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How To Make Someone's Birthday Special on a Budget.



Let me tell you how my Januarys are. After the New Year, the birthdays come in early for me.
My mom and my niece's birthdays are back to back and one of my friend's is the following week! If my wallet was on life support for Christmas, it definitely flat lines in January, LOL. But of course, I have a few things up my sleeve that work really well to make everyone feel special on their birthday and still get some change after I spend.

Here are some tips to keep your wallet alive when celebrating birthdays:

1. Everyone needs a birthday cake.

I don't really like fancy cakes for my birthday - and by fancy I mean like the Tiramisus and the well-decorated cakes plastered over instagram and so on. You know the ones. (Sidebar: There are some really talented bakers & cake makers out here. If that's your vibe, catch it).However, let's not pretend that the supermarket doesn't sell some relatively good and reasonably priced cakes, though. They aren't necessarily fancy but, they sure do taste good. Find out the person's favourite flavour and pick it up for them.You could even pre-order a cake from your local bakery or for my Trini readers, The Kiss Baking Company is still open you know?! (Sponsor me Kiss, LOL). And, I personally love Kiss Cakes. Listen, I got a 6", two color pink rosette cake for my niece's birthday for less than $60.00 TT!!!! (Check out the pic on IG). First of all, before you judge, she only turned one and before you judge again, my mom's birthday was the next day. I ain't got all that funds, okurt?

You can purchase a cake topper from any party store or get crafty, make your own cake topper and personalize it by adding their name. Everyone loves when something is personalized with their name! Click the following link to check out a vid on how to make your own cake topper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GtxfjgKGAM

A substitute could be a box of colourful donuts with a personalized message on the box.

So you're maybe thinking well what if the person already has a birthday cake from their family or so? Well, tip 2 is right below!

2. Mystery Box and A Few Favourites!

You can purchase one of those cute gift boxes - of course the birthday-themed ones or, you can always get a regular box and fix it up nicely and fill them with all of the person's favourite goodies. Maybe like their favourite snacks and drinks or random things that they like and will appreciate.
You can even find a theme for the box and fill it up with items that fits the theme. For instance, if you choose the theme 'movie night', you can fill it up with popcorn and so on. Check out a vid of a themed mystery box here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YUSXsf7gCU.


3. Delivery for...

Send the birthday girl/guy something. Maybe a bouquet of flowers, or their favourite bottle of wine and have someone deliver it to their house or workplace. Doesn't necessarily have to be a courier but, you could have someone close to you deliver it if you can't go yourself.

Sending a personalized birthday card via snail mail is great too. Mailing is cheap and wouldn't it be great to get something other than bills in your post box? Imagine how the birthday person would feel!

4. Spending a little quality time never hurt nobody.

Here, you have options. You can either invite them to your home with a couple of friends or go to theirs (if they're ok with that) and spend some time with them. You can play games and do other activities where everyone is included but the birthday girl/guy feels like they're the star of the whole shindig.

You can also take the birthday girl/guy out for their birthday. Once again, it doesn't have to be any super fancy thing, but maybe a place that means something to them or a restaurant you think fits your budget and you can pay for their meal. Who doesn't love free food?

5. We're stronger together.

If you're a part of a group of friends, you can pitch the idea to split the cost of purchasing a gift for the birthday person. This way everyone can pitch in and probably get one better/bigger gift for the person, instead of them receiving individual gifts that would have been less exciting anyway, especially if your individual budget was low.

If you try any of these tips, let me know! And if you know any other frugal tips for not bursting the bank on birthdays comment below!

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See ya in my next post,
Paula J.

Comments

  1. What if the person is a little peculiar and doesn't like cakes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I put in a substitue for cakes in there like maybe a box of cute donuts!

      Delete

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