My little princess has been looking forward to a Frozen party since she first saw the movie in theaters… but I was dreading the royal spending that would likely accompany such an extravaganza. Although I found many, many wonderful ideas on Pinterest, many of them seemed far beyond my limited budget and creative talent. If you’re looking for a Frozen party plan that doesn’t require a royal budget, check out these ideas!
In the post below, you’ll notice that I’ve broken down the cost of each individual things. Just as an overall estimate, though, I spent approximately $26 on food, $11 on fun and games, and about $11 on decorations.
Wanna build a snowman? 😉
Food
The food is always my favorite part. Lately, it also seems to be where I spend the most dough. I was worried that the kids would be disappointed with the limited snacking opportunities I provided, especially after our fantastic Skylanders and Pokémon parties this year. Nobody complained, though – in fact, they really enjoyed it! I spent about $26 putting this table together.
Olaf’s Noses – ~$2
I spent roughly $2 on a bag of snack-sized carrots. Just set them on the plate. Doesn’t get easier than that!
Elsa’s Snowballs – $1
Luckily, we were partying in October and I found marshmallows on clearance for $0.50 per bag! Even without the clearance deals, though, this would have been a very affordable snack.
Kisses to Thaw Anna’s Frozen Heart ~$3
A bag of Hershey’s kisses, poured onto a plate. Easy!
Arendelle Punch – $1
With only six kids in attendance, one 6-pack of Koolaid drinks was enough. These packs are $1 each at Walmart!
Kristoff’s Ice Blocks – $2.50
To make Kristoff’s Ice Blocks, I simply prepared two packs of Berry Blue Jell-O and cut the Jell-O into squares immediately before serving.
Do You Wanna Build a Snowman? – $8
I had originally intended on passing out ‘Build-a-Snowman kits’ in Ziploc baggies, but I just didn’t like how it turned out. Instead, my sister-in-law let me use her amazing serving tray! We arranged marshmallows (part of Elsa’s snowballs), chocolate chips ($1/bag), pretzels ($1.50/bag), candy corn ($2/bag) and edible eyes ($3.50) in the tray. This free printable label from Happy Money Saver provided the finishing touch!
We Finish Each Other’s Sandwiches – $9
I make these pinwheels for every party and I always look for a way to work them into the theme. To make them, I spread Ranch dressing on a tortilla and add deli meat, sliced cheese and lettuce. I roll it up and then slice it. I spent about $9 on these, and they took about 15 minutes to assemble.
The Cake – $Details Below
I learned one very important lesson while I was scrambling for last-minute cake decorations. If you’re throwing a Frozen party, absolutely do not wait until the last minute! Our party was on Saturday and I didn’t start shopping for cake decorations until Friday. Almost every store was sold out of their Frozen supplies. It’s a popular theme, y’all – don’t procrastinate like I did!!!
So, to make a long story short, the cake did not turn out how I’d intended… but it was alright. My daughter loved it anyway. I was lame and bought my cake instead of making it homemade this year. I spent about $15 on a delicious multi-colored rainbow cake.
Then, of course, I messed up the frosting on top… so I added a lot of sprinkles from a $2 container.
I finally tracked down blue rock candy at Party City. It was in the area where they organize supplies according to color. It was $2 per pack and I only needed one.
The finally touch was the Elsa figurine… which I couldn’t find any where. My husband found this snap toys in the toy section at Walmart for about $12 each, so we bought them as presents AND cake decorations! If you’d rather shop on Amazon, here’s the Anna figurine and the Elsa figurine.
For lack of a better Olaf, I added these Frozen-themed candles that I bought on Amazon.
FUN & GAMES
Since there’s no snow in Washington in October, we had to improvise. With a little help from Pinterest, we were able to build snowmen, have a snowball fight and pin the nose on Olaf! The base price for these activities was $7.50, but I made two batches of snow for a total of $11.
Fake Snow – $3.50 per batch
We made two batches of snow for six kids. To make it, I sent my older two outside with a bucket to mix four pounds of cornstarch with two cans of shaving cream! It was a mess – but they had a blast! We packed up the snow in large Ziploc baggies, stored in the freezer and took it out when we were ready to party. It stored well and was a blast for the kiddos. It was very easy to spray off the driveway, too.
Snowball Fight – $1
We had a great snowball fight using white balloons! The kids also enjoyed popping them when we were done, but that’s probably because I have a history of putting treats inside the balloons at our parties.
Elsa’s Secret Treats – $3
My children would be completely confused if I didn’t hide some candy in some balloon at some point during the party, so I tucked Frozen-themed treats inside blue balloons for their popping pleasure. I spent $1 on a small pack of balloons and $2 on treats.
Pin the Nose on Olaf – $0
My 3-year-old decided to be Olaf for Halloween, so he volunteered to wear his costume for sisters birthday party, too.
I simply printed this wonderful free printable from A Thrifty Mom and laminated it for our Olaf game. For the noses, I used Paint to erase everything but Olaf’s nose and printed several noses for the kids. The kids wanted to play this again… and again… and again… and again…
DECORATIONS
Since I saved so much money on the food and fun, I added some special decorations for Kayla’s party. In addition to my son who volunteered to be Olaf (his Halloween costume was $10 at Walmart), we had an Olaf poster (also available at Walmart), a table cloth (also available at Target) and a happy birthday banner (also available at Target).