S/O What do You do to Celebrate Birthdays?

[Χά�ων]

The other thread got me thinking what do you do for birthdays?

 

I have done a variety all depending on the budget. I am currently moving away from group parties and towards an experience with 1 or 2 friends. Same concept with gifts. I am giving experiences instead. Groupon is a huge help here. :)

[Truscifi]

Tomorrow we're having a party at the local park for Babyman (I can't believe he's two already :svengo: ) with a few friends and family. We're providing pizza and cake. But no goody bags. I'm trying to start a no goody bag revolution. My kids have enough junk already.

 

For Brotherman we stopped having parties a few years ago and went to a special trip/weekend/day. This year he wants to swim with manatees and have a seafood dinner. Last year we took him to Les Miserables and a pizza buffet. Yes, groupon helps tremendously.

[Ravin]

Wallow in guilt. This year I was counting on the birthday money I usually get from the in-laws (my birthday is a month before DD's) to cover a dinner out and gift for DD. Now I'm just kinda...going to have to pull something out of my backside, because I got nothing this year except a friendly email.

[JustEm]

My kids are young, oldest is 5, but so far the approach has been just celebrating with family.  Since we are at my parent's house every Sunday and my mil's house every Sunday we usually just bring cake and let people know we'll be celebrating whichever kids bday it is.  Gifts are never expected and who brings one changes yearly depending on if they can afford it and found something worth buying.  This is how my birthdays were growing up and I enjoyed it very much.  When the kids are older I suspect they will invite one or two close friends to join the birthday celebration. 

 

Huge parties with none family kids just isn't something that appeals to me, it never did, even as a kid so I don't see it ever really happening.  But then again there are tons of kids in our family so no kid will ever be lacking of kids at a party.

[FaithManor]

I'm not a big party person. So, we tend to have a family dinner and then go do something that the birthday child would enjoy. Middle boy chose the Kari Byron talk (mythbusters) at Alma College last weekend on his birthday. We went out to eat - he had lasagna, his all time favorite thing - then a ran some errands in town, and off to the lecture. It was lovely.
 

When they were little, I did a birthday party...the traditional have some friends over, eat junk food, have a special cake, put up the decorations thing for their 5th birthdays. After that, I don't think we ever had a birthday party again.

Dh and I like to go out together on our birthdays without children, have dinner, take in a show.

 

[Guest]

We just do family birthdays and my 6yo has yet to complain. I do bake his cake from scratch, but no Chuck E. Cheese, excessive and unnecessary gifts, etc. The grandparents are pretty good about sticking to one gift apiece in the $20-$30 range. Five year olds wake up to a house covered in streamers and balloons, but I don't do that for any other age.

 

One adult kid still likes his birthday cake, the other asked for a pie instead when she was 17. They usually get experiences or cash/gift cards rather than stuff.

 

 

[Joker]

Both of my dds like to have a sleepover with several friends. They eat junk, watch movies, stay up late, and have a lot of fun. We don't live near any family so we've never had a day party that includes them.

[SemiSweet]

We don't do big birthdays, other than the first. At my older kids' ages now we do dinner and an experience or a sleepover with 1-3 friends. We did do a big sleepover for ds 10th (11 boys!). Never again. Dd's last birthday coincided with Labor Day weekend so we did a beach camping trip.

[QueenCat]

We've really varied over the years, from at home, to bowling parties, etc. Now, it's usually dinner out in the big city and a play or something, with 3-5 friends.

[MEmama]

When DS was younger we had birthday parties at our local ice rink. He stopped wanting a party at 7, and usually chooses something low key like a family dinner out at the Indian restaurant and bowling with a friend. And pie---always pumpkin pie (that he likes to make himself). Simple is gooood. :)

[Dory]

We have something special with just us and then we plan cake and ice cream with cousins/ grandparents/ relatives that want to come over on the weekend following their birthday. We never do goody bags. Often they will invite one friend over for a sleep over and movie night for their birthday. I decorate their doorway the night before and their chair at the table so that they wake up to something fun. They get one small gift at the breakfast table and a large gift at the cake and ice cream party on the weekend. They pick the theme of their cake. They pick the breakfast food and the supper menu.

 

In the end, it doesn't really cost us much because we don't do goody bags or go somewhere pricey, but the kids still feel noticed, honored, and treated like a king/queen for a day.

[SKL]

We do cake at home on the day, and gifts from closest family, and then we try to come up with a fun experience, usually involving travel.  We don't do parties and so far we haven't invited friends along.  Because my girls are about the same age, they don't need additional kids in order to have fun.

[AK_Mom4]

Not much.  With my older kids, they each had one borthday when they had a big party with their friends.  Once they hit high school, they could have a big party if they did all the work themselves.  My boys opted for just family dinner with cake, DD20 threw herself birthday parties all through high school.  I would pay for food and snacks and DH and I would chaparone, but she did all the prep, hosting and clean up with her friends.

 

DD13 has mostly missed out over the years since her birthday always hit right in the middle of baseball/softball season and we were all insanely busy.  She would get a cake with family or possibly a dinner out at her choice of restaurants.  Once she hits high school, she can throw herself parties if she wants to do the work.

