Children's Birthday Parties.. Every Year?

[mjmoon]

Do you through your child big themed parties for their birthday every year? If you have kids with birthdays close together, do you throw separate parties, joint parties or no parties?

I have a few friends who do this... one of my friend's now has 5 kids. She has a 14 year old, 12 year old, 6 year old and twin 4 year olds. Before having the twins she threw each kid their own big party yearly. Now she combines the 12 yo and 6 yos (because they are within a couple of months of one another) and the 14 year olds with the twins (within a week or two of each other). She does this because 4 separate bday parties gets time consuming and expensive.

How do you handle birthdays with your kids?


I had big 1st Birthdays for both of my boys. I've had a couple of other big parties since but not every year. We always CELEBRATE their birthday and have family come by for cake and ice cream so that they know their birthday is not just any other day. I just think the yearly parties where everyone under the sun has to come gets old after a while. It's expensive, the kids end up with tons of useless crap and I've got a huge mess to clean up after spending two days cleaning to prepare for it. I don't know.. Am I the only one who thinks a quiet celebration with family is enough most of the time and save the big parties for the milestone birthdays?

 

[lorac4disney]

I let my kids tell me what they want for their birthdays. My son is very outgoing while my daughter is much more reserved and private. My son delights in big parties where all of his friends are invited. My son prefers to skip gifts and splurge on having all of his friends over.

My daughter prefers a private party with just family members. A pretty cake with candles and decorations are all she prefers.

I can't imagine combining parties, but each person has to decide what is right for themselves.

 

[mnasmom3]

I have 3 kids with Nov, Dec, and Jan bdays....all on top of the holidays. No, we don't throw big themed parties every year. They do have a celebration every year with family and a seperate one for friends, but some years it's just a couple of friends for a sleep over type thing. I try to rotate years on the big parties because they can be so costly. And, now that I think about it, we've been in the same school from the start and I don't recall my kids being invited to any particular kids big birthday bash annually except for one girl, so I'm willing to bet that big expensive themed parties annually isn't the norm.

 

[ajk912]

I give my kids a $100 budget. They can either get $100 cash, $100 in presents that I can order or choose for them if they want the element of suprise, OR $100 towards a birthday party (but no presents from mom and dad).

Luckily, only ONE year did the pick a bday party with their friends, as you all know it's hard to do a birthday party for $100! That was last December, it ended up costing me aboutj $250 when it was all said and done. Ugh!

They always get cake and ice cream and singing and a celebration at home with the dinner menu of their choice with whatever relatives can make it!

 

[mjkacmom]

I throw parties (individual, except for the twins, for now) for each child, every year, spending about $400 for each. We don't have any family in the area. I don't buy them a gift - the party is the gift - and we always have it out, because most of them have winter birthdays, and we don't have the room. The parties are nothing fancy - bowling, gymnastics, swimming - pizza and cake.

 

[twanner]

We just had a "home" party for my DD8 last Thursday. She is allowed to invite 10 girls. Originally I thought having the party at home instead of somewhere (bowling alley, YMCA, etc) would be cheaper. I'm starting to think this is not the case. We spent well over $150, not including gifts, and we still had to deal with all the clean up! This year I convinced my daughter to forgo gifts from the friends that attended. We asked that they donate to their favorite charity instead of bringing a gift. It worked out great! A couple of kids still brought small gifts, but nowhere near the volume of "junk" she'd normally get. My DD liked the idea so much, she requested to do it again next year!

 

[rt2dz]

I have a neighbor with 6 kids. Their birthdays are all within one month of each other. She doesn't do any parties.

I have another neighbor who has two kids within a few weeks of each other and she does their birthday parties together.

I know someone else who has three kids and she alternates which kid gets a party each year. So they have a party and then they don't for the next two years.

This is my opinion. I have three kids. They get a birthday party every year. Two of them have birthdays two and a half weeks apart. They get separate birthday parties.

As far as I am concerned I am celebrating my children. I'm thrilled they are here. I had a hard time getting pregnant, and then staying pregnant with #2. We also almost lost him several times within the first few months. My youngest started out life in the NICU. Every year I can't help but think how they almost weren't here to have this birthday. And they enjoy the party.

It is their special day and they shouldn't have to share it. It is the one day out of the year; things are about them and not the family. Even if I had twins, I probably won't make them share it (as they get older), unless they wanted to. Most of my kids' friends who are multiples have different tastes, interests and friends.

I also figure it is short lived, especially with boys. Most boys I know quit wanting birthday parties somewhere between 2nd and 4th grade. And having a birthday party does not require you spending a fortune. Or inviting 30 kids. Most of their friends have started giving gift cards too, so no little, not touched ever again presents. And for the presents they do get, but don't really interest them. We set them aside and donate them in the box to the women's shelter for the kids who evacuated their homes with nothing. I also don't give my kids presents on their birthday--the birthdays are right after Christmas and the party is more of the gift.

