Nine birthday parties. I have three children, five and under and I have thrown nine “Pinterest” styled birthday parties. Fall themed, ninja turtles, tractors, Thomas the Train, Sesame Street, and the list goes on.
Of course, my five-year-old daughter has benefited the most as she has had five of these nine. My son has had three birthday parties and my two-year-old has had…..well one. That is when I stopped. Somewhere between stressing for weeks, pinning and then trying to recreate many elaborate ideas only to be enjoyed for a brief moment, I finally broke.
In February my youngest turned two and the best gift I could give her was a mommy who could completely focus on her because I was not running around trying to perfect every detail of a party that she would never remember.
Heck, there were several of my kiddo’s birthday parties where the party went by so fast that we (my husband and I) did not even get to have a piece of the cake! Well for all parents who have had to suffer without cake I say, “let them eat cake!”(Michael Scott fans may appreciate that line.)
Now, if you still want to rock the big birthday parties go right ahead, but for those who are looking for other options and a way out of the Pinterest stress, this may help!
Birthday Experience vs Birthday Party
- We took a very small fraction of what we were going to spend on a birthday party for my two-year-old and we bought Boonshoft Museum passes. On the day before her birthday, we took the kiddos and they spent the day running around and having a blast at the museum. On her birthday we surprised the kiddos by going to a new candy shop in our area. Each child got to pick out their own bag of candy.
- This month, my son will be turning 4. He loves trains so we are planning a day that involves trains. So far in our research, we are leaning towards EnterTRAINment Junction as we have never been there. Of course, if you have any train experiences in mind please share with us in the comments!
Family experiences are going to actually save us financially while providing our children with some memories that will hopefully last. In my youngest daughter’s case, she may not remember the museum experience, BUT we can take her for the full year and she would not have remembered a 2nd birthday party either. It feels like a win to me.
Family Fun
- Going the family route is great, but maybe you have multiple children and want to make each child’s birthday their very own. Have someone watch the other children for a day and take the birthday boy or girl for a day of their own. I know my daughter would love for us to take her to a movie, to get her nails painted, and eat lunch together.
When my husband and I get to spend one on one time with one of our children it allows me to reminisce on that child’s birth, and those short moments afterward when we got to bond together before the entire family joined in.
Community Building
Have you heard of this new trend? In short, it is when each child invited to the party chips in five dollars to cover a big gift that the parents bought the child. While this is not a terrible idea and can cut down on the number of toys a child ends up getting, there are also some alternatives to this.
- When given the chance, children often feel really good about doing something good for someone else. You could give your child a chance to celebrate with friends while feeling good about helping others. Instead of throwing a large party with a ton of decorations you could have a few of your child’s friends over or meet at a fun location to simply eat together and then raise money for a charitable cause. Charities, such as Ronald McDonald House, are always accepting donations and the children could even go to the specific donation place and drop off their donation in honor of the birthday child. It could be a fun outing filled with giving!
Explore the World
- Set aside the money you would have spent on a birthday party and take a once a year celebration vacation! A friend of mine is planning to take her family to a hotel that has a waterpark. This provides family time away where you can celebrate by making fun vacation memories and maybe checking out a restaurant or two for some birthday treats!
The More the Merrier
- If you really enjoy throwing birthday parties but you have multiple children and it gets to be too expensive and stressful, I have another alternative. Pick a random day each year and set it as “birthday party day” to celebrate all your children. This could work well if you have fall and winter birthdays and decide to celebrate them all in the summer. You could have each child have a few friends over or rent an area at a local park/outdoor spot which is often free or rather affordable. This promotes a family celebration and bringing your children’s friends together. Even with age gaps, this could be successful in the right setting. Who knows, this could even provide a day of siblings being peaceful with each other and not arguing and fighting!
As you can see, there are alternatives to spending large amounts of money on birthday parties. If you are someone who has birthday parties down to a science and manages to keep the spending light, I would love to hear from you! If you have a special way of celebrating your kiddo’s big day share it will us! I am not afraid to admit that I am a mom that is wingin’ it and I would love inspiration from other mommas out there! After all, there are many ways to celebrate a child’s birthday and at the end of the day, all of us as parents just want our children to know that they are celebrated and loved.
