Moms Talk Q & A: Birthday/Holiday Ideas on a Budget

Meet the Mentor Patch Moms Council. Each week the council will answer a question on parenthood posed to them by readers or another member of council.

How do you make birthdays/holidays special without spending a fortune?

Jille Korsok: In our family, we've always let the birthday boy or girl pick his/her favorite dinner, either homecooked or dine out. We always say happy birthday at the exact time of day of his/her birth and retell the story of how he/she was born.

The stories always make me cry and I think they remind the kids of how precious they are to my husband and me. 

Gloria Kilfoyle: For a boy's exciting (and inexpensive) birthday have a Fishing Derby at or . Most boys have fishing poles or you can buy them very inexpensively. Then you can have prizes for the largest one caught, smallest one caught, the most caught and other crazy categories. For prizes I would buy some clever things from the dollar store like sparkling balls and glow sticks.

Then we would roast hot dogs, have chips, veggies and dips, and, of course, a cake or cupcakes.

For my daughter's birthday parties we would still go to Garfield Park but instead of fishing we would have an Athletic Day, since all her friends were in some type of sport. We would have a hula-hoop contest, scavenger hunt, baseball throw and egg race.

Again, prizes would  be from the dollar store. Girls liked the little notebooks, colored pencils and even the teacher school items that the store carries.

The birthday child would decorate treat bags for their friends using the decorative scissors and artwork.

These ideas could be adapted to a Winter Fest if the birthday is in the winter.  Have the parents drop the guesst off at a sledding hill  (with his/her sled) and supply hot chocolate. If you go to some sledding hills in the area, they have fires where you can roast hot dogs. Some even have shelters. You can still play games in the winter snow.

If you have difficulty coming up with games for the parties, just go to the children's section of the library for wonderful books on party games.

Debbie Lynn: When my girls were little I was doing home child care. So, needless to say, there wasn't a lot of money or the ability to go anywhere.

For each child's birthday I made a small cake. I gave each of them a small bowl of frosting and a popsicle stick to cover their cake. I put out all sorts of "toppings" that they could decorate with and took lots of pictures. When they were a little older we played board games with the birthday girl picking the games. We always had "special dinner" which was whatever the birthday girl chose. 

Devone Lansing: We usually let the birthday girl – our boy hasn't had his first birthday yet – choose what she wants to do for dinner. Sometimes we eat their favorite meal at home, but sometimes we go out. (All of my girls love to eat at , especially if the mariachi band is playing and they get to wear the giant birthday sombrero).

I also always let them look through their baby books and I talk to them about the day they were born; this usually ends up with me crying and them laughing because I'm crying. 

Last year, we saved money by having a "joint party" for my oldest and her cousin at our house, then we all went on a family zoo trip. My husband and I also like to try to have a special "Mommy/Daddy Night" with our kids for their birthdays, when they get to choose something special to do: see a movie, play games, stay up late or go on a bike ride. The memories of these special times definitely last a lot longer than the gifts do ... especially with my kids, who can tear up anything.

Donna Milnes: Birthdays were always celebrated at home. Even though we had a small house, everyone seemed to fit and have a good time. Usually the cousins and a few neighborhood friends would be invited.

We would play a few games, have kids' food (pizza or hot dogs) and, of course, cake. The kids got to play with each other and cost was minimal. Everyone went home with a prize in their goody bag.

Mary Jo Stack: For birthdays, my children get to pick dinner for the evening and what kind of dessert they would like. Neither likes cake very much so usually its some sort of cookies or brownies. Each gets to celebrate with a small group of friends, usually a sleepover. No extravagant outings. Spending time with their friends is a treat they really enjoy.

Our favorite of all the other holidays is Christmas Eve. It is an evening with a great surf-and-turf meal. Holiday dishes and the best dinnerware set the table.

Our Christmas Eve table and dinner tastes and looks fabulous. And I don't care if you are dressed in pj's or sweats, it's all about dining and being together. We exchange small family gifts and enjoy cookies and cocoa. It's the most relaxing night of the year.

It doesn't take a lot of money to have a good time. 

Melanie Majikas: On birthdays, the child gets to choose dinner for family and gets out of chores that day.

Use special plate to commemorate the day. Write a letter to child with memories from the year. I usually make my children sit through a showing of the DVD of their first year of life, too.

For other holidays, I think just trying to establish traditions goes a long way in making it special, whatever it is. Kids will remember what you do together on holidays long after they forget what the gifts were.