What do you do when your child's birthday is coming up and you have no money ?

I know that right now, it seems like a big deal to her, but honestly, how many people have memories from when they were four? If you want to do something, I would do it after the fact, and I would do something that's memorable, w/out spending the money that all the dora decorations entail. I would invite her friends over, have a pajama party (even if it's at 1:00 in the afternoon) have them bring sleeping bags, set up a favorite Dora movie, pop popcorn, and have them get a whole bunch of other snacks that are otherwise forbidden. Let them veg out and eat and watch the movie, then maybe they can all get changed and do a fun activity.. Like swimming, or whatever it is that four year old girls do (I have boys, so i'm kind of clueless really). This way, it will still be dora themed, but instead of wasting the money on things that will be thrown in the trash (ie dora plates, cups etc) you spend it on a movie for her, (bonus, it's part of her gift..) and she has a great party. Also, you could get a Dora pinata. kids love those.. Hope I helped! I say, a late party is better than no pary at all..

Oh that's rough. Well, I can think of maybe a few suggestions, however I don't know if they would help any. Perhaps you can talk to your family. When you are with them for the wedding, perhaps you can have a dora themed dinner one night for her. Maybe the family will help pitch in with some decorations. And then explain to your daughter that she will be celebrating her birthday with all her family. And nobody has ever said a party needs to be big with all the party favors and stuff. Perhaps invite 2-3 of her friends over, maybe a sleep over. All you really need is maybe some pizza and a cake. Is that affordable? I realize it's the new house, but maybe they can build a fort in the living room. Keep it small. You'll just have to explain to your daughter that having a few good friends at a birthday is better than 100 aquantances. Yeah, that's tough for a four year old to understand. But at some points you just have to play the parent. Good luck with this.

I had the same problem when I moved one summer. As we have four of the five our birthsday in the summer. I suggest have a party for her after you move in. After you can get settled. Get her something simple in the mean time and explain she will have a party for her..But later. It doesn't matter how later..just as long as you take the time to do celebrate hers like you do the rest of the kids. Cause I am telling you if you don't. Than you decide to continue to have parties for the other kids. You will have problems later on..I should know because my dad and stepmother did the same to me. Because we went to the lake every summer on the weekends. My birthday was never celebrated. But all my sisters and brother were..Guess how that made me feel? I know she is only four. But she is old enough to remember everthing now.

That's kinda tough. How big are your party's usually? She is young so, her idea of what a "party" is could be flexible and could be manipulated. My kids used to equate birthdays to the birthday cake. It's hard to explain but if it was a party there had to be cake. If there was cake. It was a party. One year we were stuck indoors with hurricane warnings on my daugthers birthday. I bought cake beforehand and we had a small "party". You could do that on moving day. Have your "party" at dinner time. After the bulk of the moving is done. You could set aside an hour or two for your family and have Birthday Pizza and cake. It might work.

I dont know if this helps, but some of my friends sometimes have joint birthdays/ parties/ celebrations as it splits the costs and more people come making it more fun. Sometimes of my friends even have their parties half month before or after their actual birthday, I dont mind as long as I get to help them celebrate. Maybe you could get family and friends to help make decorations for that theme and ask if they can contribute food and drink- but organise with people who is bringing what (you dont want five bowls of homemade coslaw lol). Im sure people will be willing to help if they know that your about to move. Good luck.

I had that happen to me. It was for my son's eighth birthday. We moved from Dallas, TX to Minnesota we arrived here the day of his birthday. He was older so he was able to understand we explained the situation and told him we were just going to buy him a cake and have the dinner of his choice. We promised him that as soon as we could we would give him a party of his choice. Here in MN winter started soon after that and we weren't able to do it until the summer since he wanted a pinata. I don't know if this helps you any since she is so young.

Being a single parent with 4 children I can tell you that it has happend to me more than a few times. You just make do with what you have. Bake her a cake and put Dora decorations on it. You can probably get them at a dollar store. One time my daughter requested a Strawberry Shortcake theme and I tried to make it special for her. I had bought a box of cereal that was "Strawberry Shortcake". It had her picture on the box. I cut it out and wrapped it in cellophane wrap. I put it on the cake and used my decorating kit to pipe stars around the outer edge of the picture. I put fresh strawberries on the cake too. She loved it. Even though you will be tuckered out after your move, plan a small party for her. Scrape together your pennies, have a tag sale if need be. Even a small party can be one that will put a smile on your 4 year olds face. Good luck to you. Big huggers!

This is very delicate situation. How to disapoint a child...:( May be if happens to me, i will try to make this party, but more simple and with less money.Or i will try to give my child another idea for celebrating her birthday...And if it`s not possible to celebrate the date, may be it will be possible to celebrate yesterday or even some days later?

Sometimes times are hard. I have been in the same situation. You just need to work around everything. She is still young, so you don't have to go way over with the whole birthday thing. You could still do a small birthday Dora theme for cheap and maybe buy her one good gift or something. Just have something small and simple. If you don't have money at all to do anything right now, then just hold off on the birthday for now. Let her know she will have her party, but it will be later on.

