More presents, more money, more time, more madness. Luke has one day off a week. Hopefully by the time Olive is old enough to want birthday parties and go to her friend's parties, we won't be so strapped for quality time together.
This article is really nailing it on the head for me: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/03/birthday-parties-for-kids_n_917732.html?icid=main|welcome|dl12|sec1_lnk3|221278
The quote that gets me is this, "I heard a story about a mother deciding not to do party bags," Doherty said. “All the kids at the party got upset and one said, 'This is a ripoff!' The party girl burst into tears."
Are you kidding me? Do we really have to train our kids at such a young age to be consumed with PARTY BAGS and the 99 cent crap that goes into them? Can we all agree that if nobody did them, nobody would miss them?
Olive's first birthday is going to be here before we know it. I decided already to do something small and intimate with just our family because I'm so scared if I invite anyone else I will be starting a cycle of everyone having to do something for everyone else and create pressure and stress. We'll get her a big cake and hopefully she'll get messy in it and I'll take a million pictures and put off the pressure until she's a little older. Maybe somehow we will avoid it altogether, but I guess it's just part of being a mom.
Tracy, Great article! I don't blame you for being scared! Birthday parties are totally out of control, in many ways! We stuck to family for 1st & 2nd birthdays and began inviting a few CLOSE FRIENDS after that. I made the cakes, put up a few simple decorations and made VERY simple, age appropriate goodie bags, starting at age 3. After that, the kids usually had a favorite toy, movie or TV show they wanted for their Bday theme. We let them invite friends whose family we knew. If we didn't know the family, I would always call the parents & let them know they were welcome to come, too. We played limbo, pop the balloon with your butt, and other simple games and gave out small prizes. The best part of the whole thing was letting the kids help decorate, stuff the goodie bags, pick out invitations (or help me make them), and choose the cake decorations. Be careful, there really is something called "Birthday Breakdown". We had some experiences with it. Some kids just can't handle all the excitement and need to have lower key parties. Good luck!!!! PS. I do not agree with inviting the whole class! Send invites through the mail so no one feels left out if they don't get one handed to them at school.
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