgreens, Wal-Mart..etc.) or print them at home. Add your Rapunzel braid, and they’re ready to go. A unique party invitation that sets the tone for your party and lets your guest know there in for a unique and fun time!

Tip 2

Decorations. Look around the house and use what you have. If you need something, ask your friends to borrow it before you go out and buy it!

I knew I wanted to serve some of our food items in iron skillets since it plays such a big part in the movie. I did not have a single iron skillet to my name. I knew I couldn’t afford to buy one so I started asking friends and before I knew it I had 5 iron skillets waiting for me. Perfect!

I basically took a walk through my house and looked around for things I could use. I found a cute lantern candle holder that I could place on the table, a little restaurant style standing chalkboard to welcome my guest, a couple cute baskets for holding various items, and some Christmas lights for stringing the trees outside to make a magical forest. All for FREE!

I knew I wanted to created the Snuggly Duggling (the thug pub) in my dining room, and serve all of the food from there, so I would need a table cloth that was rustic and inexpensive. I went to my local Jo-Ann Fabrics and found some burlap and purchased 2 yards. I think it ran me about $4 because I also used one of their 40% off coupons. Woot woot! I love a deal!

I wanted to have something incorporated into my decorations that resembled Rapunzel’s flowing golden hair. My first thought was to use golden yarn and create a huge braid to hang out of my daughters window onto the porch below. Well, after trying to braid the tiny hair piece I made for a photo prop I decided that was going to be way to time consuming and take way to much yarn!! So I found a roll of vinyl table covering at Party City that would be perfect.

The entire roll was $22.00 and quite honestly I barely put a dent in in. If you don’t have a huge area to cover you could easily buy a few of the rectangular table clothes instead.Check the Dollar Store first.  They usually have a good selection of basic colors. I then unrolled a large section and cut it in half and was able to string it from the windows, on the ceiling, and through the tree’s outside. It was perfect! You could even weave some Christmas lights through it and make it look like the glowing hair! Cute!

Next I knew we could not fit that many kids inside our house so we were going to have to utilize our front yard. I planned the party for the evening so that I could create a magical forest outside. Using several strings of our Christmas lights, I put my husband on the task of stringing a big tree on our side yard with lights and Rapunzel hair. Inspired by a Taylor Swift video I had seen, I wanted to have pictures from the movie hanging from the tree branches for the kids to look at as they sat under the tree and ate.

I started Googling Tangled pictures and found a bunch of free high quality clips from the movie that I could print on my home computer and use. If you can’t print them yourself send them to your favorite photo place and for a few cents a print you’ve got some great decorations! Then just use some fishing line or even white thread and hang from the tree. It was really cute and the kids loved running around looking at all of the pictures!

Tip 3 

Games. You have to have something to keep 18 kids busy for 2 hours. I am a huge advocate for the “home” party. I like the way it enables the kids to interact with each other and actually spend time with the birthday girl or boy. Sometimes these parties at other places can feel so disconnected, and I don’t think it gives much opportunity for the kids to really connect. However, you have to entertain them yourself when they are at your house so you better get creative!..lol.

We decided an easy game would be pin the nose on Flynn Rider. That is a big reoccurring joke in the movie that his nose is always different on all of the wanted posters. So again I turned to my trusty friend Google and found a free Flynn Rider wanted poster. I printed a few of these off for decorations and for the game. Then I just made some little square pieces of paper with noses drawn on them. A simple blind fold and you have a fun game!

One of my favorite things we did was the painting wall. Rapunzel loves to paint and basically paints her entire room to occupy her time. I wanted to run some paper all the way down the side of our fence and let the kids go crazy but couldn’t figure out how to make that happen with out spending a fortune on paper. Then we had the idea of using the back side of wrapping paper. That was one of those “ah ha” moments! We bought 2 rolls of Dollar Store wrapping paper and covered the entire fence for $2.00. We then bought 2 packs of the Crayola paints and some Dollar Store paint brushes and let the kids line up and go crazy! It was awesome! They loved it and what a great art piece we had when they were done.