 

[sk!mom]

Yep- every year.

A big party with friends for as many years as they wanted plus dinner and cake and ice cream with the family on the actual day. DS24 didn't want big parties anymore after maybe 9 or 10. DD had a swim party with 24 guests last year for her 12th birthday. Piles of gifts were never really a problem but especially not now. DD got almost all cash and gift cards- she bought a new Ipod since hers died the week after the party. I don't see an end in sight for her. She loves her birthday.

Last year she had the swim party a few days before her birthday since her birthday was a school day. Then on the actual day- I fixed her favorite breakfast. DH took her lunch to school plus cookies from a bakery to share with her friends (she's in Middle School). It was an early release day since they were taking final exams so her grandma picked her up and took her to have DD's hair highlighted as her gift. I picked her up from the hair dresser and we went for pedis. Then we met the rest of the family at her favorite restaurant for dinner. We would have seen a movie after but she had her end of year piano recital that evening. Finally, we went home for cake, ice cream and gifts. DH and I don't give our gifts at the party. We save them for the actual day. So, no we don't keep it very low key.

I think that each family does what works for them. I wouldn't combine birthdays as your friend does but if it works for them- fine. If low-key celebrations work for your family- cool. My DD's birthday seems to go on for several days and that works for us.

 

[Tiffany_MommyOf3]

We do an actual party every year unless they request otherwise - like this year my son is turning 6 and has asked to not have a party and to go to Disney instead - fine with me! hehe.

My childrens birthdays are April 12, May 2, May 10, and January 29.

We do milestone birthdays alone - 1st, 5th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 21st.

We combine birthdays for the May birthdays or sometimes we combine the April and May 10 (they are both boys - the May 2 is a girl so it just depends on the theme). The Jan birthday will always be alone.

When they get older, if they don't want a combined birthday, we def. won't do it LOL. But for now it works since they are all turning under 6 HAHA.

We are doing a pirate and princess party for the May 2 & May 10 birthdays this year. It works pretty well.

Next year, if they want a party, we will be doing the May 2 alone since she turns 5 so we will probably do April 12 and May 10 together since they are both boys and we will do it at the Alligator Farm or something like that... unless they decide Disney sounds better ;-) hehe.

On their actual birthday, we normally go out to eat - usually someplace like Ollie Koalas (a clean chuck e cheese)

 

[wishtdream]

We do a party for each child each year. (except for the milestone birthdays - for those we do vacations. They get to choose the destination with a little help from us.) If the child's birthday is during the week they also get a cake and a birthday dinner, sometimes at home sometimes at a local restaurant, to hold them over until the party. The child also choses a gift from mom and dad in the $35.00 range. In our family we like to celebrate the fact that we have been blessed with beautiful kids. The party's are as much for mom and dad as they are for the little ones. The party's are not fancy just relatives and a few close friends. Most of the time they are at home. Once we rented the local playground. We never do gymnastics or build a bear type parties because we can't afford to invite everyone and have too many cousins to pick and choose.

 

[mommytoone]

I only have one child so I always have a party. Now I have 3 parties for her. One is all friends boys and girls, then a sleepover party just girls of course, no presents, then family. I am actually thinking of doing away with the family parties. I dread those more than the kid ones It does cost more and she gets a present at each, but it is something little at each party. If I had more kids then it would be different. But she will always have a party, not for the gifts but for the fun!!

 

[WantToGoNow]

My small children's birthday's are in December and May. They each get to have a party with their friends and I prefer it be somewhere other than home - neither has asked for a home party yet. I would prefer to pay someone else to do the set-up/clean-up and we just have to show up. My dd5 wanted a "bouncing party" in December. The kids all had a blast - but it was rather expensive. My son is already looking forward to a bowling party.

We have had parties at McDonald's, Chuck E Cheese, YMCA, indoor swimming, Great Wolf Lodge (just family) and inflatables. We had a park party planned for my son's 3rd birthday and it poured the entire day - the party was moved indoor to grandma's house.

My older dd will be 25 in two weeks - she will just have cake and ice cream with the family and then she and I will be going to Dave & Busters (big video arcade).

 

[3goofyboys]

This is my opinion. I have three kids. They get a birthday party every year. Two of them have birthdays two and a half weeks apart. They get separate birthday parties.

As far as I am concerned I am celebrating my children. I'm thrilled they are here. I had a hard time getting pregnant, and then staying pregnant with #2. We also almost lost him several times within the first few months. My youngest started out life in the NICU. Every year I can't help but think how they almost weren't here to have this birthday. And they enjoy the party.

It is their special day and they shouldn't have to share it. It is the one day out of the year; things are about them and not the family. Even if I had twins, I probably won't make them share it (as they get older), unless they wanted to. Most of my kids' friends who are multiples have different tastes, interests and friends.

