Those of you who are following us on Facebook know that a couple of weekends ago we had a LEGO Birthday party for our 7 year old boy! We typically don’t do the themed parties… in the past, birthday parties have just been an excuse to have a bunch of families we know over and hang out together! But he REALLY wanted a LEGO party this year with just a handful of his friends.
And you know, I really think they would’ve been happy with just cupcakes and Lego Star Wars on the Wii. I had to DRAG the boys away from Lego Star Wars to play the games that I had planned for them, lol!! So, if you do have a LEGO party, and you have a Wii… that game of LEGO Star Wars just might be worth buying because it will entertain them for at least half of the party time! 🙂
So here’s what we did from start to finish, along with the price breakdown for each item:
1. Invitations
I had everyone’s email address that we were going to invite, so I just sent out email invitations instead of mailing them! It’s easy to make an invitation that you can email out to friends with a free photo editing program like Pixlr.com! You can make your own LEGO letters for the invitation from this LEGO letters website (use the color changer in your photo editing software to make it match your invitations.) Feel free to download the blank template here and then you can use the photo editing program to add in your information!
Also, Keri from One Mama’s Daily Drama used the template above to create a LEGO figure coloring page. You can download that here!
(If you’re looking to purchase invitations to mail out in the mail, check out these super cute LEGO Birthday Party Invitations that you can buy! Plus Expressions Paperie offers some great coupon codes from time to time so be sure to sign up for their email list too if you plan on buying something in the near future!)
Price: FREE
2. Food
Pizza from Target for 8 little boys? It was only $4! I did splurge on the Honest Kids Organic Juice at around $3.50 for the package.
Price: $7.50
3. Plates & Decorations
We didn’t need cups because we had the juice pouches so we only had to get the plates which were $1.99 at Party City for the 8-pack.
Price: $1.99
We bought 12 balloons (only 11 made it to the party though) and tied them to yellow cones that we had in the garage. I also got the big HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEGO Star Wars sign to hang up in the room.
Oh, and a big bowl of LEGOs in the middle of the table for them to build with (FREE!) 🙂
Price – $12 for balloons, $5.99 for the sign
(Yes, we mixed regular LEGOS and LEGO Star Wars stuff and none of the boys seemed to mind!)
4. Cake
The cupcakes were made from this White Cake Recipe, this Buttercream Frosting Recipe (except with all butter since I’m not a shortening fan), and this Marshmallow Fondant Recipe!
One more picture? Yes, those are charger plates from our Christmas collection and one of them is on top of an upside down bowl! Do you think the boys noticed? NOPE!
5. Entertainment
Well, like I said earlier, the boys would’ve been more than happy to play LEGO Star Wars the entire time, but I had planned games for them so I forced them away from the Wii!
Game #1: Guess The # Of LEGOs
This was a super easy one and they loved it! I got one of my small jar containers from the pantry, emptied it into a ziploc (it was storing baking powder) and filled it up with LEGOs. Then I had the boys guess how many were in there! No one got close (there were 237 and the highest they guessed was 110), but they still had fun!
Game #2: Pin the shark in the water!
This was an impulse buy at Party City, but I’m glad we got it. The boys had fun playing it and I just didn’t have the time to cut out a full lego figure from construction paper to play pin the head on the LEGO guy. (Price of this one was $4.99).
Game #3: LEGO Relay Game!
The boys had a blast with this one! I divided them up into two teams (they had to pick either a red lego or a blue lego from a bag to determine which team they were on) and lined them up. There were two bowls at each end of the yard… an empty bowl by the team, and a bowl full of legos in their color on the other side. They had to run across the yard and put one lego at a time on a spoon and run back and put it in their bowl and then pass the spoon on to the next player. Once the last person was finished then the first person ran again. They did this until one of the teams got all of the LEGOs in their bowl! They probably could’ve played this a couple more times, but we were running short on time since they had played LEGO Star Wars for so long earlier!
Game #4: Team Build!
I wasn’t quite sure how this one would work out. I had seen it on Pinterest and thought it was a great idea so I decided to try it and the boys loved it!! You get a bunch of random LEGO pieces and put them into a bag. Pass the bag around the group and each kid takes out one of the LEGOs and puts it on the flat LEGO board. It’s kind of like the game where you start a story and each person has to build onto the story as you go along… except with LEGOs! The boys were very proud of their creation (and all of them enjoyed it… from the 4 year old up through the 10 year old!)
6. Party Favors
I wanted each boy to be able to take home his own LEGO figure from the party, and I was worried this was going to be one of the most expensive items of all. Each LEGO person at the LEGO store is $3.33, so times 9 boys (because even though there were only 8 boys, you have to buy them in groups of 3 at the LEGO store) is $29.97 plus tax. So instead I got two of the LEGO City Police Minifigure Collections at Target for $8.99 each. Each of the boxes came with 4 guys, so it was perfect! And the boys really enjoyed putting them together too (I’m sure the pieces didn’t end up going with the right characters, but everyone was happy with what they made!)
I also got them LEGO Star Wars pencils, pencil sharpeners, and notepads – around $9 total.
