Planning a baby shower or baby’s 1st birthday? When party planning, especially when a new baby is coming, can be pretty stressful. One might wonder what it is going to cost or how can I ensure that my guests will have a fun time without me spending a fortune! Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t have to cost a fortune and cutting financial corners does not mean you have to sacrifice the amount of fun your guest can have. As with most favored gifts, those that are most creative and personalized are most likely to be appreciated and reminisced. Break out the creative thinking to seek out ways to entertain your guests. You don’t have to order catering or even a fancy sushi platter to impress anyone.  Instead, take in some advice and get creative!

There are two key aspects that are critical to your baby’s party success. The first step is to set a theme for your baby shower or baby birthday party. It is usually good manners to leave this decision to the closest person to the guest of honor if you are planning this party for someone else. The second step is to ask for help.  Have fun getting your friends and family involved.  People love to feel needed and productive.  Grandmothers especially love to do anything that has to do with their grand kids.  Any subtle invitation will do. Remember, don’t wear yourself thin when it comes to planning any baby party.  Take some of the decisions away from yourself and let someone else participate and help too.  Not only will this relieve some of your stress, but maybe some of your financial responsibility as well.  It o.k. to ask others to pay for small things.  Typically, guests will offer to pick something up, plan on a dish, or help you pick up any last minute items too.

Beginning with the invitations, cater to your party theme by making homemade cards (don’t worry; it will be worth your time!). Within each invitation specify if you would like the guests to participate in preparations by requesting a pot luck or costume requirement. This will take care of some of the financial burden as well as the decorations. What better decorations could exist than the guests themselves?

Entertainment Anyone? You shouldn’t have to rob the bank to afford entertainment either. Keep the games easy and fun.  Nobody wants to be pressured to play any game that might be too demanding or cause you to have to concentrate too much.  Remember, parties are for fun, not competition between kids. Mold the most common activities to your event to make them unique and memorable. The restriction to choosing a game is that the entertainment should sustain interactions between the guest of honor and guests. Naming word games for a baby shower, pin-the-patch on the pirate for a boy’s pirate birthday party, scary-looking food eating contests for Halloween parties and the list could go on and on. Your own personal thoughts of creativity will be your best ally in planning. With a bit of thought and creativity, you can have the best party anyone has ever thrown.

Party favors are also a fun thing to toss in for the kids to remember the event.  Kids just like stuff, period.  If you have a local Dollar Tree store, or maybe a Dollar store, be sure to stop by and see what kind of party hats and favors you can pick up for a buck.  This is definitely the way to go.  You can make your own cards, hats, and even fun projects for the kids to take home.

Keep the kids occupied and you’ll all be happy.  If your party includes kids and young adults, consider letting them do finger painting or some kind of creative artistic project in the back yard.  Designate a spot where the kids can play and even make a mess.  The memories they’ll have will be worth the mess.

Money Saving Tips For a Summer Family Holiday. If you’re planning on taking your family for a holiday this summer you’re probably interested in how you can do that and still save some money. There are all types of options for you, and one of the best ones is to stay closer to home. There are so many rich and beautiful areas that can be explored right in your own country that there’s no need to go to an exotic location this summer.  How much of the United States have you seen?  Have you considered exploring things within 300 miles of your house?  Sometimes there might even be something across town from you that you haven’t been to yet.  Its nice to find family events and shows right in your own neighborhood.  Who knows, you might even have fun!

The fun of a holiday is mostly about being together, anyway, so why not have a ’staycation’ in your own country? You can be gone longer, see more things, and buy more souvenirs because you didn’t spend hundreds of dollars on a fancy hotel and a lot of airfare.  Not to mention the cost of getting a baby’s passport early.  These things have to be considered if you’re trying to be more frugal with the family budget.

Another thing you can do is go when the summer is just beginning or just ending, because places aren’t as busy then, and some of them will have better rates for things like hotel rooms and car rentals. If it’s not the peak of the tourist season you always have a chance to get something for less especially when you go online.

You don’t have to spend a lot on a hotel room, though, no matter when you go. You can stay in a self-catering cottage instead, or you can even camp. Camping is becoming one of the best ways for families to take great holidays without needing to spend a lot of money. It can be just you and a tent and a campfire, or you can stay in a campground setting that offers running water, an electrical hook-up, and bathrooms, as well as a club house, a pool, and restaurants.  This is not highly recommended if you’re planning a long trip with a new baby.  You have to take steps to be prepared when traveling or camping with a baby.  It’s nice to have the luxuries of home sometimes with a new baby.  There’s nothing wrong with enjoying your own sofa and your own porch for a while.  The new baby is probably entertainment enough.  Enjoy a relaxing and frugal summer.

The Nanny Pay Rates – Learn How Much to Pay a Nanny! If you consider hiring a nanny and you are actually new to the nanny world, then it’s not always easy to figure out the standard nanny pay rates, responsibilities and hours. The nanny salary can be affected by different parameters – the nanny’s age and experience, references, responsibilities, number of children, your location and specific working days. If you don’t know how to set nannies salary then read on for the latest tips and advice.

What needs to be considered?

An average workweek of a full-time nanny is between 50-60 hours. When trying to determine your nanny pay rate you need to consider several important factors:

(1) Experience – how long does your nanny is working as a private childcare provider and how much experience does she have. Some nannies could perfectly fit your nanny profile however can be too expensive for you. When looking for a family helper you should find the right balance between experience and salary.

(2) References – by calling references you will be able to find out how professional your nanny is and maybe learn something about her previews fee.