I so completely agree with this! Each of my kids have a party every year and it is a blowout (I am the person people are referring to when they talk about how ridiculous birthday parties are these days ). I don't do it to show up other people or to have people comment on my fantastic party planning skills. I do it because IMHO birthdays should be a big deal, every person deserves to be celebrated and a birthday is a day to do just that. That said, we probably won't do birthday parties this year because we are going to Disney in September, so that will replace the parties. Also, we have many friends who choose not to have big parties and I think it's awesome that every family celebrates in the way that is best for them!

 

[disykat]

I only have two kids and their birthdays are 6 months apart, so we did parties with friends every year. However, our parties were pretty simple. They always had about 10 people or less, cake, punch, and games at home, and the friend parties stopped after their 10th birthday. When they were older they got to pick an activity with one or two friends. Sometimes they just pick a family only thing - like a weekend at the beach.

Growing up, my brother and I shared a birthday, so the rule in my family was a "friend party" every other year. It worked well. He was 3 years older and I can't imagine if we'd had joint parties! We had a joint family celebration though - with two cakes.

As an adult looking back, I remember the family celebrations way more than I remember the "friend parties."

 

[Leajess99]

Do you through your child big themed parties for their birthday every year? If you have kids with birthdays close together, do you throw separate parties, joint parties or no parties?

I have a few friends who do this... one of my friend's now has 5 kids. She has a 14 year old, 12 year old, 6 year old and twin 4 year olds. Before having the twins she threw each kid their own big party yearly. Now she combines the 12 yo and 6 yos (because they are within a couple of months of one another) and the 14 year olds with the twins (within a week or two of each other). She does this because 4 separate bday parties gets time consuming and expensive.

How do you handle birthdays with your kids?


I had big 1st Birthdays for both of my boys. I've had a couple of other big parties since but not every year. We always CELEBRATE their birthday and have family come by for cake and ice cream so that they know their birthday is not just any other day. I just think the yearly parties where everyone under the sun has to come gets old after a while. It's expensive, the kids end up with tons of useless crap and I've got a huge mess to clean up after spending two days cleaning to prepare for it. I don't know.. Am I the only one who thinks a quiet celebration with family is enough most of the time and save the big parties for the milestone birthdays?

We don't throw birthday parties outside of family and maybe a close friend or 2 for my kids. They choose a trip they want to do and we do that as a celebration instead. We tried the birthday party thing and after 2 years in a row of only 2 or 3 kids showing up we quit wasting the money on that. The kids have more fun picking a place they want to go and planning for it.

 

[LisaNJ25]

Well all of my kids have birthdays between 8/19 and 10/3 so I have never done big parties where all classmates were invited. When they are/were younger its mainly family parties. But those can get big and averge 40-50 people

Right now at this point my teenage does a small family party, my 9yo has friends one and than we do a family/family friends for my 9yo. 4yo and 3yo combined. Their 3 birthdays fall within 13 days of each other.

Yikes that just sounded like a riddle lol

So basically family and close friends until they hit round 6 than they started doing close friends.

This should be nuts in a few years since my toddler who are 6 days apart will want seperate friends parties.

 

[RyJMom]

My oldest is having his Bday party right now - Super Bowl party with 5 friends. We fed them burgers, wings and grilled shrimp. We will have cookie cake and presents at 1/2 time (I'm hiding on computer -letting Hubby hang out and watch game - they are loud)

My 2 boys have Bdays 1 day apart. When they were younger we did combine their parties. They never seemed to mind. On their actual Bday they get to pick where we go out to eat. As they got older they wanted to have sleepovers and we've done those on seperate nights. The last several years we've had a sleepover on Friday and Saturday of the weekend closest to their Bdays. We have let them invite 3-5 friends for the sleepovers. My youngest will have his sleepover next weekend. I'm glad we are past the point of having big parties for 50 people.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I do parties separately for them every year. I like to give them a party and they enjoy it. We also have cake on their actual birthday and if it falls on a weekday then on the weekend we have a meal and cake with family as well! We joke that our kids have a birthday month!

 

[miprender]

I do seperate Bday parties too for each. I have Dd's at the end of June and then Ds's at the beginning of August and now my third Ds's birthday is Dec 28th but I waited until Jan for his first party. Sometimes I feel the summer birthdays are too close and I just keep inviting people over to give my kids more gifts!!! But if I combined them I probably would never hear the end of it.

It has been so far just family and close friends. DD started kindergarten this year and I am a little nervous about having one for her class. We will just have to wait and see on that one.

 

[mjmoon]

I do seperate Bday parties too for each. I have Dd's at the end of June and then Ds's at the beginning of August and now my third Ds's birthday is Dec 28th but I waited until Jan for his first party. Sometimes I feel the summer birthdays are too close and I just keep inviting people over to give my kids more gifts!!! But if I combined them I probably would never hear the end of it.

It has been so far just family and close friends. DD started kindergarten this year and I am a little nervous about having one for her class. We will just have to wait and see on that one.

It looks like your DD is a day older than my DS!