It did happen to me. I told my sister and my parents that I just don't have the money and they bought the cake, ice cream and 3 more kinds of food for us to share with some children and cousins. They also bought something special for my daughter. It is really so touching and I can't help crying over it.

I've not been in your predicament before. But with money short for your family, it will be difficult. But there are a few options that you can choose from. 1. You can try to have the party with only your immediate family members. Keep it small, bake your own dora cake. ( Simply have a plain icing or marzipan cake with her name, place small dora figurines to decorate.) 2. You can try to ask the host for your family gathering if you can celebrate your daughter's birthday together with the rest of the family. It is a win-win situation because your daughter will get to celebrate with her aunties, uncles, cousins, etc.. 3. There is always a belated birthday, when you have a little more money (i.e. next pay day). If you talk to your daughter, sit her down and explain to her that the time is very tight to do her party. With a new house, there is so many that needs to be done. When all else settles down, she's going to be happy to have her friends over and celebrate her birthday in her new house. - Lyn

If someone you know and love has a special day coming up and you can't afford to buy them something special or throw them a good party, then the only thing left to do is improvise. You have to make your own decorations using whatever you can find around the house or buy some cheap stuff at the dollar store. For the cake, you have to bake it yourself since it will be much cheaper that way. As for presents, that really depends on what your child wants. If they want a new game console, then you're outta luck. Anyways, as a parent, you could always say, "You don't have to do chores for 1 whole month, that's your birthday present." Who knows it just might work..

its not happened where i hae no money, but recently i ordered a game my son wanted from amazon, it was one he really wanted so i got this for him, i thenm had 15.00 left so i went out bought some nnibbles, jelly ice cream and baked a cake, made sandwiches, and made him a tea party for some of our family and a few of his friends, he was very happy... he is only 6 but it dont think he was too worried about not getting loads of presents, he was surrounded by people that he loves and had a really good day. and finally my advice, make the use of what you have and dont stress!!

I'm not sure about the timing, but as for the party, it is still possible to have a Dora party, even with little money. (We do parties on the large, but cheap, around here. :-) ) Make it special with *lots* of decorations. A bag of 30 balloons costs about $1.50. A roll of crepe paper is about $.50 (get two colors to intertwine) Two people in about an hour can really decorate a room. Try tying several balloons together with thread or yarn before hanging. Find some Dora clip art and print it out as a "poster" (check the printing settings - most printers can do this.) Print it in color or b&w and color it yourself. Tape the pages together into a poster and hang. Go to the official Dora website for coloring pages and games to print out. Baking a cake is inexpensive but may be too much during a move. You can buy an inexpensive sheet cake and decorate with Dora figures (Walmart had them at one point for $.88) Call your daughter's friends' families and let them know of the time and place for the party. Party games my kiddo liked when he was four: Duck, Duck, Goose, London Bridge, Statues (freeze when the music stopped.) The kids really loved just batting the extra balloons around. Most of this can be prepared in just a couple of hours and cleanup can be quick if you have paper plates. (And serve clear liquids like lemonade or lemon lime soda). If you don't have a good place for the party, one popular option around here is to have it at a public park - there's picnic tables, shade, grassy areas for games, and after the cake there's playground equipment to run off some energy.

Congradualations on your house . I don't have any kids yet but when I have some I think that if I have no money for a party that I will tell them taht we will have a party when I get some money and tell them that I didn't forget them and will have a party just as soon as I can . Kids just like to have parties so it shouldn't matter when you have one just dont' forget ot have one some time so your kid don't think you forgot about him .

Maybe you could try waiting and have it later on or the next month . If you take to her and tell her that she is going to have a party just not today maybe she will not mind waiting and if you do this then you can wait til you have more money to get her something nicer .

Explain to her that you cannot have a Dora Party on her actual birthday because of the move. Then tell her that instead, to celebrate her birthday your family is going to have a very special dinner and then take her to her favorite restaurant for dinner and give her some gifts. Tell her that you want to have a big Dora Party for her after you get back from the wedding. Then you can make the party about having a new house and give it a Dora Theme. This worked for us when my son's 4th birthday well between paychecks and we were really hurting for money. We took him to McDonald's (his favorite place) for his actual birthday and then when it was payday, we had a small party and called it our "Payday Party". He didn't really care about getting the party on his birthday, he just wanted to have the party.

I wont bother anything as this case is simply special and so special... I will run to some finance provider and loan my money because I know I will return it after I get my own money byt that time B'day will be gone... so get the party celebrated and enjoy and then think for the return...I have a nephew of 4 and I do not have kid.. so i think i can also do the same thing for her if this is true..

i have 5 kids 2 yr apart and there birthdays come close behind on top of that i am a single mother. so what i do is i cook there favorite dinner buy a cake with there person of choose and ice cream and get a little gift. we all sing happy birthday blowout candles and look forward for next year.

Use Freecyle.org to see if anyone has anything Dora to decorate with. Also try thrift stores for cheap stuff.