Birthday Bashes

Sometimes we like to get more personal on the blog and today will be one of those days as we look into what my family does for birthdays.

It seems lately it’s not enough to celebrate a kid’s birthday by getting family together for cake and ice cream. People are going over the top to make birthdays a huge, grand affair.

I have mixed feelings on this subject. I have been helping plan events for the last 8 years and the event planner in me says "Bigger is Better" and "Go Big or Go Home!" I love looking at photos of over the top dessert tables, amazing invites that incorporate the party theme, and the fun take home favors that wrap up the events. I mean, how can you not love a good "Willie Wonka Bash?"

But from the other side as a mom, that stuff gets expensive quickly! It can set precedence that each birthday will be bigger and better than last year's party (Dudley counting his presents, anyone?). Not only is that a financial issue, but also I think kids can get overwhelmed by the big production and not appreciate what their birthday really is about. Birthdays should be a time to celebrate with their closest friends and family the joy the they have brought to everyone's life in the last year. A time to cherish and give special attention to a child is a must, but I think there should be a balance between lavishing your child with gifts and spending quality time together as a family. The balance can be tricky and since we are just starting out on this birthday bash race who knows where it will go. I will share what my family has done just as a reference, but each family should create special traditions of their own.

Our 1st Child: Come on, let's admit it - they do get most of the spoiling! Our first child is the first grandbaby on both sides. So with 4 grandparents, 2 great-grandparents, and 7 aunts and uncles she stole the show as soon as she was born. Altogether we have 18 people just in the immediate family on both sides! So for us it is a choice between gatherings of family or friends - when we go with both things get huge! So keeping with the tradition, I will spell out what have done for birthdays with our first. (Keep in mind we have another girl just 3 years younger we are also trying to keep the traditions with as well!)

1st Birthday - Family Gathering, Monkey Theme. We kept it small; they still don't understand what's going on and usually end up crying when you sing to them.

2nd Birthday - Family & Friends, Butterfly Brunch. This was a BIG one for us! We had about 40 friends to the bash and invited other kids, too. We had the water table out, ran a butterfly tattoo station, and did a butterfly hunt as well.

3rd Birthday – Family Gathering, Curious George Cupcakes. This was just days before her sister was born! Since we did a big bash for the 2nd birthday, we kept it simple with just family and dessert this time.

4th Birthday – Friends Gathering, Barbie Cake Tradition. We decided the 4th birthday would be the homemade Barbie Cake Birthday! We meet up with some close friends, had pizza, and celebrated with a custom cake.

5th Birthday – Mom & Dad only, DISNEY PRINCESS DREAM! We took her to Disneyland - just her! Her little sister stayed back with the grandparents and we spoiled her with the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo Princess Makeover at Disneyland. We lavished her with 2 days of non-stop fun for her 5th!

So that's what we have done. Basically here it is in a nutshell:

1st Birthday - Small just family

2nd Birthday - Bigger party with friends

3rd Birthday - Kept it low key

4th Birthday - Barbie cake

5th Birthday - DISNEYLAND

For the future:

We will probably keep the next few birthdays low key and then do something special when she turns 10. Take her on a weekend trip somewhere, just her and us.

We try to take time to treasure our girls on the birthday, make them special, create fun family traditions, and we don't have to create a fantasy birthday each year in order to do this!

What does your family do?