Suzanne O’Connor’s Bargains LA

The Big Bash!

Sometimes I go for the easy fix & a bargain price at the same time. This weekend was one of those occasions.

We gave “the kid” a big birthday bash at the house, inviting a mix of 25, 12-14 year old boys and girls. Yikes-these are middle schoolers. We offered no big plans for amusement or games, just music and access to our new Beatles Rock Band. (Which was a bargain at Costco at $229).

We had 5 pizza delivered from Domino at $62. No real bargain there. Didn’t use a coupon, but we did get some extra buffalo wings and two big bottles of Coke thrown in.

Hubby went out to get the loot:
Costco.:
Cake $16.95- fed 45 people
A bowl of fresh fruit @ $11.85
3 packs of Guacamole at $7.99
Rembrant cheese $8.99 a lb instead of $18.99

Big Lots:
Plastic plates $4.50 for 72 plastic Hefty plates
Plastic 72 forks $1.50
Chinet Napkins $1.50 for 200ct at Big Lots.
12 rolls of toilet paper @ $5 at Big Lots.
2 Margarita chips @ $2 a bag
2 bags candy @$2

Ralphs:
2 bags of fresh chopped veggies ($4.99 a 2 lb bag).
2 bags of chips @ $3.99 a bag
Sour cream $2.50
4, 12 packs of soda at $3.50 each

We set everything up outside and at 6pm the festivities began. I knew this would be a taxing party.

It was a rather loud party. A lot more kids showed up than anticipated. A couple kids on BMX bikes decided to jump over other kids. Ouch! When the food fight began, it was immediately squashed!  Beatles Rock Band was hit. It was fun chaos! By 11pm it was over. Some of the girls slept over. The next morning they got bagels ($13.95 w/ cream cheese at Goldsteins) and left over fruit salad for breakfast.

It came to around $163 all together. Add in the $139 for the Nano Ipod gift, a $15 tip for the delivery guy, and the morning bagels, we came in at $330.  Not bad for a party and a big gift.

We saved …. maybe $100 by just shopping at local discount stores. If we had driven a bit more, chopped our own fruit and veggies and used coupons we may have saved an additional $15-$25. But the additional savings wasn’t worth the extra work…. Sometimes it isn’t. Especially when you have a looming kids party in front of you.
But by using good sense and shopping your local discount stores, you can save.

After cleaning up the mess, I slept a straight 12 hours the next day. Nuff said.