celebrate.

april is a big month at our house.  75% of the birthdays take place in the last week + 1 day of april. :)  here's a glimpse of last weekend's festivities:

so today i'm asking a question.  and i'd love for you to weigh in.  one of the things i struggle with this time of the year is how to celebrate each birthday without making it so busy that none of us (especially me as the facilitator) gets to enjoy it.  what do you all do?  or how did you celebrate growing up, and how do you do things similarly or differently? 

happy friday.  thank goodness it's friday!   

Comments

[lisa truesdell]

i wish i had the answer!! at our house, we have 3 bdays in march (mine the 14th, matthew's the 21st, alex's the 26th) and i find that us adults basically get ignored. ;)

[Deirdre]

Our 3 boys are all born in March/April. Gotta love those spring birthdays!

With my toddler, his best friends are my friends' kids, so I enjoy his party. At his 3rd party, we had a pinata but otherwise no organized games. The kids were just happy to play while moms got to chat. My husband teased me when he saw Brie cheese on the bday shopping list:-) Definitely a mom-friendly party.

My 6 yr olds party was exhausting but fun. I do limit the # of kids to the age of the bday, so he had six kids. With boys that age, I believe a busy child is a happy child, so I overplan games/activities. I also have it outside so our home survives and I have less work.

When our youngest is 2, I'm hoping I can convince all 3 to forgo the party and use the funds instead for a birthday weekend in the city (hotel/pool/fun). Sounds good to me:)

Sorry for the long post but obvious been on my mind lately too!

[Melissa]

Oh, I am NUTS about parties. But my hubby would like me to start reigning it in. ;) He thinks i'm feeling some lost childhood need. We have both girls birthdays in the summer, so I've done parties at the beach, cowgirl party with Ponies (I know, i know), and a giant waterslide for a strawberry splash party.

Let's just say that i love a good theme and I'm always crazy but having a blast on party day because we've always had the grown up friends and siblings come too!

BUT that said, this year (ages 6 & 3) I AM going to tone it down, limit the numbers and do my best to make it a special day without going overboard. I love creating a special cake, but I LOVE your donut cake! I might even steal that one. lol!

[Maria Hanson]

Sometimes we do destination birthday parties with close friends and/or family. The kids LOVE it. Take a trip to Disney, the beach, a fun city, and celebrate all 3 occasions together with each person getting to do some special excursion to celebrate. (ie Chicago - dinner alone with hubby to celebrate his day, American Girl Doll Store Tea with Lizzie and a trip to the Chicago Zoo to celebrate Pete.)

[mary]

We mostly skip the parties and let the child choose what they'd like for supper, and what kind of cake they want. Then we do presents after the meal.
Yes, we love our kids, and yes, they're one in a million, but couldn't we all agree to just can the over-the-top parties?

[sara]

Growing up when we were little we got to choose our birthday dinner too and dessert (cake, apple crisp, et cetera). We got a birthday party usually on the weekend. As we got older we got to pick a place to go out to eat for our birthday, which we loved and I think my mom did too!

[Rosy]

We do parties every other year, and on the off year they get a sleepover with a friend, and can go out for dinner and do nail polish and all that fun stuff. Also, we only do parties at home with simple games, and we try to keep the guest list small. Actually, I think my older kids would rather have the sleepover than have a huge party! They enjoy the quality time with their favorite friends. :)