Nemo 1st Birthday Party for under $100 (and that includes food!!)

My son recently turned 2 so I thought it might be time to share the photos from his 1st birthday! :) If you know anything about me, I am cheap.  Like cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap.  I love throwing parties so I have found lots of different ways to throw parties and keep them affordable.

My mom's job uses catering services all the time and she (yep this is where I get my cheapness from!) saves tons of stuff from chaffing dishes to spoons to platters.  It has come in so handy!! We did a taco bar and to serve all of our 40 guests it cost like $30. not bad!  Do you just love the watermelon that my mom cut into a shark- it was awesome. My son put a dory toy in the shark's mouth and laughed hysterically.

I found all of the blue platters, bowls & cups at Walmart.  Each piece was $1.  I got the cups for 4 for $1.   I love choosing a general color.  Theses cups, platters and bowls have not been used for 2 birthday parties, 1 wedding shower, 1 baby shower. Well worth the money! I think total it cost $10 for all of it including the table cloths.  I took old soup cans and painted them a matching blue from an old bottle of acrylic paint I found in the basement.  They worked great for holding all the silverware!  I found a cut printable on pinterest that said "Fish are friends not food" I thought that would be perfect for the fod table! And I tossed it in an old frame!

My one splurge- the paper straws. Oh my god I love them. 

Since my son's birthday is in the summer it is so nice to use our backyard!! I bought 30 paper lanterns online for $30 including shipping and handling.  Then I used an extra line of paracord that I found in my husband's work bag to string them back and forth all over our yard.  I love that you can break them down and reuse them!! I used the blue & white ones at a baby shower & wedding shower that I threw that same month.  They also got used for my cousin's wedding and looked amazing (but didnt survive)! So for $30 I got decorations for 3 parties and a wedding! I absolutely am obsessed with these lanterns now!!

It really pulled the party outside.  It was the first party that anyone ever actually used our backyard!

My family hated me but these were the party favors!!! I found these plastic fish bowls on clearance at petco for $1 a piece.  I used one rock bag ($4) for all of the favors and the goldfish cost 1 cent a piece.  My family hated me but the kids LOVED it!!! (All the favors cost $15)

I run a swim school & teach swim lessons for a living- water toys are all over my house!! They came in super handy for decorations!

Petco also had the fishnets on sale for $1 I got a couple for the nut mixes & goldfish snacks I put out.  (I had to leave the tags on for my crazy husband who was so grossed out that I put fish nets into the food! haha) Then I later gave them out with the favors to take home. 

This was the very first cake I have ever made, I think it came out great! 

Don't mind my family in the background! Aren't they cute?? What I really loved was this banner that I made.  I found a Finding Nemo book at goodwill for $1 and cut the scenes to fit the banner.  I found the banner at Hobby lobby for $2 on clearance, it was blank so I just had fill in the triangles.  So easy and so much prettier than me trying to make it all!! I wish I could have gotten a better photo of it! It was sooo cute!

The party's total including food came to $99 but my budget was $100 so I was thrilled!  And still it was way cheaper than having his party anywhere!  I am going to post more photos of my first ever cake attempt (a disaster btw!) and the cute shark watermelon when I find it! I hope you all loved seeing into my son's party and have some ideas to keep your kiddo's parties memorable AND under budget! Good luck :)