Saving time and money planning your Sesame Street birthday party

OK, deep breath. There's a lot to keep track of when you're planning a Sesame Street birthday party. Decorations, food, activities, invitations, invite lists, thank yous … . Tired yet?

But don’t panic. You can do this. In fact, the younger your child is, the easier this will be because you set the expectations. So step one is to decide just what really needs to happen. Do you really need 500 balloons? Do you have to have individually crafted invitations? Do you need three courses, plus cake and ice cream?

Seriously, take a close look at what you have planned for the party and make the decisions that will help you have a good time – not just at the party but in planning it. This also means making decisions about allowing someone else to make the cake or using pre-printed invitations or bringing out the goldfish crackers rather than homemade snacks.

One other option to take a look at is the packs that include everything you need for the decorations – plates, cutlery, napkins, balloons, crepe paper, etc. Most of the time, these packs help you save time and money by giving you the basics in your theme, and you don't have to worry about forgetting the napkins or candles. And – best of all – you can save good money by buying the pack – up to 33% sometimes.

Now, I'm a big advocate for working with solids and mixing things up rather than buying everything in the theme. But if you're looking to save time and want to have the Sesame Street birthday-themed plates and napkins anyway, it's definitely worth taking a look at. And since the packs generally come in counts of eight or 16, you can always add in some solids to round out your numbers and cut costs even more.