What do you do for birthdays for your kids?

[PeacefulChaos]

I'm just curious. I had always done extended family only (DH has 3 brothers, so them and their kids and the IL's - my family lives too far away, though my grandparents did come for each of the kids' 1st birthdays) at ages 1 and 2, and started inviting a few friends at age 3. Then the last 'big' party (since all the parents come as well, there always ended up being 20-30 people) with both friends and family was age 5. At age 6 we just started doing smaller things with a few friends (took 3 kids and went out for pizza and bowling, then came back to the house for cake/ice cream, took a friend with us to Chuck E. Cheese, etc).

But at the same time, I don't know if we should keep doing the big party thing?? Like, I guess I thought that at age 6 they would really be grown out of having all their aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc, here for a birthday party because they are more into their friends then, kwim? But then I see that other families still just have everyone and I really like parties so I'm like maybe I should keep doing the big ones...idk. I guess I just thought what I was doing was normal. But maybe it isn't?

 

ETA: I know that sounds like a convoluted mess, sorry. :lol:

And now that I think of it, maybe the parties I liked the best as a kid would influence my decision? And on that note, what were your favorite parties as a kid? Did you have any? And what are your kids' favorites now?

TIA. :D

Edited September 25, 2011 by PeacefulChaos

[blondeviolin]

We don't have extended family close, so that's an out. We usually do something fun (Chuck E Cheese, mini-golfing, park, whatever) and my kids get presents: something to wear, something to play with, and something to read (or have read to you).

 

For my oldest's fifth birthday, she got a new baby brother. :D

[twoxcell]

We have family parties at our home for the fall/winter birthdays and my ds has his at the park in July. Pretty much we have Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and maybe a couple of friends. We have no plans to change that anytime soon.

[chepyl]

We have a family birthday party. DH has 6 siblings and between them we have 16 nieces and nephews! Plus my cousins (like brothers and sisters to me) have 5 kids so far...it's a big party! Not everyone makes it every year...but we have had some big celebrations.

 

If you want to see the celebration in progress this year...check out my blog. We had celebration part one today and the party tomorrow.

[snickelfritz]

We always invite family for a cookout type party.

 

Our girls alternate with friends. They get a friend party every other year and one friend over to spend the night (just a special outing when younger) on the off years.

 

I find it easier to separate them. I want to do things as a family. However, when friends are there, family gets ignored. So we separate them.

[J-rap]

This seemed to vary from year to year and from child to child with us. But in general, if we had a friends party, then we didn't do a big family party. If we did a bigger family party, then it usually took the place of a friends party. Usually a bigger family party didn't really involve all of the aunts and uncles, cousins, etc. (too many, too spread out, and a very broad age range of cousins) -- just the ones that happened to be available on a given Sunday afternoon or whatever. Anywhere from 10 to 20 or so.

[SKL]

We don't really do "parties" because it's just too much. Most of our family doesn't live at a convenient distance, and I'd rather go visit them than have everyone over our house at one time. Also, the last thing my kids need is more "stuff."

 

So I decide what I want the kids to receive, and discuss it with a few close people who will want to buy for them. We have cake at home and the child gets to choose a restaurant for dinner. This year, for each of their 5th birthdays, we are also doing an "outing." Something we would have done eventually anyway, but we're scheduling it around the birthday so it will seem that much more festive.

 

The girls are starting to want to have friends over. We've never done that before, and I'm not sure how to ease into it. I know we won't do it for this birthday, but maybe some time next spring or summer, unconnected with the birthdays. I'll have to make up an excuse for it . . . .

[Pretty in Pink]

We either have a small 'party' with friends or we have a family party (just us, no extended family since we don't live near anyone).

 

A party with friends consists of a routine playdate that ends with cake and ice cream for the birthday boy. I skip all of the fancy decorations, paper goods, etc.

 

Our eldest is old enough to have a friend or two over for pizza, cake, and video games and what have you. This year we took him and a friend bowling and then came home for dinner and cake.

[Veritaserum]

Past age 3 we switch from family to friends. Same-age cousins are invited as friends.