Another inexpensive idea was to get some sidewalk chalk..again Dollar Store…and let them draw all over the driveway!

I love when I look at party pictures and they have a cute photo op set up with props. So I scoured the clearance section at Michaels and found a white frame that did not include the glass.  It was only $6 and would work perfectly. Using some yarn I made a Rapunzel braid to attach to a princess tiara that I pulled out of my daughters dress up box. We hung the frame with fishing line from the pretty tree outside and the kids were able to put on the crown and braid and have their picture taken…turned out pretty cute! One tip though, make sure you take a minute and make the kids go over there to take pictures because otherwise you will forget and they will be having to much fun to stop and want to do it themselves!

Lastly to add to the atmosphere we brought out our MP3 player and some little speakers and played the Tangled soundtrack as the kids ran around and ate outside. We downloaded the soundtrack from iTunes for about $10.00

Tip 4

Food. I didn’t want to break the bank on foo, but knew we had to have something substantial for the kids and parents since it was just after dinner time. Rapunzel’s favorite soup is Hazelnut stew…I wasn’t feeling too confident about making and serving actual Hazelnut soup…although the reviews are all great online from people who have made it. I choose to make a pot of potato soup that I made early that morning and just placed in a crock pot. A simple dish of cheese, bacon and green onions to top it off, and it was perfect! We just labeled it Hazelnut Stew to play along with the party theme.

We kept the rest simple –remember you’re feeding kids — they will grab a few small things and then run off to play and not eat it anyway! We did some cheese cubes, fruit and bread, Jell-O cups and my sister made cherry cheesecake cupcakes…Yum!

Now you can make a little look a lot more impressive by just being creative. Take your fruit and make fruit tower kabobs instead of just a bowl of fruit. Use your iron skillets to fill with cheese and bread. Using some cupcake printable circles you can take an ordinary cupcake and give it a unique and custom topper. Work on your presentation of your food and you don’t have to have a bunch to make it look full.

The Jell-O cups were a very easy and fun thing to serve! I was inspired by Supermomments.com, where she made these for her Tangled party. Basically you take some blue Jell-o and pour into small clear plastic cups. Then once the Jell-o is set, take a slice of orange and poke a toothpick into the top and using either a piece of purple cardstock or some printable kingdom flags attach them to your toothpick to make Rapunzel and Flynn’s boat. Easy and super cute!

For drinks I made a classic wedding golden punch to resemble the magic flower potion they give the queen in the beginning of the movie. I picked up a few golden flowers from the Dollar Store to place in front of the punch and labeled it “Magic Flower Punch.”

The cake. This is where a lot of people like to splurge and who could blame them! I have seen some amazing and beautiful cakes and it is the centerpiece of your table. So if that’s where you want to put your money, go for it!

My little one decided she was soooo over cake and cupcakes (she’s only 6…really?) so I had to get creative with the cake! I decided to use donuts to stack and make a tower. It was a little harder than I thought to keep them from falling over, and I encourage anyone who wants to try it to use something like a thick dowel rod to place down the middle!

I used some store bought icing and made green and pink and purple, and using a pastry bag I started making vines and flowers around the tower. I was fortunate to have purchased a castle cake set a few years ago that I was able to use pieces from for the window and the tower peaks. If you don’t have something like this, you could simply use a sugar cone for the peak rolled in sprinkles and you could use a fruit rollup to cut out the shape of a window…just get creative!

Tip 5 

Favors. This was my one splurge! I found this amazing local cookie artist, Decorated Desserts, thanks to Facebook, and happened to see pictures of Tangled cookies she did. Gasp! they were adorable and I sooo wanted some! I had saved money on everything else so I ordered 2 dozen Pascal cookies to wrap up as favors. They were adorable and worth every penny! They ended up being about $2 a cookie which wasn’t really to bad for a favor I suppose.

