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Parties for your kid's birthday?

Posted September 7, 2015 - 7:04pm

Do you have parties for your kid's every year? Do you do separate parties for your family? We are constantly trying to balance this.

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Hallz105

This is somthing I really struggle with.  Birthday parties stress me out.  One year we let the birthday child pick and event and a friend to bring along and it was awesome.  Took a lot of pressure of me!  We still did a family dinner including grandparents and aunts, uncles and cousins.  My son went to a Mariner's game and my daugther chose to take a friend out to lunch and to see a movie.My youngest's 5th birthday is in less than a month and I have no idea what we are doing yet.  My other daughter's birthday is mid-December so it's always a busy time of year, adding to the stress.  I'd love to hear how other parents do birthdays!  Great topic!


Frugal Minded M...

We offer the kids to opportunity to have a kids party or get a bigger gift.  They always choose the bigger gift.  Since we don't have family nearby, we celebrate with our own family of 7 by getting them balloons, taking them to the restaurant of choice with whole family, having cake, ice cream and presents.  Also since all but one of my kiddos birthday is when they don't have school we do something special that they choose that day.


Hallz105

Ooooh!  I like the idea of offering a bigger gift!  Maybe I can get out of doing parties this year! ;)  I also struggle with who to invite....the guest list gest rather large quickly!


CandyOvercaffed

This was the first year we did not combine their parties. My girls birthdays are three weeks apart and there's a four year age difference. When they were younger and we invited mostly neighborhood friends that worked well, but this year when they turned 9 and 5 we took a different route. We did a low key slumber party for the older one, and a low key play-date-type for the younger. I struggle with this every year though. Definitely stresses me out.


Mommy Ramblings

I absolutely dread parties but not for what you might think. I feel intense pressure that everything needs to go right, I need to get the right pictures, the right video etc.. I am not someone who pours over Pinterest waiting for the next party. I feel such a relief when it is over. Especially when they are young and you have to entertain the parents and the kids. Ugh just thinking about it, I feel like I am having a panic attack LOL.


Hallz105

LOL I totally get it!  A million loud kids running around stresses me out but so does planning party games to keep them occupied.  I always try to talk hubby into renting a bouncy house place or some other activity not at our house but it's so expensive!  In the end, I just tell myself that kids have fun just being together and eating cake.


justamom

I guess I'm the exception here. I love putting together parties & I used to pick out a theme for each one to surprise them. I'd make the decorations, the table cloth, centerpiece, I'd use their toys, whatever tied it all together. Very inexpensive & fun. However, a couple times we didn't get many kids coming over & that caused all kinds of hurt for my daughter.


Your Kid's Table

I love that you love it! In theory I love it, but the execution always stresses me out. I try so hard to choose what I'm putting my time into, but it never seems to work for me!


Your Kid's Table

Oh my goodness, you are all making me feel sooo much better. I love have parties and all the ideas on Pinterest look so cute, but I honestly have no idea how people have the time (or justify spending the money) on so much of it. We have the big 1 year birthday party in three weeks and I am cautiously navigating this yet again, but the first birthday means a lot to me. For my older two we told them a year ago that this year they could choose anything they wanted to do that day instead of having a kids party. They were fine with it as we still had family over for dinner/cake. We had one last month and one at the beginning of August. We and everyone else absolutely loved it!


beachcitymom

I like to have parties but my son would usually rather go somewhere special. This year we are going to Disneyland. We will just have a small family party with cake and pizza. 


sunnykathleen

We usually brought treats into their school on their actual birthday and then held a small friends and family party on a weekend. Tried not to get too extravagant. Nowadays many parents go way overboard!


Your Kid's Table

Yes! My kids are really little still, but they are happy with the simplest things.


jonbonjovious

With my older children growing up we always had BIG parties. I loved planning it with them and spending that time on them. I think times have changed. With my younger children, it seemed birthday parties aren't a thing anymore. We mostly now let the birthday kiddo pick a restaraunt to go to, have a small celebration with family. On the big ones (10, 13, 16) we do something a little more. 


Momofboys

I love planning parties, but having to throw one myself tends to be stressful. When they were younger, we did parties and a big deal, but now it rather depends on what all is going on. For example, for my oldest we have made a tradition of going to the Christmas events at one of the local theme parks because that starts on his birthday.


Your Kid's Table

That's a great idea! I don't think kids necesarily need a party, but to feel special and celebrated by those that love them.


beachcitymom

I agree..a party isn't necessary as long as it is a special day for the child.