[regentrude]

We do not have extended family close. Growing up, I celebrated my birthdays my friends, not with aunts and cousins (even though we DID have extended family in the same city)

My kids have parties with their friends at our house until they no longer want to do that (which was the case with my 14 y/o this year)

 

I think you might simply ask your kids what kind of a birthday celebration they want. they are old enough to have an opinion.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I've been trying to pare down the birthdays since my oldest was 2. However, since my kids have 2 grandmothers, a step-grandmother, 7 aunts, 7 uncles and 13 first cousins, most of whom live fairly close, we always seem to have enormous birthday parties because no one wants to be left out. We have a big family party, and I usually let them invite 5-7 friends as well. I keep trying to talk them into having parties at other venues, but they both always want their parties to be at home.

 

I told them, after ds2's 7th birthday in June (massive Harry Potter party at our house, but so much fun!), that they can either have a party at some location other than our house, or we can have a family fun day, where we eat out at a restaurant of their choice, buy a big toy or DS game, and do an activity like mini golf, or movie or something like that. I'd prefer the quiet family day, and deal with the wrath of the grandmas on my own time.

[amo_mea_filiis.]

We've always had some bad luck with parties. One year, dd's 7th or 8th, we invited her entire class. She was so excited, planned everything, helped clean, brought in chairs, etc. The only people who showed up were our cousin and his 2 (out of 3) kids. She had a really good time, but after the party was a little down about it.

 

From now on I'm just doing something special. They'll get an accessory to their big gift, an outfit to wear to our outting, and a day away from each other. This year dd will get an American girl doll outfit, and will not be told of our outting to the store to pick out a doll. Ds will get a small Lego character to take to the Lego store. I may give them each the money they can spend

[ChristusG]

I love planning my kids birthday parties. It's a lot of fun for me LOL. We usually have a themed party on the weekend, with all the family. All of our family lives close....grandparents, great grandparents, 2nd cousins, aunts, great aunts, etc. They all come.

 

And then on my kids actual birthdays, they wake up to a decorated table, a few smaller gifts, and donuts for breakfast (a treat around here). Then we let them choose somewhere fun to go that day (this year we took DD4 to a live production of Alice in Wonderland and DD7 chose to go to the Hands On Museum). And they choose where we eat dinner (or if they prefer, I'll cook something for them).

 

Here's my 7 year old's party in April: Carnival Party

And here's my 4 year old's party in March: Pinkalicious Party

[Julie Smith]

Family lives 90+ minutes away. Gramma always plans a party for my kids. She invites whoever might be interested, focusing on people in the family with similar aged kids. I have 34 cousins, almost all married with 2 or more kids each. Some of those kids rare getting marry dand having kids. If my gramma was to invite all "the family" about 100 or more people might show. So she focuses on a few and has maybe 20 people.

 

As a family of four we always do something special for a birthday, just the four of us. When it's you birthday you get to pick something. Here are some things we have done:

Curling (a 2 hour open hou where they taught us to curl)

Gone up in a mini plane for a air tour of our town

Medieval Times

Bowling

 

Basically something that interests you, and that we don't regulary do. It a chance to try out something new. We usually don't bother with presents. By that I means sometimes no presents. My kids don't really connect real presents with birthdays. By that I man they would be happy more then happy with toilet paper rolls. Pieces of paper. The kid of things they make when they have birthday parties for there Teddy bears.

 

I really like doing a event as a family of four instead of a party with lots of people and presents.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

just blogged about this earlier today...starting to think about ds birthday party this year.....we've done McD's a couple of times--bowling alley--his birthday is in the middle of december so that's the first challenge--the second is that in our town the options are limited--the nearest Chuck-E-Cheese and "bouncy house" place are over 1 hours away.....I've done just parties at our house with a couple of friends and family.. we have a small video game arcade place and a skating ring nearby but both places have very small party rooms and it's noisy and not very private...not sure what to do this year....

[lynn]

Our standard now is birthday child chooses what they want for breakfast and dinner and the kind of cake they want. They also get a gift of their choice. I have done the skating, chuck e cheese, rent jumpers, themed parties over the years. In a few weeks dd is having her "big party" which is a fashion diva party at a local party place.