I feel that it’s the extra little things that make a party! I used elements from my printable set to accent my food table and my decorations. Printables are easy and I feel a lot of people get intimidated by them. The beauty of it is that you have creative freedom to make them as fancy or simple as you would like.

So if you can cut out shapes, glue things together and string ribbon through holes…you pretty much can create it yourself. There are various companies that offer printable sets. Prices can vary but most average around $30-$40 for a set. Included in your set you have access to invitations, thank you tags, thank you cards, banners, water bottle wraps, candy bar labels, cupcake topper circles, welcome signs, table tents…etc.

One price, one download and you can print as many as you need. Now granted ink cost can suck up your budget really quickly, so be careful and make sure that your printer can handle it, and if you feel it can’t,check into printing at one of the many office stores.

For my party I used the cupcake toppers to place on top of my cheesecake cupcakes. I printed a Kingdom flag banner to string around the trees outside. I printed the favor tags to add to each cookie to add a personal touch to my favors. All of the food was labeled with food table tents that were themed for the Snuggly Duggling. I also printed my Thank You cards and loved that they matched the theme of my party! So if you want to add the special touches and don’t have the budget to order them ready made, this is a great option!

Whatever your budget you can create a wonderful party that your little Princess and all of her friends will love!

Thank you Candy, for sharing all your tips. I especially love the activities you came up with!

If you haven’t seen the rest of Candy’s party photos, you’re in for a treat, and to learn more about Candy, please check out her blog, The Party Bakery, and her Etsy shop.

Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad with Balsamic-Basil Vinaigrette

We purchased these tomatoes at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market so it would be hard to go wrong with this dish. Clean and fresh flavors, with a little bit of sweetness from the balsamic and the tomatoes. This was the dish I kept eating.

Grilled Corn with Basil Butter-Oil

Basil on corn is actually a flavorful combination and the butter-oil with the infused basil was delicate and not too overpowering. But next time I will chop up the basil even more so it doesn’t look like seaweed.

Grilled Chicken with a Homemade Rub

David wasn’t in the mood for steak, so instead I purchased these air-chilled chicken thighs and with a blend of homemade spices we grilled them. Because of the fat under the skin, the grill kept igniting, hence the burnt skin, but these were delicious!! David couldn’t stop eating these.

Tomorrow I’ll bring you the S’mores Bars my neighbor, Paula, volunteered to make. They’re setting in her fridge right now (my mouth is watering while I write this). I’ll post photos tomorrow.

I’d love to know what you ate this Labor Day. Hope it’s delicious!

Here are some of the things I’m planning to make this Labor Day weekend. (Click on the photo or link to go to the recipe.) What are you thinking of making?

Heirloom Tomato Caprese Salad with Balsamic-Basil Vinaigrette

Grilled Corn with Basil Butter-Oil

Grilled Steak Salad with Grilled Vegetables

Watermelon Ginger Punch

S’mores Bars

I’d love to hear what on your menu so please post, and if you have recipes or photos, even better (just email me at jillian(at)catchmyparty.com).

Long story short… My daughter loves piano, so my husband found a used keyboard on Craigslist. We picked it up in Manhattan Beach (about 40 minutes from our house) and there’s a HomeGoods nearby. My husband, being the kind, generous, and patient man that he is, hung out with my four-year-old, while I got to shop.

It turns out that HomeGoods is owned by the same people as TJ Maxx, where I went a few weeks ago, so it was no surprise that they had many of the same items, but much much more. The store is heaven if you love parties, entertaining, and decorating. I felt infinitely creative just walking through the door.

Here are some of my favorite finds…

Perfect for a baby shower or tea party $12.99.

Mod cake plate $12.99.

Great for serving water on a long table or putting flowers in. $5.99 each.

Each tea pot was $9.99. You could dress these up for an Alice in Wonderland tea party.

