“You’re having two goats on a spit?” Wow. Kid’s parties have certainly gotten a whole lot bigger and more expensive compared to my time. Then, the most expensive was a buttercake ordered from a woman named Nancy, some punch, a few munchies and you’re good to go.

Now there’s the caterer. And the entertainment, people dressed as princesses or clowns. Bouncy castles and face painters. Marquees and extra tables and chairs. A magician. Party favours. It’s a virtual carnival.

My friend ordered two whole goats on a spit for her baby’s one-year-old do. “Do you think I have enough food?” She asks me doubtfully. Being Malaysians, sometimes I guess a kid’s birthday is also an excuse to invite your mates over for a big ‘makan’.

With a bit of thought and prep you can save a bundle

But what if you want to throw a great shindig for your tyke but just don’t have the ready cash for the travelling circus in tow? First of all, set yourself a budget... and stick with it. There are true and tested rules for keeping to a budget, cooking is cheaper than ordering out. Teatime is better than lunch or dinner-time (less to cook). Roping in your friend to do some games cheaper than hiring clowns or magicians. Let us get you started. Here’s some simple recipes and tips to help you out.

Splurge on one thing

Usually it’s a cake if they want a Star Wars cake or a Barbie cake. Again if your kid has no preference or too young to care, you can make a DIY ice cream cake and splurge on something else like entertainment or small toys for the guests.

Cakes are essential but they can be homemade

DIY Ice Cream Cake

2 of your favourite buttercake or marble cake
4 liters ice cream, you can vary the flavour
Whipped Cream
Icing or Sprinkles
A loaf pan
Cling film

Method:
Take ice cream out of the freezer to soften it.
Cover the bottom of your pan with cling film making sure you have at least 6 inches extra at the side.
Slice up the cake and line the bottom and the sides of the pan.
Take the soften ice cream and using a rubber spatula spread it in the dish pressing it down gently. You can use two flavours by putting another layer of cake in the middle.
Cover with cling film and freeze for 1 hour or more.
When serving, use the access film to lift the cake. Cover with whipped cream and decorate it as you please.

Cut cost where you can

Colour themes make great pictures

Go for a colour theme instead of one that requires you to buy a lot of deco. If it’s in the garden have a pink and green colour theme and ask your guests to come wearing those colours. If it’s underwater, make it blue and yellow. Fancy something with an alien-theme? Go for silver and starry patterns.

Print your own decorations. There are sites you can go to where you can download patterns and cartoon figures. Send it to your local printers. It’ll come up to less than RM100 for fun deco. Make origami boxes to hold little treats.

Little origami boxes make great deco for the table

Instead of individual juice boxes, make some fun fruit punch. A good idea is to portion out the juice in small cups, put some cling wrap over it and put them in a bed of ice. Kids can just take one, poke a straw in and drink when they get thirsty.

Rainbow Punch

1 liter apple juice
1 liter orange juice
1 can cranberry cocktail
1 lemon ( slice thinly)
1 green apple ( slice thinly)

Mix everything with loads of ice.

"Set a budget... and stick with it."

Make your own goodies

Plan a cooking and decorating session. Decorating cupcakes never gets old. Or put sparkly stuff on cookies. You can easily get cheaper deco and ingredients at cake supply stores. Then they can take it home to eat later. You can also have a craft table.

As a kid I thought limitless stationary was so cool!

Fill little plastic pails with old crayons and colouring stuff, stickers and glitter and just buy loads of white paper. They can draw to their heart’s content. You can also go to places like Mydin Wholesale and get little sweets and cheap toys for giveaways. Kids love getting stuff, it doesn’t have to be expensive.

Save on Food and Entertainment

Think of some simple games you can play like a treasure hunt if you have a garden. A favourite is roll-your-friend-into a-mummy game. I remember doing this as a kid at my cousin's party and it's still happening till today.

I call upon the legions of Hamunaptra...

Have the party during teatime so you don't need to prepare something too substantial. You can easily make things like pigs in blankets and fry noodles or rice up. Cooking not your thing? Buy ingredients and ask help from friends who can cook. Here are some great ideas for something sweet and cold for the kids when they get hot running around.

Juice Cubes

Pour juice into ice cube trays and freeze them. Kids can pop one in their mouth for a cooling treat.

Cookie sandwiches

Box of cookie or biscuits (thin and crispy is best)
Nutella or Peanut Butter
Vanilla ice cream
Roasted hazelnuts/ almonds ( Chopped )

Method:
Spread Nutella / Peanut Butter on one side of the cookie/ biscuit
On the same side, spread a 2 tablespoon of vanilla ice cream evenly.
Sandwich it with another cookie / biscuit
Roll the Cookie Sandwich on to chopped roasted hazelnut.
Rest in freezer for an hour before serving it.
Each kid can have their own cookie sandwich to enjoy

Aiskrim Potong

Parents will enjoy this cooling treat too.

Ingredients A:
220g Sugar
150ml Milk
150ml Water

Ingredients B:
4 Tbs Corn Flour
4 Tbs Water
*mix well

Ingredients C:
50g condensed milk
500ml coconut mil
250g red beans/ 1 can sweetcorn
*blend together (but to give some texture keep aside some of the kacang merah or sweetcorn and mix it in later)

Method:
Heat a pot on medium heat.
Whisk Ingredients A until sugar is diluted.
Pour in Ingredients B until it partly boils and Immediately pour in Ingredients C. Season with a pinch of salt.
Whisk till it's well mixed and transfer into ice cream tray. Let it cool down first before putting it in the freezer.
Just before serving, stick in wooden skewers.

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