How long will you continue to do birthday parties?

izzybella

I mean with extended family and such. . . DD will be 4 in Feb and I'm thinking that it might be the last year, if we even do it. I don't know how DH's family will feel about it, but it's always nice to have an excuse to get together.

Thoughts? 

luvmagoldn

DH's family does it - forever.  We are going to DH's uncle's house for his birthday celebration on Saturday.  And he's in his 50's.  There is always a lunch or a dinner (which drags on for hours by the way) for birthdays.

Mysterious_wife

As long as Allie wants to have a party.  My family does them forever too. Why not?

Pesky

I stopped this year!  We will always have a little immediate family celebration with just us but for extended family, not really.  But we don't have much nearby anyway -- just an aunt and uncle of DH and their son and his family.  We get together enough anyway just as a family and I figure the birthday is really for us to celebrate as a nuclear family and the kids to celebrate with their friends.

j_hope

We are having two extended family parties for DD #2's 1st birthday this month and that's it!  I feel a little bad that DD #1 got birthday parties until she was 3, but I'm not a good party planner/hostess and I get all stressed out and never enjoy myself so I'm calling it quits.  We will still have a small get-together just w/ my parents/dh's parents and my siblings and do dinner, cake, and presents...but no more BIG 20+ parties.  I will also have a kid party for the kiddos when they hit 5, 10, and 16 when they can have a few friends over...but again that's the extent of it.

Halo79RN

family does not live near us. we don't throw big parties with the preschool kids and friends.  we just have an outing... just the 4 of us.  we go to a museum or a zoo or something and out to lunch... make a big deal of it with cake and ice cream being the actual bday dinner at night.  it's a whole day about the child and the 4 of us.  

I'm sure if we lived near family we'd have everyone over for cake, but  we don't.  

Dani123

Mysterious_wife:

As long as Allie wants to have a party.  My family does them forever too. Why not?

Forever! Unless you dont want one, then why not? Its the ONLY day YOU get thats only yours!

brightning

Forever! I'm definitely pro-party. But if it's not your thing, don't feel guilty!

shopgirl78

Until they decided on their own that they either have a birthday party or a large gift.  We will always celebrate their birthday with the immediate family!

jlw2505

I don't think what we do with the extended family would be a party really but we do get together with family and have dinner and a cake.  Heck - I still celebrate my birthday with family that way.  I ahve invited the grandparents and aunts/uncles and my 1 niece and nephew that live in town to the friends parties but may stop that this year with my older DD (when she turns 5 this summer) and just do the dinner thing with them and keep the friends party just friends.  I don't think you need to go out and do a huge blow out party or invite anyone past the grandparents and aunts/uncles and close cousins for dinner.   (when I refer to aunts/uncles - I am talking about mine and DH's siblings and their kids as the cousins - I have never done a party for my kids where I invited my aunts/uncles and cousins and think that is way overboard for a kids birthday party.  That far of extended family is invited to the big thing like the kids baby namings, bat mitzvhas,etc)

izzybella

jlw2505:

(when I refer to aunts/uncles - I am talking about mine and DH's siblings and their kids as the cousins - I have never done a party for my kids where I invited my aunts/uncles and cousins and think that is way overboard for a kids birthday party.  That far of extended family is invited to the big thing like the kids baby namings, bat mitzvhas,etc)

That's what I'm talking about, at least on DH's side. He's got a close knit extended family that might be upset if we had a party and didn't invite them, but I don't want them to feel like they have to bring gifts either, KWIM?

MaybeBaby2

Until DD deems them unnecessary. We have zero family near us and we mainly only get together with friends and such. So as long as she wants them, we'll continue to have one for her.