I've always wanted one of these to add lemon and basil to my water. $16.99.

You can't tell from this photo but these are huge. $7.99 - $14.99

I'm always looking for a new cake stand $14.99

One of my white essentials. $12.99

Silver is more expensive, but I thought just one. $19.99

Beehive drink dispenser $19.99

So many good finds at HomegGoods. If only there was one closer to our house… Actually, maybe it’s a good thing there’s not.

What are your favorite finds at HomeGoods?

I last featured Pamela S’s Aly’s “I Love Art” Party in a recent party on a budget post. She threw the whole party for $100 and one of the ways she did it, was to make her own favors.

For the little kids she made homemade “art supply”  favors (I know, great!), and for the older kids, she made these chocolate painters’ palettes. So cute. Well, here’s how…

I made these chocolate painter’s pallets for the older kids who wouldn’t go for all of the “art supplies”, which went over very well.

I created a template which you can download  for free.

1. I printed out my template, placed it on a cookie tray and covered it with wax paper.
2. In a double boiler I melted chocolate then placed the melted chocolate in a piping bag.
3. With the piping bag I traced the outline of the palette on the template then filled in the outline with more chocolate.
4. I used the back of a spoon to smooth each palette out then placed a red, yellow, green and blue M&M onto the soft chocolate to resemble paint drops.
5. When finished, I popped the tray into the fridge to harden the chocolate.
6. Once they were hard, I wrapped each pallet in a plastic bag and tied it up with bakers twine.

Thank you, Pamela. I especially love the idea of using M&M’s as the splotches of paint!

If you haven’t already, check out the rest of Pamela’s beautiful party. And to learn more about how she pulled this whole party off, check out her blog, Party Starters.

When I saw this photo from Jennifer T’s All American BBQ, I thought what cute hamburger cupcakes. Then I found out they weren’t cupcakes at all, but hamburger COOKIES! I’ve never seen this before, so I asked Jennifer if she’d put together a tutorial… And here it is! Thank you, Jennifer!

First off, there is only one rule before I share this with you…When you make these and someone asks you if they were hard to make, we are to always say YES   I mean if we are going to “slave” away in the kitchen for a few minutes (yes, I said a few minutes is all at it will take to make these) then we are going to get some appreciation LOL

SUPPLIES:

• Nilla Wafers
• Mini York Peppermint Patties
• Buttercream frosting (or pre-tinted frosting in red and yellow)
• Red & yellow food coloring
• 2 plastic baggies (for piping frosting on cookies)
• Sesame seeds (optional)
• Caro syrup (optional)
• Cold beer (optional but you ARE ”grilling”)

INSTRUCTIONS:

Alright, let’s get our stuff together!

Yes we did start off with 8 of the patties…Aren’t you observant!  (don’t judge me, I see chocolate I eat it….)

For those of you coloring your own frosting do so now. Bottled frosting users (don’t worry, we won’t tell) you are set!

We are going to add “mustard” to one side of the patties and cover with a Nilla Wafer.

Then on another Nilla Wafer, add the ketchup, then set the mustard, pattie, and wafer on top of the ketchup.

You’re thinking I can DO this!  RIGHT?  Of course you can!!!  To add sesame seeds (shown in pic below), take a pastry brush with a small amount of Caro Syrup and lightly brush the top of the cookie and sprinkle sesame seeds.

Voila!  The finished product!! (Shown with the sesame seeds.)

Thank you again, Jennifer, for this totally original tutorial!  If you make these for your next party, please send photos, I’d love to share them.

Also, check out the adorable parties Jennifer has added to our main site, and to learn even more about Jennifer, please visit her brand new blog, Ain’t She Sweet.

