Do You Give Each Kid a Birthday Party Every Year or Do You Switch Off?

Hi C.,
I have 5 kids and they each celebrated their birthday every year. It was a way to make them feel extra special. They looked forward to celebrating their birthday as much as they loved going to another child's party, maybe even more. The celebration doesn't have to be costly, you can be creative. Actually the less costly parties, were often the more fun for all! Go on a scavenger hunt (piece of paper with instructions..not costly), musical chairs (not costly)...but lots of fun and laughter...and memorable!! Relay games are fun too. Too many people think they have to out do the parties their children go to, but actually, keeping it simplified leaves many remembering a great time for years to come.
ENJOY!...
C.

Hi C.,
We do a party for each child every year. Although we don't go all out and get ponies or anything. LOL!!! It doesn't have to be a big ordeal. My boys get so excited just having pizza and having their cousins over. Have fun.
Chris

I know birthdays can get expensive but birthday parties for children that age are exciting so i think that it would be good to do something simple for each of there birthdays every year ..or maybe if you dont want to throw a birthday party for a whole bunch of people maybe have just family over to have cake and ice cream and have the child pick something they want to do maybe the following weekend that is special to them like maybe rollerskating , going to the zoo , going to the park or bowling .. that might be something more for them to look forward to ...

Hi C.,

I have 3 kids and we always do a bigger party for the milestone years (1, 5, 10, etc.) What we have chosen to do in between is have the kids pick one friend and then do something they normally wouldn't get to do. Last year, my daughter and a friend went to see High School Musical on Ice and then went out to dinner. My son chose to go to Build a Bear and then dinner. They both had the friend sleep over afterwards. When they turn 10 and 16 we will do bigger parties, but for now we make it special, but keep it small. I feel like it gets too crazy, too many gifts, etc. and would prefer to keep it small yet special. As a family, we always go to Chuck E. Cheese on thier actual birthday and that's when grandma comes to celebrate.

Good luck.
C.

every kid deserves a birthday.
Birthday parties can get expensive.. so you might want to keep them simple.. grandparents and a couple of friends. (maybe the number of friends as how old you are)

Have the party at home and have pizza and cake.

Maybe every 3rd year do something bigger and go to chuck e cheese or something.t

I am following the 'routine' that I had as a kid. It has worked well for us and saves a lot of money since, as you will find out, parties now a days tend to be pretty pricey.

My children are allowed to have a 'big' party on their 5th 10th, and 15th birthday. On the other years they are allowed to invite 1 or 2 friends to go and do a simple activity (a game of bowling, movie, visit to chuckie cheese).

My oldest turned 13 this year and he decided that he would prefer to have a prty to celebrate 13 rather than 15 since it was his first 'teen'. That made sense to us and so far has worked out very well.
L.

Having 3 children, and another one on the way, I have found it best to give each child a party every year...you can't ignore a child's birthday. The extent of the party is what needs to be addressed. My husband and i agreed that we would have big whole family parties for 1yr, 5yr, 10yr, and we aren't to the rest yet...maybe 13, and 16 if they still want them then. and with those years, friends too. The in between years we just invite grandmas and grandpas, and aunts and uncles, cousins...and we celebrate ON their birthday, whether it be monday or saturday, or thursday. that is the key to keeping them small and manageable. More people are busy during the week, and most invitees can't make it due to prior commitments. The birthday kid picks what we have for dinner, and a theme for cake,and deco, and we get plates and napkins and decorate, every year. This Nov, my daughter turns 4, and her b-day is on a sunday, so her party will be larger than usual, just because more family has the day off. My husband comes from a large family, so there are lots of immediate family, which is great, but it makes it a larger party from the word go. That is our solution, and talking to other moms it seems to be what most families do...with the exception of us having it ON their actual b-day. My husband is just adamant of that detail. Anyway, good luck to you!

What I do is give them a family party for every 5 years. So I had one at 1 then I just had my son's 5 yr. party this weekend. We will do it again at 10. I am letting hime have 2 of our friends kids over for dinner on his actual birthday. In my family there are 13 nieces and nephews so we could actually go to a b-day party each month and sometimes 4 in one month and go broke. It is just easier and less costly to do every 5.

