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Wondering how to throw a Hot Wheels birthday party that will be super fun and easy to do? You don’t need a mommy magic wand to pull off this party! Don’t miss these 10 budget-friendly Hot Wheels birthday party ideas including a complete printable party plan decor, games, and food ideas – all on a budget!
Let’s talk about how to throw an awesome Hot Wheels Birthday Party! When my youngest son turned 5, his obsession with all things trains, turned into a love for all things cars, so naturally, I decided to throw him a Hot Wheels Birthday Party.
I know you are a busy mom – and I realize you may not have time to read this full post. If you know your want to throw a frugal car themed party for your child, but really wish someone could do all the hard work for you planning the games, decorations, etc, then head over to my shop and snag our Hot Wheels Birthday Party Printable Pack now!
WISH PLANNING A PARTY WAS A PIECE OF CAKE?
Get Your Hot Wheels Birthday Party Printable Pack Now!
The pack includes an agenda, sample invitations, supply list, decorations, food, and complete instructions for games to keep kids busy the entire party! Go ahead – I’ll wait.
Want to remember this post? Pin this post, 10 Hot Wheels Birthday Party Ideas, to your favorite Pinterest board!
Frugal Birthday Party Ideas
If your child loves Hot Wheels cars, this is the perfect theme for a super fun party that you can do on a serious budget. Now we are speaking my language – fun and frugal!
Here at Frugal Fun Mom, we love to have a good time, and pair that with saving money and you have a perfect match! That’s exactly what I aim to do with this Hot Wheels Birthday Party.
Check out these posts for other fun birthday party themes that you might like – One & Only Theme that fits ANY Kids Birthday Party and Best Boy Birthday Party Themes.
Fully Planned Birthday Party
I know you’ll love it, because I know how stressful planning a party can be. It’s sure helpful when you can find an entire party, all planned and ready to go, that you can do without spending a ton of money. All my parties are guaranteed to be fun and frugal – after all, if it costs a ton to do, it’s not fun anymore – right?!
Did you get your Hot Wheels Birthday Party Printable Pack? I hope so! It’s full of even more ideas than you’ll see in this post! Plus, you can print it out and refer to it while you are in the process of creating your party!
While you print out the full Hot Wheels Birthday Party Printable Pack, I’ll give you a quick overview of some of the best tips included in the downloadable pack so you know why you don’t want to pass this up!
Again, if you kept reading and never had time to snag our Hot Wheels Birthday Party Printable Pack – you can do it again now.
My Favorite Stores To Get Birthday Supplies
My favorite stores to get birthday party supplies are Dollar Tree, Walmart, and directly from Amazon. When I’m in a pinch and need something right away – I’ll go right to Amazon and find what I need. Lucky for you, I’ve also a created a list of these common party supplies that you can get right from Amazon. These are the supplies that are needed for most birthday parties I plan, so if you want to check out the party supply list here you can.
I’m lucky to have a Dollar Tree and a Walmart right around the corner for my house and I can find cheap deals on most of the stuff I need to pull off a great party, but there are many times I just go to my party supply list and shop online right from there.
10 Best Hot Wheels Birthday Party Ideas:
1. Host Your Party At Home
You will save yourself a lot of money by hosting your party at home instead of going to another location that you need to pay for. With that said, if you can find a free location that works better – go for it!
2. Keep It Simple
You don’t have to hire a clown, balloon artist, DJ, face painter, professional photographer, etc. in order to have a great party. A few decorations, cake, friends, games and you have a recipe for a great party!
3. Make a Budget
Set your budget and go from there. Full disclosure – in our house, we like to keep all of our parties under $50 (that’s for everything – décor, food, games, goody bags, cake – everything).
In fact, for most parties, I aim for around $35, and you cou can do it too!
A child’s birthday does not have to expensive to be good! With some simple savings tips, elbow grease, and hassle-free planning you can do it too – I promise, and I’ll show you how!
4. Make A Plan
Create a simple Word document agenda, cost spreadsheet, guest list with contact info, and supply list to use while you plan your party. For your convenience I’ve created all 4 of these documents and they are included in my Hot Wheels Birthday Party Printable Pack, If you still haven’t grabbed the printable pack, you should!
5. Include Your Child In The Planning
Get your child’s opinion on the theme, guest list, cake ideas, and what fun games they might want to do. Then, go from there! You don’t have to include everything they want – keep it within reason and within your budget.
When picking your child's birthday party theme – include your child in the planning! Share on X
Maybe you choose one thing they really want (for example maybe a face painter or balloon artist), and then be as frugal as possible with all other things. Don’t forget, it’s ok to tell your child no too.
Also remember, there are a lot of things you can do on your own that are just as good as a professional, or at least you can fake it! Most children will just be happy you gave it a solid effort.
WISH PLANNING A PARTY WAS A PIECE OF CAKE?
One time I ‘hired‘ a friend of mine to do face painting. Was she a professional? Nope. She did a great job faking it though, and the kids never knew the difference, plus she did it for free as she was a good friend.
Birthday Party Savings Tip
SAVINGS TIP: Ask your friends to be the entertainment. If you have a friend that can draw simple things really well, ask them if they would be willing to be your face painter. All you need to do is provide the tools they would need – like the face paint.
Make it easier for your friend by having them just do very simple designs – like a star with a splash of glitter (because glitter makes all things in life better)! Simple designs are festive and are quick to paint, which ends up being a life-saver when you have a lot of faces to paint.
