Do you do birthday parties??

[Canadianmommax3]

You know with lots of other kids going somewhere, paying insane prices.

Well we have with our two boys, I really have no idea why we started it in the first place, maybe when it was just one it wasn't such a big deal, but now there are three.

My son turns 9 tomorrow we told him this was the last party (we will still have family one)

So i am thinking that i may not start the tradition of kids party with my daughter. Mean??

also my poor son had his kid party today, only one kid came he invited 5 kids two parents called one to say yes and the other no because her son would be visiting his dad which is cool. I felt so bad for son.
My dh took them to the movies.

[teachma]

My six year old has had one birthday party, the year he turned 4. While I did have it at my home, once I factored in the entertainment, the cake and the food, it was just as expensive as renting out a kid gym, movie theater, clay studio or any of the other places our friends choose for their children's parties. I did it for a really silly reason-- because I started to worry that ds woud seem too "different" if he didn't have parties like everyone else. For his fifth birthday, dh and I gave him the option of a birthday party or a new computer for his bedroom. We agreed to spend the same amount of money on the computer as we would have on a party. I was thrilled when he selected the computer! This summer, for his 6th birthday, we were moving to our new house. We offered him some decorating items (new quilt and rug) or a party, and he chose the things for his new room. We will likely keep up this birthday tradition with him for a while. Now dd will be a different story. At 2.5, she is the original party girl! We may wind up doing parties with her because she lives for them. We'll see...

[USAmma]

My almost 6yo has had exactly one party. It was a half-birthday party and very simple. I am just not real big on parties. When she's a little bit older I'll probably let her have one friend over for a sleepover, or let her invite one friend to something fun like a movie or trail ride. My toddler has never had a real party (she got a surprise party at a playdate when she turned one, but I did not plan it). We take the kids out to eat for their birthdays and then have a home-made cake.

[~ATenthMuse~]

We don't do it. I have with ds, but in the most recent years we've just had family. I think having huge birthday parties is just way too much. Ds would rather we do something special (go somewhere) or stick with another tradition we have for his bday. We talked about a party this year and still decided to do something else. Same goes for dd, special family time.

[ombra*luna]

Well. I've done about 33 big birthday parties for my kids at this point. We do it every year, for every kid. The last couple of years, my older son has been keeping it more low-key, just having 3 or 4 friends for a sleepover and a movie, but in general they have been big. Dd had two big sleepovers (one at 9 and one at 13) and lots of little ones. Younger ds has had at least 25 or more kids at every one of his parties.

It's just what we do. Most of the parents around here do it too.

In contrast, I had one party when I was a child, on my 8th birthday. I remember, also, that one of my brothers had a party too (and his was much more fun, at a lake with a big brown grocery bag full of homemade popcorn - I think that was the only kind of popcorn that existed in those days - and cupcakes with strange mustard-colored frosting).

I only was invited to a handful, also. But I don't know if that was because they weren't happening, or just I wasn't invited.

[charmander]

My kids don't get friend birthday parties each year. Most years, it's just family with a birthday cake or going out to dinner. DS has had exactly 2 friend parties - once when he was three (and we had a Little Gym party) & last year he had a small slumber party when he turned 7.

Next week, he will have his 3rd friend party for his 8th birthday - another slumber party at our house but with entertainment this time (a Roving Reptile person is coming with all kinds of reptiles). And then, I think that is going to be it for a couple of years.

But, he's been invited to all kinds of parties - bowling parties, roller skating parties, Chuck E. Cheese parties, other Little Gym parties, etc. etc. so its not like he hasn't had his share of these things.

To me, it just seems so materialistic and expensive to throw a huge party each year. Birthdays are important when you are a kid, but I think many parents go to extremes.

