I think most people are already familiar with Apartment Guide as a resource for finding apartment rentals across the United States. Many of the properties they feature also have floor plans, comprehensive photographs and other information to help you find the perfect rental space. In addition, Apartment Guide also has tips for entertaining and decorating.
And I was recently challenged by Apartment Guide to come up with fun, budget-friendly, entertaining ideas in smaller spaces.
I am actually planning a birthday party for my nephew so I decided to take on this challenge and see what I can come up with! We initially planned a backyard BBQ but the weather has changed those plans. Not to worry, we decided to just continue the celebration indoors! This is my nephew’s 21st birthday so we are having a Mexican Fiesta (his favorite food) and I am hoping to pull together a fun, vibrant party to celebrate.
To make this challenge more exciting, Apartment Guide is offering a $100 gift card giveaway to one My Frugal Adventures reader!
You will get a $100 American Express gift card that can be used anywhere you like. This giveaway will run through Wednesday at 4pm PST.
To enter is simple:
Please leave a separate comment for each entry!
REQUIRED: Do you have any tips for hosting budget friendly parties? If not, just let us know what type of party you’d like to have using this gift card.
BONUS ENTRY: You can either like Apartment Guide on Facebook or Follow them on Twitter (or do both if you like!)
BONUS ENTRY #2: And finally an extra bonus entry if you subscribe to MFA via email, follow on Twitter or like me on Facebook . Be sure to leave a comment letting me know!
*Please be sure to actually leave a comment below. Any emails, Facebook messages or tweets will not be counted. If you are viewing this in a reader just click through to the blog to leave your comment.
Good luck!!!
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We’re currently building a new home and I can’t wait to celebrate its completion with a house warming party. The only problem is finding a way to afford it when all of our funds are tied up in the house. I’d love some ideas on how to economically host a large celebration.
I would host a wine tasting party
I would plan my son’s 6th birthday- which is coming soon! One budget friendly party idea is to find a person who enjoys cake decorating/cookie making and have them design your cake or cookies for you. The want the practice and the cake.cookies will be the talk of the party!
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our little girl is obsessed with bunnies…. i see a bunny-themed party in the future!!! thanks!
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I could really use this card for my son’s upcoming 6th birthday. We are having a Lego party. In order to be budget friendly I am making many decor items myself using recycled materials and Legos we already have in our collection. I will be making a Lego cake with bricks and minifigures on it. We will also have minifigure cake pop heads, upcycled Lego brick crayons favors and chocollate Lego minifigures. For decor we are making a giant Lego minifigure out of old juice boxes. I would use the money to finish my purchases of snacks, decor, balloons and plates, napkins etc.
When we throw a party we ask each of our guests to bring an item. With everyone else supplying the potato salad, beans, chips, buns, etc. we can afford to buy the meat and enjoy a great spread. Plus, it makes for a lot less work on the host.This is a common practice in our circle of friends, so no one ever feels put out.
I would love to host a bbq for family and friends.
coupons 🙂 My daughter’s 15th birthday party! Pick me 🙂
I’d like to throw a Hawaian themed party to celebrate spring.
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I have no tips for a budget party, but I would use this gift card to host a pizza party!!! This will work out perfectly since we just move to a new apartment two days ago!!! honest.
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I would be using this for my daughters 3rd birthday. I use my swagbucks to earn amazon money and buy quite a few of her gifts from there bc I can get them for little $ out of pocket. For my daughters bday I bought generic decorations from the dollar store and used abby cadabby stickers to decorate the signs and what not. I bought just 1 abby cadabby decoration and it saved me lots!
For my daughters 1 year birthday party, we made our own salad, in the weeks leading up to the party, we bought 2 liters of pop on sale (combined with coupons), picked up pizzas and got party favors from Target’s $1 bin when they were 50% off after Christmas.
the only kinds of parties we host these days are kids’ birthday parties, and i love picking up plates/napkins/cups/decor at our local dollar tree store. they have really cute disney/sesame street items for just $1 each!
Game night with friends and finger food to eat is always a successful.
I think a pinata used as a centerpiece with $$ surprises in it would go over well with your nephew. 🙂
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I always ask friends to bring a dish that they are known for
I’d like to have an Easter party!
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I use it for an Oscar party.
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make the food yourself instead of having it catered… saves tons of money. Or, if you don’t have time to make it, have it made by costco if you have one in your area, they make great sandwich trays, veggie trays, fruit bowls etc, and much cheaper than a restaurant!
My cheap party advice is to stock up on items like chips and pop when they are cheap
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A frugal tip is to have a potluck. Everyone brings something and no one has to work that hard
I would love to have a graduation party for my husband!
I love sports parties. Since my wife coupons I just have to go to the stockpile to get the food. Very cheap! 🙂
I would throw a birthday party for my daughter
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We live in a military town (although we’re not military) so many of our friends are here for only a couple of years. This has enticed us to have guests over much more often and in order to have budget-friendly parties, we really just plan ahead and use the same techniques we use in our regular meal planning… whole chickens, fresh and in-season veggies, guest brings the salad or garlic bread. We aim to be simple and delicious, since given all of your attention to your meal is not the purpose of the evening!
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I host my children’s parties at our house. I plan the menu based on what comes up in the ads the week before and I always make and decorate our own theme cakes. Goodie bags are made from things that I find throughout the year on good deal (crayons, gummies, lollipops, pencils, stickers, etc…) We decorate with crepe paper, balloons (that we blow up!), and hang a re-usable birthday banner that was given to us. We keep it small and make sure that the day is spent having fun with our kids and family and not stressing over how much we spent to host the gathering. My sons’ fourth birthday was two weeks ago and including his candyland cake (taste of home from a LONG time ago) and all the food and decor we spent $25.
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I’d like to use the money for my daughter’s birthday party
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I like MFA on facebook. Thank you for all you do!
To keep our parties affordable, I focus on serving easy dishes that feed a lot of people like chilli.
A coupon swapping party!!
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What a great giveaway! 🙂 I am already planning my son’s 6th birthday party in May. I am trying to be as frugal as I can with planning for his little friends. I scored a great deal on tickets for a bounce house place thru one of the daily deal sites! I also got a deal for a local pizza place as well, thru the same site. So my tip would be to keep your eyes open for some of the local deals in your area and plan ahead. I already bought these tickets and the pizza certificate even though his birthday is still a couple months away….at least the biggest expenses (which really wasn’t that big at all, thanks to the deal) are already taken care of!
Thanks for the chance to win! 🙂