Need to plan birthday party for saturday

[pomplemoose]

Ok dd's 9th birthday is coming up and cash is pretty tight. I was hoping for some easy ways for us to do a birthday party here (our apartment isnt the largest and she shares a room with her little brother) I dont have money to spend on a big bash she wants to go to one of those inflatable bounce houses maybe we could do that with one or two friends but I'd much prefer to have it here since going there would easily be $50 plus unless you spend $200 or more you cant bring in food or party items (lame). I could handle 5 kids at our apartment for a couple hours how would you make this sound enticing? It's supposed to be 70-75 and sunny but its been raining all week so I dont want to plan on outside time. Maybe a tea party with finger foods? is that too young? or maybe a nail painting and make your own lip balm or something? any other ideas to make her think this will be a great party. Also i need to get invites out either by phone or card today since its only a week away we've been super busy and havent had much time to plan . TIA for your suggestions.

[Shenjall]

Tea party is a great idea! My bff just had one for her daughter yester (turned 8). She went to a thrift shop and bought teacups and saucers for each child (they took them home, which served as the goody bag) and everyone was encouraged to wear their fanciest clothes. Iced tea with simple finger sandwiches was the menu. They actually had it in the park, but you could easily do it inside. Oh! She also gave each child glitter and they all threw it up in the air (outside, lol). The kids had a blast.

[gbailey]

I love the idea of a tea party. Maybe you can do nails too? Targets $1.00 section always has great lip balm and nail polish for little girls. You can put a balm and a bottle in a cute little bag for each guest. I love evite.com for invitations. It's free and they have cute invitations.

[LaughingHyena]

For DDs we did fabric painting, white t shirts were pretty easy to find in the back to school sales and we got a pack of fabric pens from the craft shop.

The kids enjoyed it, it wasn't messy and it didn't take up too much room.

It did mean we needed someone to iron the shirts during the party (you need to iron them to fix the pens so they don't wash out).

We had a lot of make your own pizza parties as kids, the bread dough was made beforehand then we'd roll it out and add toppings. Then watch a movie while we ate it.

[childsplay]

What about a slumber party theme? Just no actual sleeping over?
I remember my 9'th b-day party, everyone wore their pj's, brought pillows and blankets. We watched The Blob, my Dad made pizza, we ate popcorn, did our nails and made our own ice cream sundaes (with LOTS of toppings!) etc,etc...
It was an evening party....not sure the EXACT time it ended but it was dark. (I'm guessing 9:30 -10ish)

I still remember it clearly because it was so. much. fun!