Plus the party bags (the treat sacks) which were $2.99 for an 8 pack.
Total for party favors: $29.97 (for EVERYTHING… which was as much as the 9 LEGO men would’ve started to begin with!)
7. The Piñata
The Piñata was another impulse buy but it was such a hit with the boys! The only problem was that it didn’t hold together very well and ended up busting after only a few kids had had their swing at it (anyone know how to reinforce a Piñata?). That was okay though because the candy falling from it more than made up for the breakage! And there really is no reason to stuff a Piñata FULL of candy if you’re not having a big party. We only got about $6 worth of candy and it was plenty for all 8 boys.
{UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who let me know what those strings are for! 😉 }
Total cost: $15 for the Piñata + $6 for the candy = $21
If I had it to do over again I wouldn’t have bought the extra party favors which would’ve shaved $9 off the cost, and I would’ve prepared a little more beforehand and made our own Happy Birthday sign to shave off another $5.99.
GRAND TOTAL: $96.44!
Definitely under my ideal party price of $100, and if I wouldn’t have gotten the extra party favors and happy birthday sign it would’ve only been $81.45!
We’ve had parties at the park with just hot dogs, chips, drinks, and cake that cost more than this (because you have to feed EVERYONE, not just the kids) so I was very very happy with the final price of everything!
And ALL of the boys (from age 4 up to age 10) had a blast!
I would love to hear your LEGO party ideas too!! Where do you shave off extra costs on birthday parties?
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with so many details! I love it! I will definitely use some of these ideas. Where did you get the pencils and notepads?
-Elizabeth
We’re having an Angry Birds birthday party for my 4 yr old this weekend. I picked up two gift certificates from Restaurants.com for a local pizza place for $6 total for $50 worth of pizza! We’re also making our own Angry Birds pinatas and rigging a slingshot so the kids can shoot them at the pigs (green balls!). It should be fun!
My son’s 4th bday was Legos. We were closer to $150. Here are some of the things we did:
1.) Bought 2 Lego Brick molds (ice cube trays) off ebay used – $7.50. Grabbed a couple bags of Wilton candy melts from Hobby Lobby on sale in each red, blue, yellow, green. Melted, poured, popped in freezer. Repeat. Each kiddo had 1of each color in favor bag.
2.) Ordered 3lbs Blox candy from Amazon. Shaped like Legos, tastes like SweetTarts. But you can Actually BUILD w/ it. Each favor bag had a scoop.
3.) Went to Lego website (activities tab) and printed off color & activities pages. Made a “book.” Added a .25¢ 4pk of crayons from Party City. -favor bag.
4.)Etsy.com – andersruff- lego inspired printable coloring wall poster. $24.00. Custom w/ your kids name (in Lego font) mini figs w/ childs age and bricks. Tons of bricks! 36″ x 144″! This was a huge hit…the kids loved it. Printed @ Kinkos in 3 sections.
5.) Food- PB&J in rectangles w/ circles of J on top. ‘Bumps on a log’ -celery w/peanut butter & raisins along the top. Crackers w/ lil’ circles of cheese affixed w/ dot of cream cheese. Watermelon squares- we used a small melon baller to half scoop and placed grapes in the holes.
6.) We had our 1/2 sheet cake made at local grocery for $18. It had a Lego surround (sides & top border) and random Legos peeking through. Very cool.
7.) Bought small box of Legos. Randomly put 4 (because he turned 4) together. (x number of kids at party.) Superglued. Drilled hole in one Lego & threaded keychain through. $15. BEFOREHAND. and this turned out much more tedious than I thought. The boys loved drilling Legos, they ended up drilling all the remaining Legos in that box.
Next up…my almost 2yr olds Mustache Bash. Ideas on how to keep that under $100??
Mustache Bash? I’ve got to hear more details on that, lol!
GREAT JOB on the LEGO party too! I love the idea of the wall poster for the kids to color!
So far:
1.) Sticky ‘staches for everyone to wear (parents too.) And pink ones for the girls. An asst of styles of course.
2.) Pin the mustache on J (poster size blow up of the baby & card stock cut outs using cookie cutters)
3.) Our version of a photo booth- plywood booth & props (‘staches, ties, hats, necklaces, wigs, sunglasses *garage sale finds)
4.) Chocolate mustaches lollipops using ice cube mold
5.) Cardboard ‘staches & cardboard lips w/straws thru them for the drinks.
6.) Cookie shaped ‘staches.
7.) Invites- “I mustache you to come to my birthday.”
8.) Favor bags- “thanks for coming. Here’s your ‘stache”
He’s turning 2 so we wont be game heavy. We also have a family member who has a bounce house business and we are very fortunate that he ‘gifts’ the kiddos one for their parties.
