Lego party for 50 people under $80.00: how we did it and how you can to!

There are few things I love more than planning a party! I love an excuse to throw a theme together and get in to the planning. My goal is always to keep it as cheap as possible and do as much as I can myself. With that being said, I am here to show you my son's 3rd birthday party with the theme of LEGOS! The most expensive part of the theme was the Legos themselves, and I sold 80% of them again for 120% of what I paid, so I consider that a success where I got my money back plus some!!

This party probably involved the most stuff done "by hand" - even his Mickey (1st) birthday had less handmade. 

Cake _____________________
This is ideal for someone who has some extra legos laying around and wants to do something fun. One of the coolest things for this party was that my brother, who is in his 30s, had some legos from childhood and we used those to make the cake topper- so it was also the sentiment in that !! I was offered the legos to start but did not want to lose them, so this was perfect. I had the lego "tray" so it was easy enough to make and I just added parchment paper under so it was not dirty. Also, it made the cake buying easy because I think I bought an 18.00 one at the store that was predone because I did not need anything on top of the cake.

This year we had it at a park and while I did have a bounce house, this was not out of my pocket in cost, so I will not include it in the total. (each year my parents gift the entertainment portion of the party to our son instead of another toy!)

____________________________________Decor________________________________________

While visiting The Lego Store in Orlando in the month before, I asked for some "large" lego bags- I even asked if I could buy them... Geesh, they were rough and denied me 4 out of 6 of the counters. I finally appealed to some of the managers who agreed to give me 1 extra large, 2 large and 4 small. They also gave me some "pamphlets" to cut and make 3-d lego men out of. They understood this mom was on a mission. Now here is the sad part. the ONLY picture I can find at ALL is the snippet in the background of the next picture. look to the left (top) and you will see a familiar lego logo..... that was a streamer, some banners etc, all around the pavilion.

I also made "giant legos" out of crepe paper, tape, a pool noodle, hot glue, a box and construction paper; I used them around the tables for some extra decor; I also had some extra "pots" that I filled with lego "sticks" (I glued legos to skewers and stuck them in there with some multi colored tissue paper)

                                                               Favors and Fun_____________________________________

I love favors! I love making them and I love planning them out; This year we could not decide on one fun item so instead we made a bag of fun! We also allowed them to make and take their own favor: A lego piece that they personally painted. I made the pieces using lego silicone ice molds and a simple salt dough recipe (see end of post for recipe we used). I put out a bin of acrylic paint that I already owned and paint brushes from the dollar tree (12 for a 1.00) I then sprayed each piece with a fast drying acrylic spray that I had and put them on a plate for the kids to take home.
I also used the lego molds to make "lego crayons" and added a custom "coloring book" to the favor bag- the coloring book used regular white paper and construction paper, printed at home(already owned the construction paper from a previous party, so it was around .50 total for that) . The lego crayons were made from crayons I bought during "back to school" sales for around 10cents. (Used 2 boxes total)
Last but not least, I made lego necklaces (see below on our necks) Using different silk cords and chains we already had, legos we already had and a drill. We drilled through the middle of each lego and everyone loved them. We handed them out at the beginning of the party so that everyone had them and we made enough for everyone at the party instead of just the kids. 

  

One of the biggest hits of the party was the "lego tables" - Last year during black Friday I bought the "lack" tables for 5.00 a piece to use for my  Kid's Activity Table. from Ikea. Since I had 3 left over I decided to do something interesting with them for the party- I finally decided on using a 7 inch Hole-saw attachment on my drill and it took 5 minutes and I had bucket sized holes in the middle. I bought 3 buckets from the dollar tree and they fit perfectly. I filled them with legos and of course the kids had a blast. I used some puffy paint to add in some fun by writing the birthday boys name and some fun phrases. There were 3 moms that literally ASKED me to make them one- so I gave them each one instead, straight from the party- less to bring home ;)

Each year I try to use a color scheme so I can use the same bowls- I spend 0.00 on that and I skip things like balloons and anything I can not make. I save crepe paper and everything from the years before and like this year, try to use themes that can fit most any color.

For the cake, we purchased a 18.00 cake at Walmart with multi colors already made and we added our cake topper. We also bought two packages of mini muffins in funfetti for my niece and other kids who can not have frosting- they were 5.00 total. For food, we keep it simple and went the hot dog route with a build your own hot dog bar- that cost us 40.00 after coupons and everything else.

Overall this was a blast to plan. The kids had so much fun with the lego tables, painting and everything else that we did not need a bounce house or an extras other than the park we were at.  

 COST

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The cost for the favors came to around 5.00 for all the kids and adults, the dessert 25.00, the legos I bought to use through the whole party were actually a profit (made around 20.00 profit), the activity tables were 18.00, I did buy the lego molds on ebay but resold them for 6.00 so that was actually a 2.00 profit.

We did not rent the pavilion as it was first come first serve and we were told if we brought our own tent, we wouldn't have to worry- as it turns out, we did not have an issue but we pitched our tent, table and chair anyway to more spread out room.  The food, chips and drinks were 40.00.

CASH OUT: $93.00

CASH BACK IN SELLING ITEMS FROM PARTY: $22.00

Total cost for 50 people : $71.00

Since I am sure there are costs associated with using things I had (which if I know me, I got on sale or free to start) I will round this up to $80.00

Here is the recipe I used to make the paint your own lego men and pieces. this was a HUGE hit and great for any day- not just parties.

Basic Salt Dough Recipe
Ingredients:

1 cup of fine salt

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of water (may add more) Instructions:

In a large bowl, combine the salt and the flour

Make a well in the salt/flour mixture and add the water

Knead until smooth and shape into a ball

When not in use, wrap in plastic or store in an airtight container