Birthday on a Budget!

Malakai's 7th Birthday Party was scheduled to go down on 2/11/12, the eve of his ACTUAL birthday.

This is Malakai when he was new. I would say a couple of
days old since most of his tubes were removed at this point <3


Well, with several scheduling conflicts, and this Momma get a stomach bug that was a killer, we had to postpone the party. But, that doesn't mean I am not going to make the WHOLE weekend about this kid. After all, he did change my life, and his Daddy's life. And with this weekend, I found another thing to blog about - Awesome cheap/free things to do with your kids! And that is what this weekend was ALL about.

Building and Growing at Lowes!

STOP #1} Lowe's Build and Grow - Lowe's does these kid friendly workshops on Saturdays about twice a month. They receive an apron their first time, and each workshop they attend they receive a patch to iron on their apron. On this particular day, they were building Valentine's Day Card Creators. The site suggests ages 5 and up, but you know your child. Alannah has a decent attention span, and she enjoyed her 3 year old self quite well. The workshop had about 30 kids and lasts between 10 and 11. Build and Grow with Lowe's Click on the link to get information on the next one they are offering. It is a racecar, and we are VERY excited!

1 hour of FUN, 2 aprons and 2 kid made creations = $0.00

Malakai getting CROWNED at Toys 'R' Us



The Birthday Boy!



Flying his Spiderman kite!

STOP #2} Toys 'R' Us - Our next stop was Toys 'R' Us. This is an adventure all in itself. There is SO much to play with and look at, you could literally spend HOURS in here. If you sign up for Geoffrey's Birthday Club, your child will receive a birthday card inviting them to the store. Geoffrey's Birthday Club Sign-Up The card instructs them to go to Guest Services, and let them know it is their birthday. And now for the fun! They make a HUGE deal of their birthday. They get crowned, and an awesome balloon. Next, they announce overhead to the ENTIRE store that the birthday child is in the store and that they would be walking around with their crown and balloon. (Malakai LOVED this part) So many parents, kids and employees stopped to wish him a happy birthday. In the birthday card, they receive a $3 off of any purchase gift card. Now, this doesn't seem like much - but, what I find is that my children can't ever decide on the item they want. It's too hard to narrow down. We spent a little over an hour looking up and down every aisle. Ooohing, and Ahhhing at all the AWESOME stuff. This particular day was very windy, and Malakai choose a Spiderman kite, so we could fly it when we got home.

Over an hour of fun, a Birthday crown, a Birthday balloon, and a Spiderman kite = $0.00 (The kite was $2.99, and his coupon card covered it. (Add the 2 1/2 hours of flying the kite that day - Toys 'R' Us gave us 3 1/2 hours of fun)

Malakai, the Birthday King, BK style.

STOP #3 - Burger King - Next was lunch. What better than a free Kid's Meal, that comes WITH a crown and a toy? If you sign up at the BK website, they will send a coupon for a free kid's meal for your child's birthday. BK Birthday Meal. Malakai enjoyed going in, ordering, and paying with his coupon. He felt like a BIG KID. The plus side to this was the toy. It was a Robot Grabbit Hand. And this was one of the toys he was thinking about at Toys 'R' Us, so SCORE one for BK. He wanted to fly his kite, so we got the food to go. Normally, you could spend an hour playing on their indoor playgrounds.

35 minutes of eating, a Birthday crown, a toy and the excitement of getting a "SPECIAL" meal = $0.00

Yay for 31 Flavors!

STOP # 4 - Baskin Robbins - Baskin Robbins is one of those awesome places that celebrates Birthdays, Anniversaries and just regular AWESOME coupons. And the perk with this particular club is there is NO age cut off. Baskin Robbins Birthday Club SWEET! Malakai and I drove to our local Baskin Robbins while the kids napped away. I was telling him about all the flavors. And he was excited to pick one. We spent some time looking at ALL 31 flavors before he picked Chocolate. Seriously? He is just like his Dad. Ice cream is the EASIEST thing to be adventurous with.  We sat on the bench pictured, and we talked while he enjoyed his cone. Malakai must have told me 20 times by now, that this was the MOST awesome birthday EVER. That kind of thing warms a Momma's heart.


1/2 hour of good conversation, a BIG chocolate Ice cream cone = $0.00


This was followed by me preparing his FAVORITE dinner, and a small family celebration with gifts. I know to some these things don't seem like fun, but I pride myself in the fact that my children truly enjoy the little things in life. And this entire day didn't cost me a DIME. (Except gas) And Malakai truly felt like the ENTIRE day was about him. Below, I am going to list links to the other clubs we joined. And the good thing is we got to use these throughout his birthday week.

SONIC Birthday Club
Denny's Birthday Club
IHOP Birthday Club
Wendy's Birthday Club


Others include Marble Slab, Firehouse Subs, Buffalo Wild Wings and SO much more. I enjoy freebies. And, the crazy thing is - I do find myself wanting to go to places that offer perks like these. Thanks, until next time...