What age do you stop doing birthday parties?

[live4christp1]

DS will be 9 this year. We have done birthday parties with class mates since they have all been together (K4). Was just sitting here thinking that 10 might be the stopping point. Not that we won't celebrate the birthday, but stop the whole invite all the class deal. Maybe instead plan a special trip for the birthday or let them invite two friends along for a special outing, trip to Six Flags or something.

Anyone have any thoughts on this or what have you done?

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I haven't made a decision yet...but a friend of mine has this plan for her kids

Birthdays until age 10 and they can invite up to as many friends as the age they are turning.

Then it is a party every other year (12, 14, 16) with the final being their sweet 16 party (not to imply a huge shindig--but just a party that would be more special than the ones they have had previously).

This year we are out of town for both kids birthdays. So oldest is getting to go to a theme park and the youngest will just be in Hawaii and we will do a family party in our condo (big family trip). Oldest wants to go to Hawaii for her birthday as well. But she will just have to settle for Kings Dominion. LOL!

 

[Marseeya]

Starting when the kids were around 1st grade or so, I gave them a choice. They could have a party or they could have a nicer gift. DS always chose the nice gift, while DD has been about 50/50.

 

[SC Minnie]

At about 10 we started weaning off the big parties.

 

[kaylajr]

DD will be having her 13th party in about 2 weeks
she is having a party based on the board game CLUE
and will have 5 friends from school over for a sleepover along with
the mystery game

I will let her have partys with a few friends as long as she still wants them
they have gotten smaller over the last few years
she used to have 10-15 kids (not sleepovers)
now it is 5 or 6

My youngest DD will be 11 in Nov and has always perfered smaller parties of 5 or 6 kids

I figure its' there birthday and they are only young once so Why Not let them enjoy the day with there friends

Just what works for us

 

[TheDisneyTraveler06]

My oldest ( DD14 ) went to the beach last year for her party- she brought along a couple of her good friends. Maybe for your DS9 you could take him and a few of his friends somewhere for a change. (Instead of a party.) Even Six Flags like you suggested would be fun! Hope everything works out and it is a success!

 

[disykat]

We told our boys that 10 was the cuttoff for "parties". Now they invite a friend or two to go bowling or have a sleepover, etc.

 

[jcsbama]

Does this include family parties? My five nieces and nephews range in age from 8-20. My sisters continue to throw parties for all of them, including the oldest. I don't get it! It irritates DH and I. We don't live in the same city as them, so we have a commute. If we miss a party, all "you know what" breaks out. Then I get the "you didn't come to my party, but you went to xyz's". We have already decided there will not be a big party every year for our children.

Then, to top it off. My family forgot my birthday last year. My youngest nephew shares my birthday. I was there for his party, because it was his sweet 16. But not one acknowledgement for me. Not even a phone call on the actual b'day date. My feelings were so hurt. My b'day is in November. I had been to everyone's party, including all the family meals to celebrate the adult birthdays. Needless to say, I've missed about half the b'day parties this year so far and I don't care.

 

[ozarkmom]

My oldest DS stopped at age 10. We did the nicer gift route and he usually would have a buddy over for the night and we'd go out to eat maybe bowl or see a movie. DD had her last big part at age 11 or 12 and hers were always hit and miss because her birthday is July 4 everyone has plans we would have to do it another time and she and her brothers were playing ball. Youngest DS had his last big one at age 13 he talked us into a paintball party and we told him that was it!! They now get bigger gifts or cash if they want they can have a friend or 2 over and pick where they want to eat. Really though 10 is a good cut off for the big parties. It seemed for awhile that everyone around here was trying to figure out how to have the biggest and best party.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

For us this will be a gradual thing.

In preschool, we invited the whole class. At that age they are still so flexible in who they play with that drawing a line between who was and wasn't invited would have been hard. Also the class was a lot smaller then.

In Kindergarten we invited the whole class, plus a couple of good friends from preschool and the neighborhood. I'm glad we did because there were a couple of parents who stayed and we ended up being friends.

However, this year I couldn't see inviting all of his first grade class, his friends from Kindergarten, his friends from preschool, and his friends from the neighborhood. Seemed like too many to me so I invited all the boys in his class (he plays with everyone except 1, and I couldn't see leaving out just 1 kid), and then let him pick the rest up to a set number.

As they get older I think it will be easier to limit the party -- their friendships are more set for one thing -- I know by 5th or 6th grade I spent most of my time with the same handful of friends. However, my guess is that rather than spending less money we'll do more expensive things -- e.g. invite 2 friends to the water park or a professional basketball game. Invite 4 friends for dinner and a movie and a sleepover.

This year I gave him a ski trip for his birthday, and no presents -- in the future I can see if he wants a trip or something expensive saying "OK, but I can't afford a party too" and he'll understand.

 

[milkabum]

Well my birthday is coming up on the 28th and I'm turning 12, I'm not having a party this year but will be going on a shopping spree with my mom and to a movie with my whole family. I only invite close friends to my party anyways. I think the six flags idea sounds cool either way, we went to WDW in 2005 about a month after my birthday when my dad got a wekk off, it was awesome.

 

[paigevz]

Here's what we've done:

Family-only party with just a craft, pinata, cake and presents.......some balloon and bubble play for ages 1 and 2.

Family and close friends/neighbors with similar age children for both sons at age 3 and older at 4 (younger was in Walt Disney World). More traditional party with games, etc..........for second son, we did a trip to Build A Bear instead of games.

Whole class invite for ages 5 and 6 (this has been for our first and will be for our second, when they are in Pre-kindergarten and Kindergarten). With our first, inviting the whole class netted 3 kids, plus his best friends from the neighborhood.

At age 7, older son just invited the kids he wanted for a traditional party.......ended up with about 6 kids.

At age 8, we were at Universal Studios.

At ages 9-11, he's chosen to just invite his best 2-3 friends for a trip (Medieval times twice, Movies once) and a sleepover.

 

[minkydog]

13 is our cut-off. I never went for the "let's invite the whole class" parties anyway, so we usually had about 6-8 friends, cake, games, crafts, etc. But at 12 they get their last "theme" party. 13 issues in a new era, so they get to plan a more grown up activity.

This year DD13 decided she wanted to take a friend to Six Flags. We managed to find ultra-cheep tickets, so we could afford 3 friends I had each girl make a sandwich at my house and we packed a cooler of drinks,water, and fruit before we left. We ate a couple snacks in the park, but went out to the car for our supper and rest break. DD decided she didn't want souveniers, she really wanted matching air-brushed tank tops for each of them--well, since we had already saved so much I was able to say yes!
The whole event cost less than $100 and has so far, been the Hit of the Season--the girls are still talking about it!

Most recently I allowed a sleep-over with a twist--they had to set up the tent in the backyard and sleep on blow-up beds! DH rigged up the TV and a lamp for them, and the girls made monkey bread to snack on. They were up partying until 1am, but they never bothered us. Next morning, they deflated their beds, cleaned up the tent and went home. Great party