Blogging Away Debt Our Journeys to a Debt-Free Life

by Hope

You can imagine my utter joy when Gymnast ended his 18th birthday Saturday with the statement “best birthday ever” and then reiterated that again on Sunday. Anyone who knows him, knows that is high praise indeed. I love my, baby son, but phew, he is high maintenance.

Here’s how I pulled off the best birthday ever with very little money…

1. Dollar Tree for the win on new birthday gifts. I picked up a pack of birthday bags and filled them with like items that I knew he would use. There was a car cleaning bag, snack bag, and journal/dream big bag.
2. I visited the local coins and currency shop where they have $0.10 candy and filled his existing water bottle with candy. Then wrapped it.
3. Finally, I scoured the house for things that I could gift him…jump rope, phone controlled outlet, velcro straps, and command strip hangers all got wrapped up and gifted.

The Day’s Activities

I made a Texas style breakfast at home…breakfast burritos.

Then Beauty, he and I headed to downtown Atlanta where we spent the day taking pictures of him at one of his favorite picture taking locations Ponce City Market, i.e. playing paparazzi. He drove so I didn’t even have to pay for gas.

He also did some shopping. Beauty and I enjoyed sitting in the air conditioning after several hours of running after him with cameras.

Throughout the day, I shared memories and videos specifically made by far away family members to celebrate him on social media platforms. He spent the evening reviewing all his photos and the 12ish social media posts I had posted throughout the day and all the comments from friends and family far and wide.

All in all, a great day. A hot day. An exhausting day. But a great day. And I am so proud of making it a success with less than $20 spent. Birthday on a budget for the win!

Read More Birthday Posts from BAD & Around The Web

$0.99 cupcakes – Twins’ Birthday

Double Dipping as a Birthday Present

Birthday Help – The Big 21

A Birthday Wish for My Missing Son

Good Old Fashioned Paper and Pencil Budgeting Is Best

Hope

Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 3 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.