I always thought these were hard to make, but take a look at this tutorial and you will soon discover they are actually quite easy.  And talk about giving your party that cool “wow” factor…

Before you get started here’s what you’ll need:

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Box Chocolate Cake Mix
• 1 Box Yellow/Vanilla/Butter Cake Mix {don’t use white as it won’t look like a real bun}
• {water, oil & eggs per mix}
• Frosting {not too creamy or it may soften and spread, thick or stiffer frosting works best}
•   *You’ll need Green, Red & Yellow and can either buy a tub of frosting and color it or buy the tubes of frosting already mixed in those colors {this is easiest}
• Fondant tinted the color of cheese, if you want cheeseburgers {I make my own marshmallow fondant}
• Sesame Seeds
• Orange Juice

TOOLS

• Cupcake Pan(s) {Don’t forget the shortening for the pans}
• Serrated Knife
• Cupcake Liners {To hold the finished burgers}
• Basting or Paint Brush
• Frosting Decorator Bags & Tips, #4 and #103 {Unless you buy the pre-tinted tubes}
• Square Cookie Cutter
• Spatula

Okay let’s get started….

First you need to mix your cake batter together {ok, ok… I know you knew that, I was just testing you!}

Bake your cupcakes per the directions, one batch of each flavor {typically a box will yield 24 cupcakes}  I suggest baking them right in the pan, no papers.  This saves on paper waste, since you will have to remove them once they are baked anyway, and it saves on cake waste, since the cupcakes don’t seem to rise as high when baked directly in the pan!

Once the cupcakes are done, remove them from the oven and let cool for about 15 minutes or so, then remove them from the pan {if you greased your pans properly they should just pop out} and let them cool for about another 30 minutes.

Now comes the fun part!!!!  For each Burger Cake you’ll need 1 Yellow cupcake and 1 Chocolate cupcake.  Take the yellow cupcakes and use your serrated knife to cut them in half {removing the top from the bottom}.  Set both halves aside for now.

Next, you’ll need to cut the tops off of the chocolate cupcakes, this will become the “burger”.  The bottoms you can either eat, scrap, or use to make cake pops!  YUMMY!

Once you have the cupcakes cut you can begin assembling them.

First, take a cupcake liner and place the bottom half of the yellow cake in it, cut side up {this will be the bottom bun of your burger cake}.

Then, squirt some green frosting all over it, allowing it to over hang the sides some, using the #103 tip {this will be the lettuce and also holds the Burger Cake together}.

Next, place a chocolate cupcake top {burger} on top of the green frosting {lettuce}, squishing is down some.

At this point you can either add cheese or not.  If you want to add cheese then you will need to roll out your fondant to the desired thickness and cut with your square cookie cutter.

Then place the cheese on top of your burger….

Now all that’s left to do is squirt the red and yellow frosting all over the top like ketchup and mustard, using the #4 tip.  I found using a circular motion worked great and allowed for some of the frosting to drip over the edges.

Then place the top portion of the yellow cupcake on top and brush with some orange juice…

…sprinkle with sesame seeds {they really add to the realistic look and don’t affect the flavor}.  VIOLA!  Cheeseburger Cakes are served!

Leave plain or top with custom cupcake toppers to enhance your occasion.  Party NV can design the perfect toppers for you, for whatever the occasion!

Jodie, these are incredible! Thank you for the tutorial!

Please check out Jodie’s beautiful parties on our main site, and to learn even more about Jodie and what inspires her, please visit her blog, Party NV.

Also, stay tuned for my upcoming post on how to make hamburgers out of cookies!!

Holy cow! I made these salted brown butter Rice Krispie treats for our July 4th BBQ and they were so delicious!

If you love Rice Krispie treats but find them a little one-note and a little too sweet, this is definitely the recipe for you.

Mine had so much complexity. They were sweet, salty, gooey, crunchy and the best part… everyone LOVED them. This is going to be my new dessert to bring to every pot luck I’m invited to (be warned, invite me to a pot luck, you know what I’m bringing).

Take a look at how easy they are to make, and let’s not forget how inexpensive…

Ingredients:

• 1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter, plus extra for the baking dish
• 1 10 oz. bag marshmallows
• Heaping ¼ teaspoon flaky sea salt, plus extra for topping
• 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal

Directions:

Butter a 9″ x 13″ baking dish and set aside.