(3) Responsibilities – there are many different types of nannies profile – live-in, live-out, full-time, part-time – each one can have different tasks to fulfill. As a rule of thumb – the more duties she has the more she need to be paid.

(4) Location – the nanny pay rates are usually higher is urban areas. If you live for example in the city center, a caregiver expects to get paid more.

(5) Working days – nannies who also work in weekends, on top of the regular working days in the middle of the week, should get paid more. When hiring a person to help you take care of your kids you may consider hiring two caregivers – one for the middle of the week and one for the weekends (if it’s affordable of course). That’s how you can let them rest and come back full of energy.

So, how much to pay?

Learning how to set your nanny pay rate is easier than you think. You can start by asking other parents from your area how much they pay. Asking other parents what the nanny going rate is can give you a pretty good idea what should be the right range. One of the most recommended ways to figure out the right nanny rate in your area is to search for and find this information over the Web. For example, if you live in Los-Angeles, use your favorite search engine and type “nannies rates in Los-Angeles” and examine the results.  Sometimes you can also consult with a local nanny service.  They may also provide you with nannies available in your area.

Frugal Babysitting – Determining a Fair Babysitter Rate.  Have you finally found a good babysitter but have no idea what to pay them and what charges for babysitting are considered fair? You’re not alone, this is a common dilemma for parents. They want to pay a reasonable rate to a babysitter but they also don’t want to pay more than they need to. Luckily there are certain things to consider that should help you determine a fair babysitting rate.

The average babysitting rate these days is typically around $10 per hour but babysitting wages can vary widely anywhere from as little as $5 per hour all the way up to $17 per hour or more! The reason for such a wide range is due to three main factors: location, experience, and number of children being cared for:

Location of Family. Where you live does play a role in what to pay a babysitter. Typically, if you live in a large city like New York where the cost of living is higher, babysitting rates are also higher when compared to smaller cities and rural areas. Babysitting is a job like any else so babysitter rates will be affected by the location you are currently living in.

Experience of Babysitter. How much experience a babysitter has is one of the most important considerations in determining a reasonable babysitting rate. A high school student with little or no experience would normally earn less than an experienced adult. All other factors aside, teenagers are often happy to babysit for $5 per hour whereas an adult with a number of years experience would expect at least $10 per hour. It really all depends on your childcare requirements and what type of babysitter you are comfortable with caring for your children; It’s a personal choice.

Number of Children. This is pretty much a given; the more children you have needing a babysitter, the more work it’s going to be for a babysitter and the more money you should consider paying them. How much extra should you pay for looking after more than a single child? It can vary but usually around $1 or $2 per additional child is most common these days.

A common question of couples planning on starting a family is, “How much does it cost to have a baby?” With the media reporting that children can cost hundreds of thousands to raise, cribs retailing at hundreds of dollars and health care expenses soaring, it’s no wonder new parents are concerned. While there is no black and white answer on how much you are going to spend, the good news is that you can make child rearing as expensive or as inexpensive as you choose.

As with many things, babies come with fixed expenses and re-occurring expenses. The cost of fixed expenses, like baby gear and nursery décor, can easily be reduced down to a minimum.

Decorating a nursery can easily run you thousands of dollars if you buy all new furniture, rugs, curtains, wall decorations, closet organizers etc. However, with a little creativity, resourcefulness and thought, you can easily put together a dream nursery for a few hundred, or even less! Keep your eyes and ears open for hand-me-downs, scour online classified, auctions and make it a regular outing to go to weekend garage sales. Update a well used, but dirt cheap, changing table with a fresh coat of paint and some inexpensive storage baskets. If you can’t find a used crib bumper that you love, ask your creative aunt or friend to sew you a custom bumper out of adorable fabric for a fraction of the cost of a new one. Take every opportunity to go to garage sales to find the cute little knick knacks that give a room personality.

Baby gear such as car seats, high chairs, stollers and bouncy chairs can also be found at bargains if you are willing to go with used. Make sure to check for safety recalls on everything you buy second hand.

If you have a good friend or relative who’s planning on starting a family soon make a deal with them that you’ll share baby gear. You can buy the bouncy chair if they buy the swing and you can let each other borrow them when you need them. Newborn gear is easy to share with others because the items only get used for a few months, hardly enough time to get dirty or wrecked.

The costs that you will need to budget for in your monthly budget are the re-occuring costs. Again, these can be as high or as low as you let them. The usual reoccurring baby costs are: formula/baby food, diapers, clothes, doctors visits, and toys.

Formula and disposable diapers can often be your largest expenses. As a guideline, assume that disposable diapers and wipes will cost you around $80 per month and formula $100 per month. However, both expenses can be virtually eliminated if you breastfeed and use cloth diapers. Breastfeeding is free and you can get a years supply of cloth diapers for less than $150.

When your baby is old enough to start on solids you can spend money on canned baby food or you can choose the most inexpensive option of making your own baby food purees. They are easy to make and taste so much better. The cost will only be an extra portion of fruit, vegetables and grains that you already buy.

Clothes and toys can be found second hand, church thrift stores are great places to look, or from generous family members at gift giving occasions. Luckily babies are so curious about the world around them that toys are easily found in everyday objects.

The web is full of free baby products, so take advantage! If you register at your favorite baby product websites you will soon start receiving generous coupons in the mail.

The bottom line is that babies can be raised on any kind of budget. What babies need more than monetary objects are love, attention, and affection, which are all free. You don’t need a trust fund in place in order for you to afford to have a child, if you are emotionally ready to raise baby, then money shouldn’t stop you.