[aywilkes]

My DS (9) has had one real birthday party. When he turned 5 we did a bowling party and a sleepover. What WAS I thinking about a sleepover AFTER the party with 4 additional boys.: Anyway, I think when he turned 4 I took healthy cupcakes and a pinata with toy prizes up to his preschool. Since then, it has varied. One year, we invited 2 of his friends to go to a Masonry festival for kids where they got to learn about the building trades and had lunch and a cake afterward. Last year, we took 2 boys to a restaurant, for ice cream, and a movie. We lived in ecuador during this time too in a rural area and the boys had never been to the movies or a restaurant so it was really something special. I think I prefer the "get a couple of good friends together and let's do something you enjoy" type of celebrations - my son seems satisfied with them too.

Originally Posted by Canadianmommax3

You know with lots of other kids going somewhere, paying insane prices.

Well we have with our two boys, I really have no idea why we started it in the first place, maybe when it was just one it wasn't such a big deal, but now there are three.

My son turns 9 tomorrow we told him this was the last party (we will still have family one)

So i am thinking that i may not start the tradition of kids party with my daughter. Mean??

also my poor son had his kid party today, only one kid came he invited 5 kids two parents called one to say yes and the other no because her son would be visiting his dad which is cool. I felt so bad for son.
My dh took them to the movies.

[maya44]

Wow, can't imagine NOT doing parties.

This has been a highlight of my dd's lives from our Hula Hoola Parties (Hawaiian Themed with hula dancing and Hoola Hoop Contests) to our Tales and Treats (Story Telling and Cookie Making) to our "Girls Night OUt" (trip to nail salon and restaurant) they are really special.

And we do HALF B-days too! We do 1/2 a cake, little presents (comic books, nail polish, stickers) and a favorite dinner.

[~*max*~]

Yes, we do b'day parties and I am really trying to simplify them! Mainly because ds is now in first grade & the parties get really wild. This year we are trying it w/him only inviting 4 or 5 friends, plus the kids in our family. That wil bring it to around 8 kids. We also have them at a hired location, just because his b'day is in the winter & our house is really small. The parties mean so much to our kids. They talk about them all year. So even though sometimes I'd rather just do something smaller & meaningful, I go w/it because I know how much they do mean to my kids.

[Canadianmommax3]

i think i only had one birthday party when i was a kid.

[Linda on the move]

We do birthday parties! How big they are really varies because we move a lot for DH's job, so sometimes a birthday rolls around shorty after a move and we don't know many people to invite, but if we've lived some place for over a year the kids have big parties. My kids are really into selecting their party theme and planning games and such around it.

It's about marking the day and having fun - not about the number of people or how many gifts. We've had very fun parties just having one other family over. We had a great party one with 40 people and a jumping castle (the year before we were moving on her B-day, so we went all out). May be it helps that the parties have been all over the place in terms of size -- my kids don't have an expectation of a certain budget or number of guest, just of getting to pick a theme and do something fun.

[Ruthla]

Ugh. I'd like to not do birthday parties, but my Mom is insisting that DS will be "missing out" if he doesn't have one.

So here I sit, with a sprained ankle and fibromyalgia (chronic illness that makes it hard for me to move around) and I can barely hobble to the bathroom on crutches, no way can I make it downstairs for anything (I live on the 2nd floor, crawled upstairs when I came home from the ER) and she's pressuring me to call people to invite to DS' party next Sunday??? I don't even know how I'll make it to a dr on Monday- no way am I doing shit for a party next weekend that I don't even want him to have!

[CarrieMF]

For my girls when they were in playschool or prior to that we'd take them somewhere like the bowling alley. Then when they hit K we did home parties. My oldest is in Grade 3, she just had her party last night. In grades K, 1 & 2 she had big parties with her friends here usually 13-16 kids. Then last year after a major disaster that I still don't know how I didn't go ballistic on the kids that were still here I decided no more big parties. She was allowed to invite 4 of her friends. She wanted to go to Ruckers but I told her she could only invite 3 then. So we went to the movies and then had pizza/cake and opened presents here. Then all 4 of the girls spent the night.

I prefer home parties as chaotic as they can get. The school is 5 houses from mine so I pick the kids up and bring them here, then they're gone within 2-3 hours unless a copule are spending the night.

I do not believe in spending outrageous amounts of money on birthday parties.