In a large pot, warm butter over medium low heat.  The butter will melt, then foam and bubble, then start to brown.  You will notice little brown bits forming at the bottom of the pan.  Stir frequently during this process and keep your attention on the pot.  The butter can go from wonderfully brown to burnt in just a few moments.  You will know the butter is done when it gives off a nutty aroma and turns a golden brown (check out this great resource for how to brown butter).

Turn off the heat and add the marshmallows, stirring until smooth.  Add half of the cereal and stir to incorporate.  Sprinkle in the flaky sea salt and remaining cereal and continue stirring until everything is fully mixed together.

Transfer mixture to the prepared baking dish.  Using a silicon spatula (or piece of parchment paper), press mixture into the dish in an even layer.  Sprinkle with additional flaky sea salt to taste.

Trust me, so worth trying these and it took about 15 minutes from start to finish. To jazz them up, next time I think I need to drizzle a little dark chocolate on top.

If you make some, email me and let me know what you think.

Recipe: Kitchen Konfidence.

Stacey of Elle Belle Creative did almost all of this gorgeous party herself, including making these yummy fruit dip favors for her guests. What a great favor for a summer party. I love edible favors!

So without further ado, here’s Stacey telling us how she did it…

There are usually more parents at one of my parties than kids, so I always try to include them in party festivities, and I like to send them home with a little favor of their own, too.

Fruit Dip fit the bill perfectly since the kids all picked strawberries at the farm that day!

I found a great recipe online, changed it a bit to include one of Elle’s favorite flavors, almond, and got creative with the packaging.

This dip is great for a party because it’s inexpensive to make, delicious, and makes a big batch! Here’s the recipe for Elle’s Famous Fruit Dip:

Ingredients:

Directions:

Mix together the pudding mix, milk, and almond extract.  Fold in the Cool Whip.  Chill 1 hour before serving.  Makes 4 cups.

I printed the recipe on craft paper (a printable of the recipe formatted for the jar lids available for free on Elle Belle Creative here) & cut them out, spooned the dip into pint sized quilted mason jars, put the metal disc, put the recipe, an adorable Mud & Twig handmade label on top, & screwed the lid on.

To finish them up, I  stamped “thanks” on a little wooden spoon, and tied it on with a bit of twine around the lids.  I packed the jars up in a little crate and put them out for the parents to take as they were leaving the party.

Gorgeous, Stacey, thank you!! I love the crate you displayed them in, too!

Again, if you haven’t seen the rest of the summer party, take a look. And to learn more about Stacey and read about her creative inspirations, please check out her blog, Elle Belle Creative.

We have been seeing some fantastic Lego parties on our main site. Because Legos create infinite possibilities, so do these parties. Plus this is a theme that works great for boys of all ages.

I’m featuring some of my favorite elements from these parties. Click on the link or party photo to see the party the photos came from.

Lisa M’s Lego Build a Birthday

Welcome sign

Mikie M’s Lego 5th Birthday

Invitation

Lego chocolates

Make your own pizzas

Favor bags

Photo used for thank you cards

Stephanie S’s Lego Party

Invitation

Dessert table

Birthday boy's name spelled out in Legos

How about this cake?

Malu Boutique’s Albert’s 7th Birthday

Welcome sign

Cake

Lego character cupcake toppers

Lego sign

Lego cookies

Shelley K’s Lego Star Wars Birthday Party

Invitation

Favors

Lego Star Wars cupcake toppers

Funny coffee cups

Melissa M’s Lego Party

Guest book

Backdrop

Personalized Lego aprons

Pinata"

Skye H’s JT’s 10th Birthday Party

Invitation

Favors

Star Wars Lego signs

Pretty amazing and this isn’t all. Check out all the awesome Lego parties on our main site.