Small can be good. Parents don’t always need to break the bank to host a birthday party for their children. Some simply can’t afford it, but think they will disappoint their children if they don’t bring in the ponies, cakes from the city’s best bakeries or the top entertainment money can buy.

Parents need to decide what they can afford to spend on the party – and stick to it, according to tips on how to plan a child’s birthday party on a budget from www.eHow.com.

Choosing an inexpensive location, such as a park or your own backyard is perfect for large groups of children – they are free, there is a lot of space and plenty of room for fun.

Mom Cyndi Rothan of Prattville, Ala., says her backyard is just large enough for an inflatable water slide and has room for a dozen or more children to run through freely.

“Why not use the resources I have?” says the mother of three daughters, ages 5, 8 and 11. “If the girls want to invite as many people as they do to their birthday parties, then there will be some cuts made as far as entertainment. I save a lot of money having it at home, and am lucky their birthdays fall in warm months so we can do this.”

Here are 10 money-saving tips culled from the Web site Birthdays Without Pressure (www.birthdayswithoutpressure.org); Jonni McCoy, author of “Miserly Moms: Living on One Income in a Two-Income Economy” (Bethany House Publishers, 2001, $13.99); MoneyInstructor.com and the Web site The Dollar Stretcher (www.stretcher.com) for birthday parties that won’t blow your budget:

• Decide up front how much you can afford. Setting a budget – and sharing the details of that budget with your child – can help avoid spending too much and also help your child have realistic expectations for the big day.

• Don’t invite too many people. Bearing in mind that kids – especially young children – can connect with only so many people at a time. Remember the traditional guest list formula: Invite as many guests as the child’s age.

And instead of spending a lot of money on invitations, consider handwritten invitations, which add a personal touch to the party.

• Brainstorm the theme with your child. Find out what your child really wants the party to include, and let him or her do much of the organizing. He or she may even take pride in coming in under budget and using the savings for something else.

- Keep the food simple. Do you really need to provide full meals for everyone, or would cake, punch and maybe some chips and dip suffice? What’s more, you and your child could have fun making the cake together and decorating it.

Also, premade foods should be purchased in bulk – kids usually are happy with inexpensive treats such as hotdogs, pasta salad, and even baby carrots and celery sticks.

- Keep decorations simple, too. A simple “Happy Birthday” sign and some streamers may do the trick.

• Plan around an activity. During that brainstorming session you have, dream up a low-cost party activity that’s right up your kid’s alley. The party could center around baking and decorating cookies, putting on a talent show or a play, playing dress-up, hosting a dance party, doing a scavenger or treasure hunt or building a massive sandcastle.

• Stay home. You’re bound to spend much less money if you invite kids over to your home than if you take them out to a restaurant or an amusement park that charges per head for birthday parties.

• Buddy up. If you do want to throw a more extravagant party one year, you could consider teaming up with other parents whose children were born around the same time and sharing the costs.

- Plan ahead. You can squirrel away presents for your kids – and for other inevitable gift recipients – throughout the year in order to avoid getting hit with too much of an expense all at once.

• Be open to alternatives. Instead of traditional birthday gifts, think about giving your child a new experience or privilege – perhaps a later bedtime hour or curfew. You also could take the day off work so you can spend time together, and you can start a tradition – say, always making sure the birthday boy or girl gets breakfast in bed or the choice of that night’s special dinner menu.

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On the Web:

www.birthdayswithoutpressure.org, Birthdays Without Pressure offers alternatives for parties

Mike Johnson pours a sample beer during a meeting of the Auburn Brew Club in Montgomery, Ala. That state is not among the 46 in which home brewing of beer is legal.

For years, Alabama beer aficionados have been trying to get home-brewing and the sale of high-alcohol brews legalized, but have failed.

Now the proposal’s startling transition from dead bill to potential law mirrors the transition of Free the Hops, the nonprofit, beer-loving statewide organization that brought up the legislation. During the past three years, Free the Hops has gone from a grass-roots group that believed it had ideas for good laws, to a more sophisticated organization with a plan on how to transform these ideas into laws.

Free the Hops emerged in 2004 because some of the state’s most dedicated beer connoisseurs believed Alabama’s beer laws were so outmoded that the state had become out of sync with the rest of the country.

Among other changes, the group wanted to reform Alabama’s restrictive laws on brew pubs, which required that they be in historic buildings in counties where beer was brewed before prohibition. That law limited the number of brew pubs in the state to three.

The group believed the changes would not only help beer drinkers enjoy exotic brews, but have a huge economic impact on Alabama, where the laws made it possible to sell only a handful of what were usually selected as the top 100 beers in the world.

The group knew its beer. When it initially tried to get the alcohol-content law passed in 2006, it didn’t know the Alabama Legislature.

Any bill in Alabama that deals with alcohol is controversial, and there were groups working hard to defeat “alcohol legislation” that they believed would only hurt the state.

Some opponents argued that the higher-alcohol beer would corrupt teenagers and lead to more drunken-driving arrests.

Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, a bill sponsor, said it was unlikely that teenagers would try a get drunk on beer that can cost about $40 a six-pack.

But a representative of Alabama Citizens Action Program, which opposes any expansion of alcoholic sales in Alabama, said if teenagers wanted the beer, they could find a way to get it – including by stealing it from their parents.

“The bottom line, is that the more alcohol there is, the more alcohol problems you’re going to have,” said Joe Godfrey, executive director-elect of Alabama Citizens Action.

Free the Hops faced another problem: Legislators had no real reason to listen to their arguments. At that time the group only had about 50 members.

Beer distributors, who have a lobby, would gain nothing from passage of a bill allowing independent beers and expensive imports into the state.

Faced with all these problems, the bill literally became a joke. Two years ago, the House presented it the Shroud Award for the “deadest bill” of the session.

“In the long run, I think (the award) helped us both because it got us publicity, and because it showed us some of the things we needed to do,” said Dan Roberts, Free the Hops’ legislative liaison, which like all the organization’s positions is unpaid.

In 2007, the organization used some of its limited funds to hire a lobbyist.

John Little is not only a Montgomery, Ala., attorney but also one of the South’s most talented home brewers who believes that Alabama should legalize home brewing like most of the rest of America. He knows many professionals who brew beer and have declined to come into Alabama from the 46 states where brewing is legal.

In 2007, the Free the Hops bill failed by only three votes.

The group then found something more important than a lobbyist – voters.

By having events throughout the state, the group increased its membership to more than 900 members this year. It also began mobilizing them.

The organization found members who lived in the districts of legislators who were unsure of how to vote – and had them make a call or write a letter, Roberts said.

And unlike last year, this time the organization has the facts to back up its argument and is making sure legislators hear them.

“I think Georgia changed its beer laws in 2004, North Carolina in 2005 and South Carolina just did it recently, in 2007,” Roberts said.

“So we can look at those states that have recently done it and then look at the drunk driving statistics and see that there has been no change. You can look at the underage drinking statistics, no change. The only major change you see is economic impact.”

By Kym Klass, Rick Harmon