If the kids only come to my house, they get a treat bag. If I am taking them somewhere else(like bowling or the movies) they do not get a treat bag.

At my house they may get a pinata or play pin the tail on the donkey. I don't rent things out or do anything like that.

From what I have seen, parties where parents go all out the kids get very overwhelmed and overstimulated.

I will still have birthday parties for my kids until they move out, even if it is just friends over with a cake.

[Tracy Gooby]

Originally Posted by Canadianmommax3

i think i only had one birthday party when i was a kid.

You are not alone. I had 1 or 2. For some reason I don't like having my own birthday parties but i enjoy other ppl's bday parties.

[mammastar2]

We had a few kids over last year for dd's birthday, but nothing fancy. Cake, bubble blowing and playing in her room, some gifts. This year she turned 5 and asked not to have a party, so she and I and her dad went out for dinner instead, and she was happy as a clam (and so was I).

She likes going to other kids' parties some, but she doesn't like too much craziness.

[mommy68]

This is why we've always done family parties with our children. Our oldest is 11 this year and has only had one party his whole life where he invited other children. He was in 2nd grade and most kids didn't RSVP and others just gave lame excuses why they couldn't come. The only kid in attendance was his best friend at that time anyway. It was very obvious why other kids didn't come. Another child that year had a "pool party" and every kid in class showed up to that one because it was more exciting. We had his party at home that year, nothing exciting!!! It hurt his feelings that no one else came.

Kids can be very selfish and not think about others feelings. They won't go to parties that don't seem exciting and it's rude on the parents part not to atleast push them to go and be considerate of the birthday child.

Sorry so long, but if I were you I wouldn't feel bad not starting the "kid" parties with your youngest child. It keeps the child from getting their feelings hurt. We won't be doing kid parties with our youngest one. She will have parties in class at school ONLY. We will save the real party for family, those who truly care for her. My youngest is very, VERY tempermental and sensitive and I can see her getting very upset if someone she invites doesn't show up at her party. This is why we will not invite kids from school to our parties. We will have family parties at home and do something in their classes at school with their classmates. I've done it that way with my oldest all along and it's worked very well.

[LovemyBoo]

We have no family nearby, so a "family party" would consist of just the four of us. Okay for the 3 year old, not so much for the 8 year old.

We've done several parties for ds. I hate planning parties so we've done them at a local kid's gymnasium. The kids get the whole gym to themselves for two hours. During that time we serve cake and drinks and do presents. It came to about $10 a head - about 10 kids - and totally worth it to me. I didn't buy any decorations or supplies and nobody messed up my house.

For the last few years (since he turned 6) we gave ds a choice. He can have a party or do something special with one friend. He's chosen to do something special with just one friend. One year we went to a Renassaince Faire, the other we went to an indoor swimming park, out to dinner, then his first sleepover.

I, personally, hate doing parties so I've been glad when he chooses the "one friend" option. But should he wish to do a party again, we'll do that. It's his birthday and we can afford a party so we'll do something simple if he wants to.

[folkypoet]

Ds is 8.5. We've always had a small "party" with family (including my parents and youngest brother) - pizza, a cake with candles, ice cream, presents, maybe a special movie.... There have been a few years when we also went with one of his friends to the zoo or Chuck E. Cheese's or something, but usually it's just a family thing. I'm glad we've kept it this way. He's always as excited about his family party as he can be. Talks about it for weeks - what kind of cake, what presents he might get, whether everyone will get to be there.... Come to think of it, he's already started the countdown, and his birthday isn't until February!

[annethcz]

nope- no outrageous, large, expensive parties here. We do have family birthday parties, and the kids get to pick their favorite resteraunt for a birthday dinner, but that's about it.

[chanibell]

My dh and I just adopted a child from Russia adn we werent there to celebrate his first bday so we are def going to be celebrating his second! I had a birthday party every yr of my life practically I love parties and I want to give my child that same thing. I think of it as a celebrate life kind of thing. After having breast cancer twice before I was 30 I think of every yr as a blessing.