Taking kids to WDW in stead of throwing birthday parties

[mkjmom]

We're thinking of taking our kids to WDW to celebrate their birthdays this year instead of throwing them birthday parties, but we won't be in the world on either of their exact birthdates (we'll be there at the end of Sept through the first week of Oct). I'm looking for ideas to make their birthdays special while we are there, any ideas?

DD turns 8 on Sept 1 and DS turns 7 on Nov 8. In the past we're thrown them birthday parties at party places or rented moonwalks, etc. The parties usually end up costing over $400, so we though that instead of two parties, put the $800 towards a week at WDW with free dining - they get 9 nights at WDW rather than a 3 hour party. We won't let the actual birthdays go unnotices, there will still be cake and ice cream grandparents, aunts/uncles, just no big friend shindig. BTW, we talked to the kids about it and they loved the idea.

 

[bamagirl@hrt]

Why not pick a different day of the trip for each child to celebrate? On the designated day, DD/DS could get a birthday button at the park and pick the restaurant for the celebratory meal for the day. Many restaurants will give a free small dessert on a birthday, but you can also get cakes made. I had one made for a friend on a recent trip at Kona Cafe. I didn't have to order it in advance, just told the server upon seating at the restaurant. It was $12.50.

By letting each child have a different day, he/she gets individual attention for the day. That way, they will make special memories & not feel that they are sharing a birthday. I've read some posts on these boards from people who are sticklers about "you shouldn't get a birthday button if THAT day is not your birthday." I say Phooey!! Disney doesn't require a birth certificate to allow you a button. Get them & have a blast with your kids! I think it's a great idea!

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

This is what I do. Their birthdays are May 1 and May 6, so we end up with a week of cake at home, then I take them someplace for their birthdays. Last year I took them to Chicago and we had a blast. The year before that I took them to Seattle. The year before that we went to the Grand Canyon. Normally, I surprise them with the destination. They don't know until we get to the airport where we'll be going. This year I let them pick and they chose WDW... big surprise there! The memory of a trip will make a bigger impact than the memory of a 3 hour party!

Have a great time!

 

[scraptoons]

You spend $400 on a party?

Geez, I guess I'm a society rebel. I have simple parties and keep them under $100. We have other kid things that cost money, like food and clothes for them to wear. With three kids, it can add up.

But if you are going to spend that much, I'd rather do Disney than have a party myself anyday.

 

[tampafan]

We have taken both of our kids to Disney for their birthdays. For my daughter, we stayed at one of the All Stars in two connecting rooms. We ate at Cinderella's. We notified them in advance of the event and they did it up for us. They had confetti and streamers on the table and made it very special. For my son, we stayed at the Wilderness Cabins at Ft Wilderness. We ate dinner at Trail's end and did the camp fire afterwards. Then, the next day we ate breakfast at The Whispering Canyon at Wilderness Lodge. They made a BIG deal of the birthday.

Disney is great for birthdays!

 

[tinasquirrel]

We are doing this too for my 4yo's birthday. We are planning the trip from September 6-10 and his birthday is the 12th. He's young enough that I don't think he will notice the lack of a birthday party. Although I'm going back and forth on that. We might have a small one at home with just 4 friends in the afternoon type of thing. Very inexpensive. I'm finding it difficult to not have a "friend" party. (I think I need to get over that before they get too old and I've started a bad trend.)

Hmmm...ideas for making their birthday special at the World?

* Special character meal that they get to choose on their special day?
* Designating one day as their "special birthday-day" and letting them choose certain special activities that day (perhaps in advance to make planning easier)?
* Are there any special "birthday" things that your resort may do for you (if you are staying onsite)?
* Maybe they get to wear one of those special "birthday" hats all day and get noticed for it? Even though it's not their exact birthday, would it matter?

Okay, I'm not being very creative here, I'm sorry. I'll keep thinking about it and I'll look forward to hearing what other ideas people have!

 

[disneywithfive]

We're going to do this for our kids this year. Our youngest daughter will be three in August and we're staying at the Contemporary with a Magic Kingdom view for two nights. We will arrive on her birthday but it will be late so we will watch the fireworks from the window and have a small cake or cupcakes with candles to celebrate. We've also scheduled the 1900 Park Fare dinner with Cinderella (her favorite) for the next evening and we're ordering a cake. Planning on giving her the Cinderella dress with crown, shoes, etc. the evening before so she can wear it to the dinner. We will fix her hair and I can just already see how excited she's going to be. Our two other children have birthdays 10 days apart (turning age 4 & 5) so we are planning a trip right in between their birthdays staying at the Yacht Club. We are going to be doing the Princess Storybook breakfast in Norway for our oldest daughter and I'm going to be getting the dress for her too with the accessories but I'm not sure which princess dress to get. She says they are all her favorites and she doesn't have just one favorite. Our son is our middle child and I would love to find a costume for him / a Prince Charming outfit. He would love that and he would love to "escort" his sisters. Ordering a cake for them too. Haven't seen much written about the cakes at Norway but I'm going to check when we go in August. I think I'll enjoy these birthdays as much if not more than they will. It's a lot of stress to plan parties, send out invitations, get/make the food, decorations, etc. and then cleanaing up. Disney is the best place to celebrate and our kids just LOVE being there.

 

[disneywithfive]

By the way, we were at one of the All Stars a few years ago on MY birthday. When we returned from the theme park, there were balloons and a birthday card signed by Mickey. I swore all evening that my husband did it and he swore he didn't. Finally I believed him and we found out the hotel did it. They had my birthdate in their system and just took care of it. It was a really nice surprise!!!

 

[wildernesslodgelover]

You spend $400 on a party?

