Can you host a birthday party for free??

I'm certainly trying!

Natalya is turning four next week! My big girl! Money is a little tight, so I have been trying to work out ways to get her birthday party set up for free. We aren't doing anything big, just a family get-together at my grandparents' house, so I've been trying to work food into my Publix deals for the party.

I have all the ingredients for 7-layer dip (thanks to my avocado, mayo, sour cream and Ortega q's), and chips from last week's bogo on Tostitos. Cokes were $2/3 this week, and then there are the $1/3 q's, so got 6 of those. Ice cream- well, let's be honest, there's not been a shortage of ice cream deals lately! I have about 8 half-gallons in my freezer still of all sorts of flavors. I got a watermelon last week so I'll cut that up. Then, today I placed an order for a 1/4 sheet cake at Publix, and I have worked out a way to build up enough overage next week to pay for the cake! Thank goodness there's a massive list of moneymakers right now. Paper plates and napkins were free a month or so ago, so that's covered.

The main dish...well, DH delivers pepsi to Papa Murphy. The manager and he were chatting and he was saying how after she gave him a "free pizza" card, I am now addicted to them! So she said, oh, well, in that case...and then handed him four cards for free pizza! So, pizzas... check!

The only thing I have purchased are a tablecloth and banner because she is obsessed with Spiderman, so I got the Spiderman tablecloth and Happy Birthday banner.

I am so excited!