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Birthday Parties

June 26th, 2011 at 03:37 pm

Two years ago, when BM was in Kinder, he was invited to a party for every one of his classmates. Just about. The invites were endless, and the whole class was invited, of course!

This year there were no birthday parties in Kinder. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Kind of weird.

I think dh was annoyed when the kids and I decided to do one combined birthday for the kids. We always do, and had discussed separating them this year. BUT, the kids were pretty gung ho on having one party, and I encouraged them since it would probably be a lot cheaper. IF nothing else, I made clear it was 2 modest parties, or one party of better means. "You can pool your resources," I told them. They chose one big bash.

I am glad it worked out that way. BM is Mr. Social and usually has pretty good birthday party turnouts - even in the middle of summer. Plus, he wants to invite everyone, which increases the odds that some will show (& will not be on vacation). LM, on the other hand, wanted to invite 4 kids from his class. & NONE can make it.

Though I am relieved that we combined the parties (with family), it does make it ackward with presents, I guess. For next year we may just have to do a class party during the school year to increase the odds of a decent turnout. I don't know - more thought will need to be made.

I voiced aloud to my friend about the lack of birthday party enthusiasm - that just dried up with only one year in between kids. She told me that everyone was doing family parties these days and just bringing cupcakes to class. I presume that is due to the economy. Because the parties we go to are generally across the board over-the-top. I suppose in the midst of endless foreclosures, a $300 party is out of the equation for the 6-year-old. As with everything, it then just becomes "all or nothing." If you can't go ALL OUT, then no party? Really? I think it's kind of a sad state of society. (This isn't exactly Beverly Hills or anything - thus the guess of a $300 price tag - but I don't know since when a birthday party wasn't complete without a bounce house rental or something like that. The parties of today resemble nothing of the simple parties of my own youth. Plus, I am thinking of the 0-6 year-old crowd. I have less disdain for the *bounce house party* for older kids who will actually remember their parties).

We generally do pretty modest birthday parties. Years 1-5 were pretty much hang out and eat cake and ice cream. The funny thing is we always get compliments. How nice to have such a simple party! Yet it is something few seem interested in attempting.

This year is a mixture of simple and fancy, for us. We did hire a magician at $150. But the thing is I only have one party and I don't mind splurging a bit. We also don't really do much in gifts (kids will be drowning in them from family and so on). So I don't mind splurging a bit. BUT, that is about the extent of it. I'll make some "instant" cupcakes and order some cheap pizza. & that is all I have planned. As with anything, why make it more complicated than it has to be???

I suppose that next year we will probably do a pool party. I don't remember the cost to reserve our HOA pool/clubhouse, but from the past I remember it was dirt cheap. It may only be a deposit - it is probably free. If I recall correctly. We show up with some food, and a party is born. Easy peasy, right?

If people are really making the hard choices, financially, I applaud them for that. But, I don't particularly see the hard choices being made. Over and over I see little sense of middle ground when it comes to financial choices. It always seems to be all or nothing, and birthday parties have gone the way of "all or nothing," it seems.

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I was just talking to BM about his e-vite and he mentioned his "maybe" friend RSVPed yes for 6 people. 6 people? What? LOL. (I saw the "maybe" but not the "6 people.")

I had actually put his name only on the evite because his younger twin siblings are in the same grade as LM - and I figured that made it clear that only the eldest child was invited. (The younger kids are not in the same class and don't particularly know each other).

I just checked - and he was right. Problem is both our neighbors RSVPed yes for the whole family (of course they would) as did several relatives. Plus a couple of family friends. Several of the classmates RSVPed one yes, in comparison. But reviewing the evite I See why they felt comfortable replying yes for the whole family - since so many others did.

Note to self: When you just want to invite the kids - don't send an evite where everyone can see the RSVPs. Big Grin

Oh well - this will be a packed house on party day!

2 Responses to “Birthday Parties”

  1. Looking Forward Says:
    1309113407

    I hear what you're saying. It seems like when DD was younger, pre-school to 1st, we went to like 20 bdays/year. This year I think she went to 4, all low key easy type.

  2. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1309148136

    Hope the party goes well even with lots of extra people you weren't planning on!

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