Geez, I guess I'm a society rebel. I have simple parties and keep them under $100. We have other kid things that cost money, like food and clothes for them to wear. With three kids, it can add up.

But if you are going to spend that much, I'd rather do Disney than have a party myself anyday.

This year I threw a bowling party for DD7. There were 20 girls (I was hoping SOME of them would RSVP that they could not make it, but nope...they all came! ) and with just a simple menu and a cake and some food for the adults, it totaled over $400. Unfortunately, my house is too small for the simple parties you speak of!

I TRIED so hard to talk DD into a weekend at WDW with us and her cousin instead of a party, but she wouldn't have it! Next year, she will NOT get an option, LOL!

I really like the ideas on this thread!

 

[disneyfan67]

All I know for sure is, that all of you parents that take your kids to WDW on their Birthday have got to be the coolest parents around. When I was a kid, I went to some lame bithday parties and would have jumped at the chance to go to Disneyworld. Very good idea and very cool as well!


I'm going to give my kids their birthday cards and have Disney dollars inside instead of presents. My kids birthday comes a month before we leave to WDW in August and we will celebrate there instead of doing something big at home.

 

[mkjmom]

Thanks for the great ideas... I love the idea of designating 1 day for each of them that is their special day. I've already begun my spreadsheet for each day, but if I talk to them soon about what they want to do on their special day I can tweek the schedule. We are staying on-site, so I'll also check to see what the resort has to offer.

scraptoons - yep we end up spending about $400 on a party when all is said and done... usually $200-250 at a party place, favors for 20+ kids $75-100, paper plates, napkins, utensils, cake, juice, and balloons make up the rest. For DDs birthday last year I did it at home thinking it would be cheaper, but after we rented a moonwalk/wet slide, supplied pizza, juice, cake, party favors, paper products, and balloons it was about the same amount of money. Compared to some of the parties my kids attend theirs are "cheap" - it's crazy!

 

[tmt martins]

I gave DD the choice this year ..Well needless to say I was booking a MNSSHP for her.
I'm going to try to make this a reuglar thing for her .It's so much easier then to do a big Party.

And yes $400 is about the same for anything Bowling, D&B's ,Movies .Then you include some presents and bang your right at a trip to Disney.

 

[Gagebre]

I gave him the choice of a party of taking 1 friend with him to DW and his immediate answer was DW! We had the cake thing at GM's house on his birthday which was a few weeks ago. We are going at the end of this month and I think I will choose a day to celebrate his birthday while we're there.

 

[flyball]

On the subject of birthday parties, we always celebrated in "grand style" every other year until the kids were around 12 or 13. They knew that every other year they'd have a "friend" party and on the alternate years we'd do something else special (like go to Disney)!!! They never balked at doing without the "friend" parties on the off years. For some children, big parties can be overwhelming, especially when they're young.

If your child has a favorite character, you can make it a point to find out where that character will be and make sure they get a picture, autograph, or breakfast with their special friend. We surprised my younger daughter with a giant sized stuffed Piglet (which was staring at her when she awoke on her birthday morning) and ate breakfast with Piglet (and friends) at the Crystal Palace so that she could share some quality time with him. She was tickled pink (of course)!!!

 

[calgarygary]

Why not tell the kids in advance of their special day and involve them in the planning of the day. They could pick the restaurant, call and make the ADR (with your assistance of course), and decide which park/activity to do. You could then still surprise them with a cake, birthday buttons, etc. On their special day, you could allow the child to set the agenda - which rides, shows, etc.

 

[coneeny4]

We are going for my kid's birthday this year they are turning 5 and 9 on October 27. We also end up spending $400 dollars between the friend party that is usually 30 kids and the family party.

This year the Sunday before we leave is a Disney cake in the backyard with a few friends and family. My kids have friends going to Disney the same time we are so we plan on meeting up there at the Halloween party.

 

[lady_hlh]

My 4 year old DD has never had a kids B-Day party yet we just take her to Disney instead. We still have something small at home with the family but I'm hoping that my daughter will be used to the B-day at Disney and will realize that it is much better than an expensive kiddie party.

 

[badelves]

This has become a tradition in our family, too. We've been celebrating our DD's October birthday at WDW for the past couple of years, and it's something that we all really look forward to.

Everyone else has given such wonderful ideas, so all I can add to that is to just let the magic find you. In one way or another, it always has for us, and there's nothing better than seeing their faces light up!

 

[DISNEYFAMILYOFFOUR]

My children's birthdays are six days apart. When we decided to spend their birthdays at WDW last year, they were more than happy to forgo their kiddie party. We spent 11 days at the WL and it was by far their best vacation yet.

I let each child pick a character breakfast and dinner for their actual birthday. The tables were slightly decorated and they were given signed cards and a cupcake on their birthday.

We also booked a birthday Illuminations cruise which celebrated both their birthdays.

 

[goodferry]

We took our daughter to Disney in lieu of a birthday party and it was incredible! Her birthday is December 22nd (hard time to have a party anyway) so we from Dec 14-23rd and she had a great day! We got her the birthday pin and let her be in charge of absolutely everything we did that day. We had breakfast in the castle, we rode whatever she wanted, watched Cinderellabration (much to the chagrin of the two boys), we went to dinner at LTT, we watched Spectro and the "special fireworks just for my birthday" (christmas Wishes) Literally every single CM we saw said "Happy Birthday Princess" Waiting for Spectro, one of the street vendors brought her out into the middle of the crowd and had everyone sing to her, Cinderella, Prince Charming and the three fairies from Sleeping Beauty all mouthed Happy Birthday to her and the fairies even bowed. It was amazing, a day we will never forget (partially because we videotaped a lot of it)
I say go for it, Disney beats Chuck E. Cheese anyday!