Austin couldn't resist a repeat performance of the shark song. They seemed to enjoy it, and the few repeat guests we had from last week's party didn't seem to mind!
Happy Birthday, big girl!
For those readers with 3+ kids, we would love to know what your family policy is on birthdays...does everyone get a party every year, do they get one every x number of years or everyone on their 5th and 10th birthday, etc. We realize we probably won't be able to keep up with a party for everyone, every year. So we would love to know what others do!
9 comments:
Kristen,
We've been struggling with this,too. We cut back last year. Caleb and Kyle didn't have parties (4&3) and I finally decided to throw Ann Marie a 1st party, but we kept it extremely small. 5 is a big one, so I plan on doing something this year for Caleb. It may be the year to start a 5, 10, 16 policy. When the kids get older, I may say, you can take three kids and we will go out to eat. We kind of take it one party at a time, I guess.
Yeah...we decided to try just doing smaller parties this year, but it was still a lot of work, and then it is so difficult to narrow down the list of guests! Thanks for the input! :-)
Everyone gets a party every year. But our parties consist of a homemade cake, pinata and gifts. The only ones invited now are grandparents and cousins. They don't get to invite friends until they are at least turning 6 or 7. Sometimes, if they only have one or two friends, they can invite them before the 6-7 age.
I used to do big parties (bowling alley, skating, etc.) Isabelle got a skating party last year so this year she can have a party at home w/ a movie.
Anna never likes to have big parties. Kolbe has never had a big party so he might get one this year since he's finally making some friends. But it will probably be at home with lots of little boys invited. I'll just pull out the legos, hot wheels, bionicles, and train sets. And let them dig in the back yard.
If you just keep it to homemade cakes, drinks, very small pinata and gifts and drinks, its really not that expensive. As for entertainment, I just treat it like a big play date and let the kids play in the backyard or in their rooms. No organized games.
And I make coffee and have snacks for the adults (my parents, cousins, and parents who stay).
Lots of fun and not too expensive. I'd rather spend the money on their gifts but I can't imagine not having a party every year.
We're going to start making our own pinatas. The kids are excited about this.
Sorry for the long post. I could have said this all much quicker in 5 mins!!
I forgot to mention that for C's b-day we ordered pizza on his actual b-day (Christmas Eve) for lunch and had his visiting cousins come over. And then on K's b-day we took him to Gattitown. It was WAY easier than the party. That's why I was so reluctant to throw one for AM.
Hi Kristen,
We usually ivite over the grandparents and have a family only party. Occassionally we will allow the kids to invite over one friend to celebrate with our family. We usually eat a nice dinner and do cake and ice cream with the kid's grandparents.
I forgot to add that the dinner and cake are always homemeade to keep things cheap!
We are hiring a professional party organizer for every single one of our parties from here on out. His name is Austin Riddle, and he does a mean Shark Dance.
Thanks for all the tips. I really am a sucker for storebought cakes, though! And at Sam's they are delicious at relatively cheap..not to mention that it saves me time too! ;-)
Oh, Kristen, this is a favorite discussion for me (so prepare for a long comment :) I am *passionate* about celebrating each child's birthday each year. To me, it is about the gift of life. In an indirect way, this has become one of our family's little Pro-Life "statements". Right now I can't do some things that other Pro-Life activists can do, but I can make a point to celebrate each anniversary of a glorious birth ...and the more family and friends to share it with, the better. We usually invite a big group and just celebrate with whoever wants to come or is able to come. Gordon and I don't "entertain" during the year like some couples do with dinner/cocktail parties or holiday soirees, so the kids' birthday parties have become our chance to host our friends and share a little hospitality.
Personally I choose to put a lot of effort (time and thought) vs. dollars into our birthday parties. Maybe I'm nuts but I find it very *fun* (and rewarding) to plan them, it saves us money (we try to be creative rather than expensive), and the celebrations --as well as the preparations for them-- make for unforgettable memories.
In our family we like to base our birthday party themes on classic children's books. With much anticipation (sometimes months in advance!) the kids look forward to making a selection. At the party we play games and do crafts that are extension activities for the chosen book. (If you like Five in a Row, you'd enjoy our parties :)
Our kids know that birthday parties are not about gifts. Yes, they'll get some presents, but it's not the focus. We are intentional about dicussing this every time a party comes up during the year (we have 5 children). For the First bithdays, we let the guests know in the invitation that the siblings are doing a service project in the birthday baby's honor for the pregnancy center. In lieu of presents, we ask guests to bring a package of diapers or other unwrapped baby item to donate. The older kids really get into collecting these, delivering the bundles of gifts to the center and taking pictures of it for the birthday scrapbook so the baby can see one day.
We used to do parties at home but as our family grew (and all our friends' families grew!) it became more feasible to go to a park. Since our children have close friends of different ages we usually invite the family, not just the one child who is closest in age. That's another reason we choose the home or park rather than a place that limits you to a certain number of children. (Once I called a place and they told me you could only have 12 guests. That would be hard when siblings and one family of cousins already put you at the limit! My kids understand those places don't work for our situation. Besides, they're usually out of our budget anyway.)
I keep the food very simple in order to focus on the fun activities of the day. The cake isn't something I care to spend time on the day of the celebration, so I always opt for a store bought one (like you mentioned, Sam's are tasty and a full sheet costs very little per serving). I've found they (and other stores too) will work with me to come up with a clever way to decorate it to go with the chosen book theme.
Now invitations, on the other hand, I do enjoy making and it's become a beloved tradition in our family. Sometimes the birthday child crafts it (for example, GraceAnne made her Rainbow Fish invitations using her thumbprints for the fish scales and handwriting a quote from the book about friendship). We often make the party favors too (again, the siblings look very forward to helping create and package these). Some people say we spend way too much time on invitations and favors but for our family it's fun and meaningful. For us, the whole planning process, which can sometimes be lengthy, becomes a celebration of that person's life.
And we make a point to state that at the party. Before we sing and cut the cake, I like to talk about the child's milestones the past year and give him/her a special blessing.
If I had time (and more talent) I think I could write a book on the topic of how endearing the preparations and parties themselves have become for our family. Lillian suggested I submit some of our parties to Faith and Family magazine when they were asking for birthday party ideas but I never even got around to that. :)
Enjoy deciding what works best for your family and once you do, have fun with it! One thing I caution you to watch out for, though, is not letting the details "take over". The party planning should never cause too much stress that it takes away from the whole reason of celebrating ...your precious children. Admittedly I have fallen into that trap on occasion. Situations change, family dynamics change, outside influences play a factor(evacuation for Hurricane Rita pre-empted one of our parties!:)
Just like with anything else, prayer is the best way to discern how your family should approach each child's birthday party at any given time.
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