MONEY SAVINGS TIP: Ask your friends to be the birthday party entertainment. If you have a friend that can draw simple things really well, ask them if they would be willing to be your face painter. Share on X
6. Create Fun Activities To Do
Don’t only decorate – plan fun things to DO! Often times we get so caught up in making the party look amazing, with super cute decorations, that we forget to actually plan fun things to do at the party. This is an area that a lot of us moms mess up on, and I’m guilty of this as well.
We get stuck in making the décor look awesome and forget that the kids don’t really care about the décor – they want to have fun!
Fun means having things to DO – not just cool decorations to look at. Make sure you have simple décor that is fun and easy to do, but spend your time on the “FUN” part of the party.
8. Make Your Own Games
I like to make a lot of games based off of a carnival theme and adapt the games to fit the theme. For example, you can have a “Car Walk” – just think of a good old-fashioned Cake Walk! Same thing, except if your number is called you win candy instead of a yummy baked good.
I made numbers 1-10, with a colorful car on each one, and taped them to my driveway for the kids to walk on. When the music stops you had to be on a number. Pick a number out of a jar and whatever number is called wins a piece of candy.
Hands down, this was the all-time favorite station by all the kids at the party. I mean, who doesn’t love a good ‘ole cake walk?!
Other games included: Tire Toss, Pin Wheel, Tire Eating Contest, Car Race, Car Fishing, Stop Light Pinata and more! I detail how to do all of these games with photos in the Hot Wheels Birthday Party Printable Pack. Download it now, so you can have a handy printout to refer to with in-depth details on how to pull it off!
7. Keep The Decorations Simple
We all know we can get lost in the décor! It’s easy to spend a a lot of money at a party supply store buying tons of decorations that will look awesome, but like I said before, young boys want to have fun!
Make your Hot Wheels Birthday Party décor simple, but still festive, and spend your money on the fun. I detail all the decorations I made for this party in my Hot Wheels Birthday Party Printable Pack, and I can tell you, it was very frugal! Download now so you can see all the cute decorations that you can make too!
I’ll let you in on a simple trick – I like to buy a few pieces of poster board from Amazon, Walmart or the Dollar Tree in colors that match the theme. Then I cut the poster board in fourths and use them as the background of my homemade signs. Canva is a great place to make your own signs and they are cheap!
Make your birthday party décor simple, but still festive, and spend your money on the fun! Share on X
9. Goody Bags Can Be A Part Of The Actual Party
Goody bags can be a controversial topic. A lot of times quite a bit of money is spent on a bunch of cheap junk that breaks the first time you try to use it. I know not everyone will agree with me, but I usually just give out candy, afterall, it is a birthday party!
Don't give out cheap junk in your child's birthday party goody bag – instead, opt for candy! Share on XI recommend buying cheap solid color lunch bags like these that I found at Dollar Tree (you can find fun colors like red/blue/green at Walmart or even the Dollar Tree). Pick a color to match your party theme. If you can’t find colored bags, just use the standard brown paper lunch sacks.
Then print out a Hot Wheels themed picture that you can download from Google and glue to the front of each bag. Using a marker, write each child’s name on the bag.
It works best to give out these bags, empty, at the beginning of the party. They will fill up the bags with the candy they get at each activity station – including the pinata. There is no need to buy extra filler items that will be thrown away later – just use candy and the kids will love it!
10. Make Your Own Invitations & Thank You Cards
You can make your own invitations on Canva and use the same layout to make a Thank You card.
I like to make invites that are simple, one-sided, 3.5 x 5 inch postcards that can be put in an envelope or pop right in the mail as a postcard. These are the note cards I like to get to make my invites.
It’s much faster and cheaper to just make your own, print them out and mail, versus hunting down a matching invitation at the store and hand-writing in all the info (at least it is for me). Plus, I love to make stuff on my own and personalize it!
WISH PLANNING A PARTY WAS A PIECE OF CAKE?
Keep it Simple
You can find a lot of ideas on Pinterest for the design and go from there. Again, just keep it simple! If the thought of making your own invitations doesn’t sound good to you, then just find some you like on Amazon or at the store.
I’ve also seen a new trend lately of just texting the details to the invitees and not even worrying about a real invitation. I like sending out invites, but it’s totally up to you. I’ve even seen someone simply make an evite where you pick a design from their standard templates. It does save money on the postage! Just do whatever works for you and don’t worry about it!
It may sound like a lot of work, but besides making the signs and few other décor items, it really wasn’t that bad! The party was a lot of fun, and really, you could use the same games to fit any theme for any party! My son loved his Hot Wheels birthday party and for me, that’s all that matters!
Don’t Forget Your Hot Wheels Birthday Party Printable Pack and Guide!
Don’t forget to snag your Hot Wheels Birthday Party Printable Pack!
Other Frugal Birthday Party Planning Posts You Might Like:
- Only Supplies You Need For A Kids Birthday Party On A Budget
- Save Money On Party Food – Frugal Friday Tip #15
- How To Make A Pinata The Easy Way
- One & Only Theme That Fits Any Kids Birthday Party!
Want to remember this post? Pin this post, 10 Hot Wheels Birthday Party Ideas, to your favorite Pinterest board!
Photo by Marvin Kuhn on Unsplash
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