[Farmgirl70]

We love birthdays!  On the day of, when we took the day off of school, the birthday child has their favorite breakfast in bed.  Then we would do an activity of the child's choosing (they always choose something simple and reasonable--going to a park or somewhere we already had a membership to or watching a favorite movie).  We'd end the day with presents and family dinner.  My husband usually joined us at this point, if it was a work day.  Nothing extravagant, just a special, fun day for everyone.

We also threw theme parties on a different day with their friends at home until they were about 12.  I loved thinking of creative ways to work out our theme on a budget.  Teen years were more pizza and friends hanging at our home.

[Tap]

We don't have family who attend birthdays, so it is always a kid/friend birthday party.

 

 

Once they are old enough, the kids pick what they want for the most part.  The older kids always had an at home party with friends except a few times that involved another location.  The parties are always themed though and tons of fun like a 'make your own party' where the kids made the pizza, made Italian sodas, made Blizzards, and decorated the cup cakes themselves as part of the party'.  My older kids sometimes combined their party into one party between the dates and had a huge 'open to every kid in the neighborhood' style outdoor party. 

 

 

DD7 hasn't had a traditional party yet due to her behaviors. She can't handle the excitement.  One year, we did have a couple of neighbor girls over just for a 'mini party' it involved a couple of simple quick games, mini cupcakes and mini drinks...and was mini sized, lasting only 1 hour from start to finish.  Then they just played like normal. 

 

 

Ds20 stopped having parties around 13yo and opted to hang with friends instead, usually having a Lan style computer party instead. 

 

DD15 still loves having parties.  Her 12th and 14th were in hotels with friends.  Her 13th was a special night with a single friend...she regretted that one and vows to have 'real' parties from now on.  lol

 

 

We always have a cake and the child gets to pick dinner (in a restaurant or at home, what ever they want) on their real birthday.  The party is within a month, depending on other commitments.   The cost of the party and gift are related.  So, if they have a smaller party, they get a bigger gift and visa versa.  DD loves parties so much, she usually puts most of her birthday money towards the party instead of the gift.  Ds likes to save the money until there is something really nice that he wants to put it towards. 

[Guest]

You mean for kids?

 

We had a cake and invited people to the same park or to the indoor gym ($100) if it looked like rain until my son was 5.  After that, ti was this:

 

Cake.

Water balloons.

Show the kids where the hoses were.

Go inside and lock the doors.

Two hours later, appear with party bags, and end the party.

 

That was for about 9 years.  

 

I am not sure what I would have done in a month other than August.  :0)

 

Also, the party bags sometimes came out early because my son had about 5 people at his party, so I got very cool party bags...SpyMan Laser Tag Wristbands (which substituted for water balloons on cooler summers) and so on.  :0)

 

[LucyStoner]

For my older son, used to throw a big summery picnic/BBQ at the park with as many adult friends as kids. Now he prefers a small thing with 1-2 friends. This year, we took him and his best friend bowling, to the park and out for dinner. Then his friend slept over and I let them eat donuts for breakfast.

 

For my younger son, we usually have a small party with his cousins and buddies. His birthday is the last week of December so we've usually postponed anything besides cake and a couple of family gifts until mid January. Now that he is getting old enough to care, I don't know what we will do.

[Stratford]

We tend to not do "friend" parties.  We do have family parties with grandparents, cousins, aunt/uncle.  Kids get a birthday dinner, cake, etc.  All 4 of my kids have birthdays in a 2 month stretch in the spring.  Last year, instead of big birthday gifts, we took the kids on a long-weekend trip to Philly.  It was an absolute blast and we'll probably make "the birthday trip" a tradition.  

[craftymama]

We always have a party.  The invitation list usually includes families we are close to and any friends they want.  I love parties and planning them so it's something I enjoy doing.  There is always a theme (that the kiddo picked) and activities that make sense with the theme...water theme - kiddie pool, sprinklers, water guns, treasure theme - treasure hunts - that kind of thing.  I did goody bags for a few years, but prefer now to have very little junk in them...some candy, something they did at the party, and other consumable like temporary tattoos and such. 

[Baseball mom]

Dc -- store bought cake they pick out, grandparents come over for gifts, cake and ice cream.  Birthday meal at place of child's choosing.  Sometimes on the actual birthday but mostly on the weekend before or after.

 

Dh & myself -- dinner out at place of our choosing, Usually the weekend before or after.  Maybe a card or a bag of favorite candy on actual birthday.

 

Dh's family does a birthday dinner for all the birthday people in the month.  So if there are 3 birthdays in October, there will be 1 dinner and varying number of cakes.  Usually just one cake but sometimes it is littles birthday and so 2 small cakes are gotten so they feel special. 

 

[Heidi]

I only allow parties for 8, 12, & 16 year old birthdays. The rest is just with family, a couple of presents, a cake, and a birthday date w/ one parent.

[Closeacademy]

When they were younger up to about age 9 or 10, we just had a themed party with games, punch, cake, etc.  But now that they are older we have been having sleepovers with about 2-3 additional girls.  They watch movies, play games, eat cake and junk food and have a nice time.  We're thinking about inviting boys that they are friends with for the cake portion of the evening and having them leave around 7 or 8 this year before the girls go into sleepover party mode.  But I'm not sure.

 

But birthdays are a big deal in our family.