how about not having a party period! ;)
I know that is a tough one to pass.myself am a Recreational Coordinator and I love an excuse to plan parties and organize events. However as my child's 3rd birthday rolled around, I was still debating how to have a party and still make sure people dont bring gifts. That is the part that I hate since one) my child doesnt need to get more toys and two) I couldnt stand to see the look on the child's faces who dont get toys, and only elicit fights for those that dont understand yet about gift giving. (in our circle of friends, the moms always buy a group gift...meaning everyone pitch in and one mom organizes to buy a gift for the birthday child. it is a nice idea then with everyone's monies from the pool they can buy a big gift that the mother of the child cant afford and they always ask the mother of the child what the child wishes). Still I always like to make homemade gifts so I mostly opt out of this group gift idea to make my homemade gifts since I am not a supporter of commercialism, materialism things. I prefer the kids to have homemade toys, crafts etc to expand their imagination.
anyway... so back to the point... I decided with big decision to not have a party for my dd this year. We had a wonderful special day together (landed mid week). In the morning we had our usual breakfast birthday table before dh went to work. Blew out candles and sang happy birthday. (we made the carrot muffins together the day before) THen we went for a bike ride (the baby and dd in bike trailer) and visited the animals at the local farms. Played 'boat' at the creek, throwing in leaves or stick on one side of bridge and running to other side to watch it reappear. Then went to the small lake and had a picnic. We talked about the start of spring and showed her how the trees are starting to buds. That soon we will see the tadpoles in the pond (couldnt find any yet) but did see the mother ducks sitting on a nest. We had a lovely day and I had no stress...just worn out from the long bike ride but was fun day. I was so proud of myself not to put on a party since it is my habit to find a reason to organize fun events with lots of games and activities.
I think we have to remember the main thing about birthdays we are celebrating our child's entrance into the world and we tend to get carried away by getting stressed out with the parties and now worried about whether or not to have goodies bag. I think we should focus on if the parties are significant or not.
Instead I think we will have other themed parties throughout the year that are not birthday parties. Then I can easily avoid not getting gifts, dont have to worry about gift bags etc. In the fall I put on a mini halloween party for my dd and her playmates (2-3 years old). We played some games, everyone brought some food for afternoon snack and everyone had fun. No goodies bag needed in recuperation for giving the 'host child' a gift.
This summer we might do a backyard pool party or stuff. I think this way as a family we can celebrate the birthday and the real meaning of celebration of birthday without getting carried away with all the 'ettiquette' one is supposedly supposed to do for birthday parties. these 'unbirthday' parties are maily way to bring the other playmates together for fun themed time. Just wanted to bring another perspective to mind.
Meanwhile enjoy celebrating with your children and live each day to the fullest.
stephanie
: so it was nice to get. But then again, those were rich folks.
: Poor thing was a feeder fish...came in a beta bowl, we moved it to a bigger bowl & then it died. DD was 2, and 
...we bought another fish, couldn't stand the little bowl & bought a 10 gal. tank. THAT fish dies. 
I order things from Oriental trading company like "birthday bubbles" and these cool animal bubble wands. For ds's first b day we did this big themed party with "a day at the beach" theme and included sand toys, fishy crackers, a beach ball, and a book in the goodie bags and I put fish stickers on them. I had fun with it. Some other things that I have put in goodie bags are animal crackers, juice boxes, stickers, hot wheels cars, and ritz bitz (not the healthiest I'll admit, but better than candy).
Ever since my friend's friends' baby died from choking on one of those, I search all goody bags for them and throw them out in the outside garbage before handing them over to my kids.
because he wanted to wear an earring. Thank God I was able to take it out (easily with a hair pin) and not have to go to the ER.
you are awesome. Your family traditions sound absolutely wonderful!!! 
We also included chop stix, a Chinese zodiac chart and a neat Chinese decoration thingy. All of it was packaged up in a Chinese food container which the boys decorated with rubber stampings and ribbon. It was awesome, if I do say so myself. But more importantly, we had a blast making them and giving them away. That's what matters. If you don't want to do it, don't. It's that simple. But for us, it's more than just buying a bunch of junk and stuffing it in a bag. We enjoy planning it out and making everything...it's a labor of love for those we care enough about to invite them to share in our boys' birthday joy.
