Parenting

Do You Throw A Birthday Party Every Year?

edited April 2014 in Parenting
LO will be 2 in June and I'm throwing him a party. With all the planning, shopping and running around trying to find a place to have it, I can't see myself having a party for every birthday. My mom only focused on "important birthdays" when I was growing up, i.e. 2, 5, 10, 13, 16. I have a feeling that I'll be doing the same thing. I'm curious, do you celebrate every birthday with a big party? Or just focus on the big years? If that makes sense.
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Do You Throw A Birthday Party Every Year? 149 votes

Yes
56% 84 votes
No
43% 65 votes
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Re: Do You Throw A Birthday Party Every Year?

  • edited April 2014
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  • Nope. I do 1, 5, 10, 13, and 15/16 (my mom's side is Panamanian so they can pick a quinceanera or sweet 16), 18 if they want them. In between we still do special birthday stuff just not full blown parties.

    "Man, be creative. Like the stuff you do. Do nice things. Love respectfully. Laugh a fucking lot. Curse when you feel like it. Life is cool." - Jean Grae

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    M (3/9/02) and E (2/28/12)

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  • Hell to the No.  I will keep my sanity thank you very much.  Wyatt is having a party this year because he is turning 10, and hasn't had one since he was 5.  Mav can have one when he turns 5, and Levi can have one when he turns 10.  In between we have them choose something they want to do.  We have done the zoo, swimming, camping for the weekend, skating, bowling etc.
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    To be loved, and to be in love
  • I didn't even throw LO a party for 1. I didn't see the point since he couldn't even walk yet. Which is why I'm doing one this year- he'll actually enjoy it. I definitely won't be throwing another until age 5 though.
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  • No

    I don't have set ages per say. Plus I have 3 kids. April, May June... Talk about fucking broke!!!!


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  • Not big parties by we've still had family over for brunch or dinner the last couple years for O's bday.
    SQUIRREL!!!

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  • Not big parties l, but we do have family over and have dinner/cakes.

    We didn't have anything this past year because she wanted chuck e cheese and my family was upset.

    Not sure what we will do just yet about friend parties.


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  • No

    I don't have set ages per say. Plus I have 3 kids. April, May June... Talk about fucking broke!!!!

    My girls' birthdays are 10 days apart. My bank account gets no chance to recover in between.

    "Man, be creative. Like the stuff you do. Do nice things. Love respectfully. Laugh a fucking lot. Curse when you feel like it. Life is cool." - Jean Grae

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    M (3/9/02) and E (2/28/12)

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  • ReeseFox said:

    No

    I don't have set ages per say. Plus I have 3 kids. April, May June... Talk about fucking broke!!!!

    My girls' birthdays are 10 days apart. My bank account gets no chance to recover in between.


    Doing that we see eye to eye thing....

    Also Father's Day & DH bday is in June!! FML.... ugh!


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  • For 1 we had breakfast at Ihop and then went to the Brooklyn Children's Museum with LO and 3 of his cousins. His Christening was the day after to we had brunch at the Hudson River Cafe after the service. Can't beat all you can drink Mimosa's for $25!!
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  •  

    CTGirl30 said:

    DD is having her first real "friend party" for her 3rd birthday this month.  We rented space in a local museum and she's having like 10 friends come. This shit is expensive, so no, this will not be a regular occurence.   Birthdays for age 1 and 2 were simple, family only BBQ's at our house.

    Age 3 was when we started getting invites for parties at rental places like children's museums / bounce houses / pottery painting places, etc.

    Her brother is turning 1 and he's getting the same thing she got - backyard family only BBQ.

    With 2 kids, I cannot see doing a big expensive party every year. I like the idea of the "milestone" birthdays going forward. We will obviously have a celebration at home, but it will be smaller scale and none of this renting places out business every single year.

    This year it's just a BBQ birthday party for us too. We rented some picnic tables in a park and there's a playground across the street. I was originally looking at My Gym, but the prices were crazy! Maybe we'll do the skating rink or something when he's 5.
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  • Yes. I go all out every year. I feel no shame.
  • I seriously need to have a kid with a birthday in a warm month. My house sucks for entertaining indoors, it's such a stupid floor plan. 

    I remember when I was a kid one of my friends had a really cool outdoor party in the backyard. There were water balloons and water guns, a Slip'n Slide, kiddie pools, we had a blast. It would be so much fun to throw a party like that.

