Children's Birthday parties

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Question:

How do you celebrate your childs birthday? I have a 5 month old and a 16month old.

I was wondering if you do a kids party?
A party with grandparent and aunts and uncles and such??
A party with just grandparnets??
Or just a small party of the birthday boy/girl and immidiate family (sisters/bros and mommy and daddy??)..

I just don't know how this whole birthday thing works! haha thanks!!

 

[jlaspoq]

1st birthday - party with our friends / family (adults plus their kids)
2nd birthday - no party
3rd birthday - kids party - just a small # of children (3 or 4) - not adults
4th and up - let the party time begin! From here on it's been whatever friends the kids want to invite. (We have NEVER invited the whole class to a home birthday. That's what cupcakes at school are for, and thankfully, even that trend has declined in our area.) # of kids depends on what we're doing - if expensive per person, then fewer kids - if overnight, fewer kids - etc.

Have fun!

 

[becka]

1st birthday - Home party with grandparents, an uncle, a friend from work who is like a second Mom to me, and my best friend and her DH and kid(s) who are the same ages as my kids.
2nd birthday - The same
3rd birthday - The same
4th birthday - DS just had his 4th birthday party and he really wanted to invite his friends from preschool so we did the Chuck E. Cheese thing and invited his preschool class (there are only 9 kids including DS). He had a blast and while I can't see us doing a big party thing every year I know it was a big deal to him to have "his" friends around for his birthday rather than just my friends and family.

 

[aprilgail2]

1st birthday-Big party, adults and kids out in a local restaurants party room
2nd-small party with just 4 of her friends-Chuck E Cheese
3rd-whole preschool class plus friends-Tiny Tots Town party place
4th-Wood Kingdom whole class plus friends
5th-Wood Kingdom-whole class, kids from karate, kids form soccer and friends
6th-Ice skating-friends, some girl scouts, some from her class, some from karate

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Thanks so much!!! i really just needed a feel as to how these things work! haha..it seems that our families feel offended no matter what we decide..you know:
oh well dear old aunt marthas cousins brother was upset he couldn't go..and so on and so forth! haha..

DD had a family birthday party here at home and my 2 BFs were invited too, but not my aunts and uncles or my DHs..i didn't want to clean up after them (i was 9months pregnant) AND we don't see them much..AND not many people want to go to a kids party..i certainly don't like going to them but my FIL complained the whole way!!!

And we keep getting invited to DHs cousins childrens parties for when they are 4,5,6,7,8, and so on and so on..they just keep doing it and we rarely go. So like i said i just didn't know if there was proper protocol

 

[Bunchkin]

Stalker Friend-O-Mine,

DD had family parties for ages 1-3 and then friend parties after that.
DS the same. He will be 4 in July and I think it will just be a small one this year. Last year was huge, he's our only nice weather birthday person in the family, so we had a huge bbq with games and a bounce jump (a Mickey one!!).

But I'm getting tired of the big, expensive parties and having to clean afterwards. Keep it simple sweetie!! KISS!!!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

ooo simple i like! i have winter babies!! i wish i had nice weather ones!! haha..

Thanks for finding my threads stalker-buddy!!

 

[mommytotwo]

We always have a party with family and friends at home. Usually we have anywhere from 30-over a hundred people attend. We bbq, make things in the house, and some people contribute food to the party. Then we have a pinata and other games for the kids along with goodie bags. And put centerpieces and party favors out.

 

[challada]

Well, we have family thousands of miles away...so we don't do family parties.

That said, my parents do make a point of flying in for my kids birthday weekends every year (wow, what awesome grandparents!).

Here's what we've done:
DS:
1st-small party at home w/friends (he fell asleep...friends had fun).
2nd-bounce castle at home w/friends
3rd-train party w/lots of preschool friends
4th-train party and carnival w/lots and lots of preschool friends (yes, I had a carnival in the park for my son...even strangers stopped by to play).
5th-mcdonalds party (i was tired from the year before)
6th-pool party
7th-weekend getaway w/friend
8th-weekend getaway w/friend
9th-nothing...baseball got in the way
10th-pool party w/plenty of boys
11th-trip to WDW w/friend

DD (winter baby too):
1st-small party at home w/friends
2nd-small party at home w/friends
3rd- "I will NEVER do parties at my house any more" so small thing at pizza place
4th-pool party at indoor pool
5th-drama queen stage extravaganza w/lots and lots of preschool friends (rented a Hall, used stage, dressing area, etc, etc)
6th-sledding party w/friends AND trip to Chicago for American Girl party w/cousins

All right, looking at my list, my kids are too spoiled....I think they will not get any more parties.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

So it just seems varied by person! i swear people make me feel as though i'm going against the birthday code of ethics or something!!

 

[TiggerStac]

We live in a young neighborhood w/tons of kids my sons age.

1st: family and neighborhood families (cake, pizza and bounce house)
2nd: same
3rd: same
4th: We were at WDW for his birthday. 2 weeks before had bbq/pool party at my parents house w/just family and a few close friends.
5th (this year) Doing the same as above (bbq/pool party at parents)as we will be on our way to the carribean on the Wonder on his birthday. I am thinking about doing a neighborhood one w/kids and school mates, after we return, but not sure, yet.

 

[TheOtherVillainess]

Both times, we did a small party with the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins for DS. Nothing major and usually combined with an Easter lunch/dinner since his birthday is close to that time of year.

TOV