[Mommy22alyns]

We don't do big parties and never have. The closest we came was Rebecca's first birthday. The girls' birthdays are 3 days apart and they get cake (we eat a LOT of cake in March!), a special day (where they pick what we do), and a couple of gifts. We hang up a Happy Birthday banner for each girl.

[Ginevra]

My kids almost always have a party with friends over, or at a venue. Some close-in-age cousins may come and grandparents often do, but we already have a monthly dinner party tradition in dh's family, so I generally don't invite all aunts/uncles/cousins to the "friend" party.

 

As they reach 12 or 13, it is more toned-down, like have a few friends spend the night or something similar, but they still get a birthday party of a sort. I expect to do that until they turn 16 or 18.

 

Growing up, it was very hit-or-miss on whether there'd be any real celebration for my birthday, and it was more often a "miss" than a "hit." :glare: I want my children to have happier memories about it than I do, so I give them a party. The only exception has been in perhaps the years 2-4 or 5, when they don't have a lot of friends. (For their first birthday, it's a big party and everyone is invited.)

[QuirkyKapers]

The kids get to help bake and decorate their cake. Sometimes we do parties with friends. It depends what they are asking for in terms of gifts. If it is expensive, no party.

[Barb_]

In our house it's always someone's birthday. In fact, we just did two of them this weekend (yesterday was Em's today is Keira's). The birthday kid picks a character or color scheme and the night before the siblings and I decorate the house with streamers, balloons, signs, ribbons, etc so that the birthday starts the minute they wake up. We all sing happy birthday as they come downstairs. Sometimes I make a special breakfast, other times I don't. Depends on the age of the child in question, mostly. They are allowed to open presents first thing in the morning while we have coffee. Then they play with their gifts and we decide what we'll do for dinner. Either the birthday child has a special request for me to cook something, or we go out for dinner altogether, which due to expense doesn't happen often. I bake a cake in the afternoon. Sometimes the birthday child asks a friend to come over last minute to have dinner and cake (no one is obligated to bring a gift that way). Sometimes we go out to a museum or a some activity as a family, but usually we just hang around the house and make a mess. After we have dinner, we sing happy birthday and eat cake and the birthday is over. I miss our extended family...they live on the East Coast...but I'd probably do it this way regardless. Just too many birthdays otherwise.

[Year Round Mom]

We have at least one birthday a season (DD1 in late winter; DH and DS in the spring; DD2 in the summer; mine in the fall. DC#4 will be another spring birthday.) We don't live near family and never have, but still have a big party with friends each season! We do BBQ and have the same menu every time: burgers, dogs, and chicken marinated in a Korean-BBQ-inspired sauce (thanks to allrecipes). It's a ritual! Sometimes we decorate according to the birthday DC's interests, sometimes we just do streamers and balloons.

 

However, when DD1 turned 5 we did a picnic party with a handful of little girls and some of their moms, which was fun, but her brother was so sad he missed the gifts! (He had gone bowling with DH.)

 

As the kids get older and make their own friends, we'll probably do more individualized parties. Right now, though, their friends are kids of our friends. BBQ it is!

[Catwoman]

 

For my oldest's fifth birthday, she got a new baby brother. :D

 

If she didn't like him, was she allowed to return him and exchange him for a couple of Barbies instead? ;):D

 

Cat

[BillieBoy]

We only have the one. We don't have a large extended family, my mother is the only one that has made all ten B-days.

 

We aren't big on parties. She picks and waivers all year on one big present from us. This year it was a horse. Honestly, it has been that for many years, it's just this year it came true.

 

She requests my cherry cheesecake every year since she was two and it's accompanied by her favorite meal, usually sushi. Sometimes there is a friend or two but most of the time it's just us.

 

We make the day all about her. A day at the beach (June B-day), the Seattle Center, or gold panning in the mountains. Always her choice. This year the day was spent hiking, fishing, and cleaning the barn (getting ready for horse). DD keeps a box of mementos of all her birthdays. They hold much more meaning then the Barbie that got returned or the clothes she grew out of in two months.