A LOT LEFT TO DO. June is coming fast. Aghhhh….
we are having a lego party in a few weeks 🙂
I’ve been blogging a bit about preparing for our lego party here: http://www.homemadeserenity.blogspot.com/
you know i saw that and i think that is so neat how you managed to plan a very successful party for under $100.00
Danita – Love it!! Those are some great ideas! You are way more crafty than I am. 🙂
This is really great ideas, I really like this
I am soo loving this lego party idea and I love that you took us step by step and gave us links to find supplies … great job, I am passing this on to my best friend for her son’t birthday party and may steal it for my son for next year … good job! …
Utokia
http://www.shesgotflavor.com
Thanks for taking the time to post all this info. I’m throwing a lego party for my ten year old son, and wasn’t quite sure where to start. Thanks! I’ll certainly be using most of these ideas!
If you live in the Austin area there is a great place that rents Legos for brithday parties. They have tons of themes and great prices. Block-Party-Rentals.com
To answer your question about the piñata-this particular piñata is a pull string piñata and is not reinforced for bashing. When that is all that is available, we cut the strings and duct tape the bottom. You can color the tape to match or buy matching duct tape these days. The ones without the strings on bottom are ready to bash upon purchase!
Love the way you priced everything. I got lucky because I threw a huge lego city party for my 4 y/o and when my turning 6 y/o asked for Lego Star Wars I got excited because I get to reuse ideas, candy molds, etc!
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Love these budget LEGO birthday party ideas! I guess those ice cube molds have a ton of uses. Since my kiddos will (hopefully!) love LEGOs for a while, I’m probably going to buy them!
As a part time party planner I love doing everything on a budget. I try to use what I have an my imagination and so far im just a couple bucks in in just using things I had and im almost complete with favors and decor/centerpieces.
I used legos we had, some jewelry pieces I had and I was able to do 25 lego necklaces and printed out lego coloring books( mini) I will be buyinf the mold, found them all for 6.00 on ebay and making rhe crayons, to which i bought at staplds for free ( rebates and coupons) i have the baggies from a previous project and those will be the favors. I made a le go pinata out of crepe paper and boxes I had and will stuff with candy and other goodies I have ( I love the 8 pack play doh from the dollar tree and army mwn from there so 4$ total for the toys and another 3$ for a bit of candy) I also covered other boxes for centerpieces that I had ( empty fruit snack and cereal boxes are great) and made those in to legos. I made some tables with ikea small tables * on sale for 5.00 a piece and I made 2* for the kids to play with lego ( already have around 3000 of them ) and each kid can bring home whatever they make cuz really why do I need 3000 legos ???? For food we are doing simple finger sandwhiches, a pasta salad I make, some chips, dip and other munchies like pretzels and crackers , dessert will be rice krispies, cookies, cake pops, brownies and such all homemade by me. We have 20 kids ( with possible siblings) and 35 adults . Our total food last yr for the same menu came in at 40.00 from shopping in bulk and makimg everything ourselves. We are excited about this party and we are so glad to see other peoples ideas, as they have brought many of ours to life. I make invitations and banners, food tents, water bottle labels annd such so that part is free. I print everything at home ( call it 5.00 for paper and ink if that) and I print the invitation at walgreens ( 2 per 4×6 picture) I will be printing 20 of them for the 40 total we wil lsend out and the thank yous which I made we will print at the same time during their .10 a print sales bringing the total for thank yous and invitations to around 6.00 . We look on track to spend our target of under 200.00 including a park rental, to which we have our own bounce house ( an investment we made as a family a couple years back as there are 10 cousins who use it every year, we more then get our moneys worth after half the first yr!!)
Hi – I thought I’d add one more LEGO freebie that you could add to your ideas. For our Lego party, I called the Lego magazine folks and asked them if they would send me 10 Lego Club magazines to put in party favors, with two of those having “Lego Friends” inserts, and the rest not having those inserts. Well, Lego sent me 20 free magazines – 5 having the “Friends” inserts. It was a fun way to round out our favor bags for free. (Subscriptions to Lego Club magazine are also free.)
Im just researching this theme and found your invitations idea inspiring. Im Pinning it! Thanks!
Your ideas are AWESOME! My grandson is about to turn 7 and this is PERFECT. I cannot believe you did so much for this price!!
Thanks for the great post! I wanted to share a few Lego Movie Instant Downloads I found. There’s lots of great stuff But I particularly love the Birthday Banner because it also includes every letter of the alphabet so you can write whatever you want!
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/InstantBirthday?section_id=16732321&view_type=gallery
Thanks so much for collecting all the information about fonts and invites. Was able to use this morning to make invitation quickly ( I waited too long to make them). It came out great.
For all types of parties and ages. If you are having a pinata & you have 8 kids(or 9 with the birthday child) put exactly that amount of everything in the pinata. After it has broken open instead of the children rushing in and getting uneven amounts,turn it into a game. Call it a pinata hunt.Call out an item,(spinning top or lollipop) then have every child find one and bring it to you. As they bring you the items add them to the loot bags. Two birds with one stone. And parents can then decide individually how much candy their children can have. Used it for my son’s birthday years ago and have passed it on to many. Don’t forget to mention it to the kids before the start whacking the pinata. Have fun.
I love this idea!! Thanks so much!
I love this. Some brilliant ideas and something I will be doing for my sons 6th birthday this year.