Ideal Birthday Parties for Kids
Limos, helicopter rides, llamas, cougars, grand ballrooms and horses? Oh my!
Disappointed children, complaining parents, unreasonable gift requests and angry family members? Oh my!
There was a story featured on Yahoo’s homepage this morning about how to hold a child’s birthday party for under $100. Cool – gotta read this!
A lot of us fall into the same pit all the time. You’re planning this great birthday party and the guest list gets longer and longer. You need to buy this for that and that for this and the shopping list gets longer and longer. Oops! Don’t forget the goody bags. Before you know it, you’ve racked up this huge bill for a couple of hours of entertainment. And that’s BEFORE you buy the present!
A child’s party for under $100 (before the present) …
Eh, that’s not too bad I guess but I’m sure you’ve probably been in my shoes a time or two when spending $100 and then buying a birthday present just isn’t feasible. We personally have 2 children with birthdays within about 2 weeks of each other. That’s $200 plus presents all within a month. Ouch – that can get to be a little too much.
I know lots of times I’ve planned these simple little parties – wanted to keep them simple and the next thing I know, I’m so broke I don’t have the cash on hand to tip the waitresses! Or I’m putting a bill off for another week or so just so I have enough gas money to get me through to the next paycheck.
When you’re making sacrafices like this for a child’s birthday party – some may consider this a not-so-smart idea. We all want our children’s birthdays to be remembered for many years to come but when you can’t remember where you went from one year to the next and they’re all starting to run together, was it really that worth it?
You should take a peek at the artice though because not only does she herself share some great ideas, so does the readers leaving comments and for a little kick of humor, the writer even shares a link to another article she had written when one celebrity couple dropped a whopping $100K (yes, that’s $100,000.00!) for their child’s 2nd birthday party! Is this child even going to remember this?
How to throw a kid’s birthday party for $100.
(Birthdays Without Pressure will show you where some of the cougars, llamas, helicopter rides, etc. from above came from. It’s amazing how society is raising our children to actually be a disappointed GUEST!)
For my daughter’s first birthday, my father had passed away 2 days before which of course kind of dampened the festivities. As much as we desperately tried to keep everything upbeat and fun (just as my father would have wanted), we still couldn’t help but feel down.
To me, I always felt as though a child’s first birthday should be somewhat of a “big deal” even though I’m well aware of the fact that the children probably aren’t even going to remember it. We felt as though my daughter was robbed of her first birthday so for her second, we had really gone out – including a visit from the great and grand purple dinosaur!
Then from there it’s like every year we’re trying to outdo the previous. Eventually, it becomes out of control and the spendind rediculous.
Taking a look at the pictures from my daughter’s second birthday party – it looked like Christmas morning for the whole family. That was however because we had invited so many of our friend’s children and family member’s children – I mean in 1998 – what child under the age of 5 wouldn’t want to see Barney??
We certainly should have asked for presents to not be brought or maybe even a donation to a local charity in her name would have been better. For a child to receive that many presents on one birthday was just way too much.
Two weeks after my daughter’s 4th birthday, along came her little brother. Okay so for the 4th we need to really make it a big thing – we don’t want her feeling left out or forgotten right before the birth of her new baby brother, right? And the following year, we have the little guy’s first birthday party – which remember – I thought should be a grand time – and also remember – my daughter’s birthday was just two weeks before that! Yep, eventually we spiralled quickly into one big money racket!
(Might I remind you as well that my daughter’s birthday usually falls right before they start back to school and my son’s right after – so let’s not forget the new clothes expense too! Needless to say, my children often got new clothes for their birthdays too!)
It took us six years to find the perfect solution for us! We realized if we waited one week after my son’s birthday, we would get a severly discounted trip to a local amusement park (because it was right after the peak season). I checked with him to see if he would be interested in going and he was thrilled! We had an absolute blast! The four of us at a local amusement park for the day. This turned into being the party and the gift all wrapped in one.
So, unless we come up with something else in the meantime, my husband and I and the kids all have a new plan for birthdays. We’re all thrilled with it too because you’d be amazed at the benefits. So, from here on out … here’s our new plan.
– The birthday child gets to pick the amusement park.
– They are well aware that we will have to research and if within 2 weeks, we can get discounted tickets because of the time of the year, we will go then.
– Depending on the finance situation when the birthdays roll around, the birthday child is allowed to bring one friend.
– The birthday child decides what rides we go on in what order, what we have for lunch and pretty much gets to run the day.
– Each child is given an “allowance” so-to-speak for games and/or souveniers, etc.
(Once the money is gone – no more games will be played – no more souveneirs, etc will be purchased.)
