Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Cheap Moms Unite!

Okay. I admit it. I'm cheap. For years I've tried to put a nice face on it by calling myself "frugal" or "economical", but I realized today that I just need to own this trait of mine: I'm just plain cheap.

So what brings this to mind today? Well, I'm planning my darling little Kelsey's 5th birthday party. It's her first "friends" birthday party, and I'm trying to make it nice and fun for her. No problem. She wants a pinata. Okay, I say, no problem. She's having a Tinkerbell party, so I go to to local party store to find one. I find this dinky little Tinkerbell pinata for $17.99. It's not even a cool shape! It's a circle with a giant Tinkerbell sticker slapped on it. No way am I paying for that. The thing is empty of course, so not only am I expected to shovel out $20 for this pinata, I have to then ante up another $10 to fill it. What?! And sure, I looked at the cheaper ones... but they don't match my party colors and I'm too OCD to live with that!! You can't combine the primary colors (blue, red, and yellow) with lime green, hot pink, and sunshine yellow! Not in my world, anyway.So what does a good cheap mom do? I come home, hop on the internet, and look up how to make my OWN pinata! I can even print out my own stickers from the internet, if that's what I want! So what that my whole kitchen is covered with a flour/water paper mache' paste? So what that it's going to take me 2 days to make it? It's practically free! And that's when I realized...

...I'm not alone in my cheapness. There's a bazillion moms out there just like me blogging and putting up websites about how to do things yourself because we are just not willing to accept having to pay for a $20 pinata! We are not going to pay for the $20 cake! We are not going to pay for the pre-manufactured, substandard novelties that are supposed to be a part of the today's kiddie parties! I may not have much imagination, but I have the internet, and I'll MAKE the time. What more do I need??

4 comments:

Amberdawn said...

whoo hooooo! Way to exert your cheapness! Life is to dang expensive, hooray for people sharing cheap ideas with us!

SCNONI said...

I'm sitting at my desk and people are looking at me funny as I fall out of my chair laughing. I love your OCD'ness. And, I can totally feel your frustration. I'm surprised that you didn't do that little tirade in the store. My mother would have. I'm SO proud of you!!!!

Anonymous said...

One of my sisters-in-law always reminds us that you can only spend your dollar once. When it's gone, it's gone. Not only that, but if you can save a little on a pinata (hope I spelled that right), then you can spend more on her gift or a movie or a book. I LOVE a sweet deal. Ah, I'm not as creative as you are, however, I'd probably have changed party plans or something.

B said...

Way to go.
Don't let comercialism tell you what to do. I think one of the best things we can give our kids is memories. She will remember that her mom MADE her a pinata. The $20 one would have been fun too that day, but would not have built the same memories. Cheap with money and giving with LOVE!