    "Man, be creative. Like the stuff you do. Do nice things. Love respectfully. Laugh a fucking lot. Curse when you feel like it. Life is cool." - Jean Grae

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    M (3/9/02) and E (2/28/12)

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  • Moidonna said:
    I voted yes, but I think I misunderstood what people consider a party.  I have yet to have a friend party for either my 6 or 3 year old.  I have had a party every year with family and close friends and their kids.  I will always have something with family like grandparents, aunts and uncles etc.  The girls have birthdays two weeks apart, so we have been doing one double party.  I will always have something for them even if it is just dinner, cake, and presents.  That would still be called a party in my family.  So far they have had Chuck E Cheese or similar parties just because my house is too small to accommodate people.

    When I say party I'm meaning invitations get sent out, pinatas, a lot of kids, a theme, ect. We'll most likely always do something with family and definitely always a cake. LO's birthday is in the beginning of June, so he will probably have a school party one year.
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  • We do but it's only a small family gathering(10 people).  It's the immediate family grandparents and aunt/uncles and cousins.  They'd be buying them bday gifts anyways so I invite them over for cake and ice cream.
  • Yes, I love parties.


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  • Yes, we do (will do) a party every year. But it certainly isn't a blow out. We have family and friends over to our house and do games/food/cake. We make it easy on ourselves, but we always have a party to celebrate.
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  • He has had 2 family parties each year (CT & ME).  This year he will have his 1st friends party, if I can get my shit together and 2 family parties.

    The family parties, except for his 1st, aren't that big of a deal.
    The Book of Love Has Music in it

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  • I plan to. Some years will be bigger than others. Also, right now it's just a family party, but as he gets older we'll probably have a kid party and a family dinner.


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    Formerly Twilightmv
  • Ugh, Dh and I both have large families that are local.  People get butt hurt if they are not invited, so a simple family party still ends up being around 40 people.  We do a big party for the 1st birthday, I don't know why since they won't remember it, but it is what everyone does in my area. 

    I like to make a big deal and make birthdays extra special.  On their actual birthday we have a "day of fun" where we do whatever the birthday child wants to do.  We typically go to Chuck E Cheese The bouncy place, the movies and out to dinner.

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  • I voted no, even though my son is only 2.  So far we have had small family get togethers because it is close to Thanksgiving and people will sometimes be in town.  Once he gets school age maybe we'll have a big party sometimes, but more likely we'd invite one or two of his close friends to do something fun, go out to dinner, that sort of thing. 

    Though, now that I think about it, it will probably depend on what he wants to do, but even then it would simple parties at home with maybe some games and a cake and some food.  I don't see myself planning elaborate parties at venues and all that.  I'm not organized or motivated enough to do that.


  • Yes, we will throw parties every year. But, the parties will not be large events. For DD's second, we had gradparents, her aunts and uncles, and two of her little friends.

    Once she is in school, she will be having birthday parties with just some friends from school. The only really big party she will get was for her first birthday.

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  • Aiden had a family and "my friends" party for 1 and 2.  We did a very small thing for his 3rd because I was 3 weeks from having Quinn.  This year is his first real friends party at a bounce place.  Quinn is getting the family and "my friends" party this year.

    I do plan on having a party every year for each of them but what that is will vary year to year and I don't support "you have to invite the whole class" mind sets.  You invite your friends, not everyone you know so that feelings don't get hurt, kwim?
    Formerly known as elmoali :)

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  • Estwd2 said:

    We don't live anywhere near friends or family, so we'd have no guests to invite until she's school-aged. Pathetic, I know. :(

    This is us. We have yet to have a party for her. Maybe this year for her 3rd.

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  • If we did every birthday, we would be broke. The past few years for DD, we have just had some of her friends spend the night, we rented movies, made cupcakes, and made pizza. With DS, we had a party for his birthday at our house, and we invited his friends from daycare, and the kids in the neighborhood.

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  • Not big parties l, but we do have family over and have dinner/cakes.

    We didn't have anything this past year because she wanted chuck e cheese and my family was upset.

    Not sure what we will do just yet about friend parties.

    upset why?  Because she wanted chuck e cheese?  confused. (probably a story here that I'm not remembering)

    Because we didn't have a party/get together @uconnhuskie007‌ we just took her and had my mom, stepdad, and sisters come instead of everyone


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  • Yes, but I don't do parties the way you do them. There's no running around or craziness. The only craziness comes from trying to get the while house cleaned.