– The birthday child is allowed to choose one novelty item, souveneir, game, etc. above and beyond the allowance and within reason.
(For example on our first trip, my son had chosen a hermit crab – which of course we also had to buy all the accessories – cage, food, etc.)
– Dending on the day we go, where we’re going, etc. The birthday child is allowed to have his/her friend over the night before or the night of. A this time we will have birthday cake and ice cream.
– As I said the trip to the amusement park and the perks the birthday child receives are pretty much the party and gift combined. However, we do buy the birthday child one small present as well for their birthday. (Yeah, my husband and I love to give surprises too so we had to be able to keep one small present in there.)
My husband and the children have also realized how much more fun they can have this way. We’re able to save that money that we would have spent in all the “extras” that come with a birthday party, spend some of it the amusement park AND still end up being cheaper. (Go mom!)
WOW! What a perfect solution this has been for our family!
We have disturbed a few family members who are more about the traditional birthday party with family and friends – even if it is just cake and ice cream. Family members have all been told, we’ll let you know when we’re having the cake and ice cream at home and they are more than welcome to join us. If they feel froggy enough, they’re also more than welcome to join us at the amusement park.
Over time, they’ve all come to realize that this is what we all want (children included) and it’s our decision. We’ve started a new family tradition. And who knows? Maybe this is something our kids will do for their kids when they grow up. It’s tough to remember sometimes but there’s only really two people who need to be satisfied with a decision such as this one. You and your child. No one else matters. 
Do you have any idea how much pressure this all takes off my shoulders? All I have to do is go online, figure out what it’s going to cost and when we should go. Call the birthday child’s friend’s parents and invite them to go. And the day of the outing – we just go and all have a good time!
No guest lists, no trying to make all family members happy with the date/time we choose. No invitations, no food purchases (beforehand) or cooking myself, no invitations, no party favors, good bags, etc. No house cleaning beforehand – no clean up afterwards. No thank you notes, no nothing but a really good time. And the best part … the kids LOVE the idea too! It’s perfect!
But this, this is one really awesome surprise for one six year old, Gabriel Hurles.
Little boy gets a present of a lifetime.
Edited to add: Oops! I should be ashamed of myself! I forgot to include a link to one of my favorite sites with –> birthday party ideas!
So, what do you do? What’s your perfect child’s birthday party?
Your fellow WAHM in success,
Anita
Topics: Mom Stuff | 3 Comments »
February 2nd, 2009 at 10:11 pm
We grew up without much money and so I think our birthday parties were pretty simple as kids and that’s what I plan to do for my kids now.
I had a family get together for my daughter’s 1st bday just because a lot of the family doesn’t see each other or the baby as much as they’d like. Then after that the parties get slowly smaller and smaller. I think my son’s bday party last year only cost about $30 – I bought a big birthday cookie for him & some ice cream and we shared it with the grandparents & my brothers. I didn’t even bother with special birthday plates or napkins. I think I hung up some balloons I had.
But he enjoyed it and he’s been excited for the next one which is only a few weeks away!
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February 3rd, 2009 at 9:13 am
Personally our birthday parties have always been about family. Then again, I come from a good sized family (my dad had 6 sisters, and I had TONS of cousins). As the kids get older, more friends have been included. My best friend and her daughter (their age) always comes. The neighbor kids just across the street always come. Grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles come. And that’s it. We have a pile of presents, a cute cake (I’ve really gotten into decorating them myself now), and then they play outside (weather permitting, but usually May and October are pretty nice).
When I was a kid, that was the way it always was. I enjoyed the company of my family who I only got to see around birthdays and holidays, and I grew up knowing who my 1st and 2nd cousins were. That’s just the way my entire family is really. We don’t worry about big flashy parties. My most memorable was a surprise party when I was about 7 or so, even though it wasn’t any different than any others. (But I got a bike – that was awesome!)
As far as presents go for both my kids, I start shopping and planning months ahead of time. I buy a little here and a little there, stashing it away in the off limit storage room. In fact, I just bought two small items yesterday for my son’s bday which isn’t until May. This year, though, his main gift will be a new Wii game or two (which the Wii was purchased by me for the FAMILY and not one specific kid). That’s it!
I’ve come to realize that it doesn’t matter how much “stuff” they have, but how many memories ALL of us have. Sometimes it’s the most simple things in life that make us happy.
January 17th, 2011 at 4:22 pm
Luckily, my Birthday is during the summer so I almost always had good weather growing up so it was really easy for my parents to put something together without spending a ton of money. All they needed was our pool, the sun, some cake and ice cream and about 20 kids. The rest was up to the kids, and as everyone knows, kids are pretty imaginative – so we always had good games to play.