Marilyn's Yo Gabba Gabba Birthday Party (Frugal Style!)

My favorite frugal expert, Brandy, from The Coupon Bean, shares with us her great tips on how to throw a totally fab Yo Gabba Gabba birthday party on a budget!

Brandy tells us the following:

All of the decorations were made by me! Yes it is all frugal of course. Nickjr.com had some awesome print outs that really made it easy to decorate. I got ALOT of inspiration from this awesome site gabbafriends.com, thanks!

I first made a center piece. It was really fun to make, and I was impressed with how it turned out. Though all that cutting is very time consuming. Everything was printed and cut out, then taped onto craft sticks. The can is just a Gerber snacks can covered with a yo gabba gabba background print out. It is filled with rice to keep the sticks in place.

I purchased these plastic bowls, containers, and cups at big lots when it was summer clearance. So all of these containers were 75% off an already cheap price. So I got them for next to nothing. I again printed out the characters from nickjr.com and just taped them on with two sided tape.

The table cloth and plates seen here were summer clearance at Michaels crafts. I paid like 50 cents or less for them. I thought they went well with the theme, the center piece actually had a very similar print on it.

The DJ Lance Boom Box was made out of 24 can coke box, silver wrapping paper, tape, and print outs. I made it so it opened and put all the Yo Gabba Gabba characters inside just like the show! The mini boom boxes were party favors for the guest. They are actually animal crackers with the boom box printed out and pasted to the front. I got that idea from a mom on gabbafriends.com, thanks!

The Happy Birthday banner is just a generic one I bought at the dollar tree ($1). And the Marilyn banner is a flag banner I bought at the dollar tree as well, then printed out each letter of her name and taped it to the flags.

The Foofa Cake! Let me tell you, I have never decorated a cake in my life. So I was somewhat impressed that it turned out okay. And it tasted delicious! The cake was made with just a boxed cake mix, and a 13×9 pan. I cut out all the shapes using the same cake. I used pink food coloring with white frosting, and make two different tones. Then used pre- filled cake decorating frosting tubes to draw her face.

The smash cake was FREE! If you sign up for Price Chopper’s Baby Club, they will send you a coupon for a free baby’s 1st birthday cake! No strings attached. They also sent me a booklet with lots of other great coupons to use at Price Chopper.

All the Yo Gabba Gabba Merch I found on clearance and on sale at Target, Big Lots, and Kinney Drugs (weird I know).

I used my office area for the gift table, I covered it with a $1 table cloth from dollar tree. I used the logo colors for the balloon colors, and got a big silver one for the middle. I then printed out Yo Gabba Gabba logo and taped it on.

I made the invites myself, and sized them at 4×6. That way I can just bring it to Walmart to get photo prints of them made. Prints are around 20 cents or less a piece, so it only cost about $2.00 for me to get the invites printed.

Marilyn wore her Foofa Dress she wore at the Yo Gabba Gabba Live show. Her grandmother hand made this dress. It looks just like the ones from the show the girls wear. I will keep this forever. It is just too cute!

The menu was rotisserie chickens from Sams Club, they are like $5 a piece. My mom brought over Mashed potatoes & gravy. I made homemade mac and cheese. Rolls, chips & dip, and soda. It was inexpensive, but delicious and filling meal.

Overall it was a great 1st birthday party, rememberable, and it didn’t break the bank. I can’t believe my little baby is already one!

Check out The Coupon Bean for tons of awesome free printable coupons and frugal living advice!