    We play outside in the backyard and eat a cake I make. The end.
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  • My kid is one, so I have no idea if we will. I guess it depends, but I'd like to have something special for her birthday each year. 
    Lilypie - (KNqh)
  • We've only had 2 birthdays so far, but I plan to do a party every year. I like the fuss and I enjoyed my birthday parties as a kid. I think I stopped having party parties when I was like 13.
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  • We have mid Sept and late August so it helps to have pool parties in the yard. If they were born in cold months then I'm not sure if go all out.
  • MaebbMaebb member
    We didn't do a party for 1 (just kind of piggybacked on Thanksgiving and did cake and decorations there). We'll probably do the same for 2.

    We have a pool and a big yard but small house. DS' birthday is 11/30, so maybe we'll just do a fun pool party in the summer and skip the birthday party, but I'll let him decide when he's older. I don't want to have a bunch of people inside my house but also don't want to pay a lot to rent a place or for an expensive indoor activity. I also don't think he needs presents. Wow, I am sounding like a mean mom and antisocial person.

    Tl;dr - probably will not have a BD party every year, but we'll see how DS feels about it when he's older.
  • Yes, but I don't do parties the way you do them. There's no running around or craziness. The only craziness comes from trying to get the while house cleaned. We play outside in the backyard and eat a cake I make. The end.

    @TiffanyBerry If I didn't live in a tiny 2 bedroom condo & actually had a backyard then I'd do the same. He's not having a full blown party every year though, so I don't mind a few months of some craziness for this birthday.
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  • ReeseFoxReeseFox member
    edited April 2014
    Party on party people let me hear some noise. DC is in the house jump jump for joy. It's a party over here, party over there, wave your hands in the air, shake your derriere. 

    "Man, be creative. Like the stuff you do. Do nice things. Love respectfully. Laugh a fucking lot. Curse when you feel like it. Life is cool." - Jean Grae

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    M (3/9/02) and E (2/28/12)

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  • I fully support inviting the whole class for little kids.  Kids in my DD's class are turning 4, and they do get excited about parties and talk about them at school.  Not so much at 3, but definitely at 4. 

    I will say that if you invite the whole class, be prepared for people wanting to bring both parents, along with siblings.  Says the poster who invited the whole class and just a few family friends to DD's birthday party last weekend, and ended up with a party attended by SIXTY FUCKING PEOPLE.

                                  

      
                                   
  • Yes, but I don't do parties the way you do them. There's no running around or craziness. The only craziness comes from trying to get the while house cleaned. We play outside in the backyard and eat a cake I make. The end.

    @TiffanyBerry If I didn't live in a tiny 2 bedroom condo & actually had a backyard then I'd do the same. He's not having a full blown party every year though, so I don't mind a few months of some craziness for this birthday.
    Hah, in that case, I'd probably be at a close by park, with the same setup. :)
    I'm seriously so lazy when it comes to parties.  I just cannot maintain the interest to put in that much work.  But, as an invitee, they are very nice to attend. :)
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  • I love throwing parties, I plan to do every year. This year, I started shopping in the summer and have a whole container full of supplies for the party in my closet, but I had a really rough 1st tri and could barely get off the couch, let alone finish the party. 
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  • So far it's been every year but long term I think we will switch.  Her 3rd birthday was much smaller just 3-4 friends from her daycare class who came over with their parents.  This year we are doing a big one only because her birthday is the day before we fly home to see family in the US and they are all going to want to see us anyway so it's an easy excuse to get everyone together.

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  • vandelay said:

    I fully support inviting the whole class for little kids.  Kids in my DD's class are turning 4, and they do get excited about parties and talk about them at school.  Not so much at 3, but definitely at 4. 

    I will say that if you invite the whole class, be prepared for people wanting to bring both parents, along with siblings.  Says the poster who invited the whole class and just a few family friends to DD's birthday party last weekend, and ended up with a party attended by SIXTY FUCKING PEOPLE.

    OMG.  See, I would shoot my fucking face off if that happened to me.  I have ZERO interest in entertaining that many people.  Unnecessary, lol.

    Yeah, it was crazy stressful.  But to be fair, it was mostly my fault.  DD is in daycare at my workplace, which is not near where we live, and last year only 2 classmates came to our party in a park near our house.  This year I had such anxiety that no one would come and she'd be disappointed that I chose a more central location and tried to do it someplace cool and interesting that people might be excited about.  And that resulted in people thinking, "Cool -- let's bring the whole family!"  I mean, one family brought both parents and two additional brothers, the oldest of whom looked about 12.  And the cost was based on headcount, so...yeah.  In hindsight, I should have anticipated this and put clear parameters in the invitations.

    TL;DR -- we probably wouldn't have had 60 people show up to a party at our house; it was likely based on the venue where we held the party.

                                  

      
                                   
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