Birthday on a Budget: Pizza-themed Party!

At our house it's tradition for my kids to only have a friend birthday party every other year. I love throwing my kids a party to celebrate their special day, but let's be honest: they can be exhausting and can get expensive if you're not careful. 

When trying to pick a theme for my son's special day, I brainstormed things he was interested in and what would be fun for him and a few of his friend's to do at the party. My son has been more interested in helping me prepare and cook meals, so we decided on a pizza themed party!

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 Here's my little birthday boy wearing his special hat from school AND the chef's hat we made at his party (because how can you choose just ONE hat to wear on your birthday?) He's standing next to some pizza slices I printed out and taped to the wall to create a matching game for his friend's to play at the party.

 When the kids started to arrive, they immediately got to work making their chef's hat. The idea for the hat was adorable and easy to do. I used this tutorial from PBS kids . I found some food themed stickers and stamps at Wal-Mart in their party-favor section and the kids used those and some markers/crayons to decorate their hats.

 Next, the kids made their own paper pizzas with toppings I'd cut out for them using cardstock and construction paper.

Then it was time to make their own pizzas to eat! I love this dough from our best bites. I made the dough ahead of time and had it rise before the party that way it would be ready right when we needed it. I used premade pizza sauce from a jar and had all the toppings ready to go. The kids were good about listening as I told them how to flatten their pizza, use a fork to poke holes in the dough, spread the sauce, sprinkle cheese and any toppings around. Then we put them in the oven to bake!

While they were baking, we played a "Pin the Pepperoni on the Pizza" game and opened presents. When the pizza was done, we ate and then decorated a circle-shaped sugar cookie (a pizza-cookie) and sang "Happy Birthday".

The party was easy and the kids had a blast making and eating their own pizzas. And I didn't spend a fortune on party supplies or favors for the kids to take home (they took home their hat and paper pizza they'd made and that was it!)  Another win-win!

Check out Porter's Super-hero party on a budget!