I have three children and this is what we decided. Their party is part of their gift. If it is just family for cake and ice cream then they get the big gift they were expecting. If they take 8 friends bowling, they don't get the extra toys. As they get into elementary school having your buddies to go play laser tag or bowling supercedes some toys. Then once they get in the "tween" years sleep overs seem to be their choice. Not each one of my children chooses to have a big party every year. I use it to teach them that we only have $X for each birthday and once they got into school and more activities they got to make their choice.

birthday parties are expensive, that's for sure - but I've got three boys and no that each year they are SO excited for their parties. As they get much older (10, 11 plus) you can do smaller parties like taking a few of their friends to a movie. I never got the rotating party thing - what a disappointment when it's not your year. You can cut costs by having parties at home, doing it when it's not a mealtime (say 2.30-4.30) so you can just provide cake and icecream, and even running games or crafts yourself. I might do the little one's party a week or so after his actual birthday to give me a bit more breathing space - but two of my kids have their birthday within two weeks of each other and I manage just fine! Enjoy these special times - Alison

We do more of a family only get together with cake and ice cream at home.
We give them presents and our families give them presents. I do not want to raise my kids to "expect" others to give them stuff just because they were born on a certain day.

Planning a party can be stressful and as you have more kids the ones who's day it isn't get upset that THEY arn't getting presents and all the attention. We do not get younger kids presents on older kids birthdays. All of that would just drive me up a wall. But i'm also a mom that has her kids send thankyou cards afterwards. (the babys just scribble on a piece of paper and the grandparents LOVE it!)

They all get excited about opening presents and it doesn't matter if its 3 people there or 12. Its all about the new stuff.

You do what YOU can handle financially and mentally.

C.,

I have 5 boys and what we do for birthdays is play down the presents. When we invite friends over for a birthday we specifically request "no gifts please". Then we plan something fun for the kids but simple and inexpensive. In the winter (we have a big hill near us) the kids go sledding, in the summer maybe meet at a lake to swim or for littler ones running through the sprinkler. It doesn't have to be fancy just let them enjoy the company of good friends.

For food we usually throw some hot dogs in one crock pot, and some sloppy joes in another. Pick up some buns, chips, ice cream and pop, and bake a cake, and your set for food.

We do get together with immediate family for gifts. But only 1 from the grandparents and no more than 3 from mom and dad. When thats all they are expecting they are thrilled with it. Honestly we have so many toys and things now they really don't need much. Good luck whatever you decide to do, and have fun.

I have kids that are almost exactly 2 years apart and I was struggling with this idea too. I also don't think that they need toys every year from all the kids on the block and I came up with this solution: Instead of doing any birthday parties they are throwing one party per year together. This year they decided to have a halloween party (coming up on Saturday) and they have each invited friends over and everyone is very excited for it. We are making it very "homemade" (making pinata, bobbing for apples, pin the tail on the cat, etc). Its turning out to be a very special way for them to have a party without the focus being on gifts and cake (and I only have to do one per year). As the kids get older (they are 5 and 3 now), we may switch to having a sleep over or something if they want, but for the young years this is a lot of fun. Hope you come up with a good solution for your family! Best of luck--
C.

The rule we established was that they didn't get a birthday until they were in kindergarten. Our oldest daughter turns 5 in November and will be getting her first birthday party. Our youngest daughter won't get a birthday party for a couple years yet. Her birthday is the end of April, so we'll have a few months in between. The oldest had to choose 10 friends to attend, and we gave her the choice to invite her sister or not - of course she's invited (this year). However, we wanted her to feel like she had the choice in that matter. I suspect that we'll do birthday parties every year for them though.

how about doing a combined birthday party for friends? That way you only have to plan one and you might save time & money by doing it this way. You could have the cake decorated with each boy's interests....just a thought. Hope this helps.

My three kids each get their own birthday party as close to their day as possible, it mostly is for the immediate family.
Some years they get to have their friends over for a party or sleepover, or we take them and a few friends someplace, out to eat, roller skating, laser tag, etc.

I have four kids (ages 6, 7, 8 and 10) and we give them each their own party every year.

I have three boys. For birthdays, we have a big party on the fives: on their first birthday I have a very nice dinner party with both sets of grandparents. At five, ten and fifteen they get a big party with all the bells and whistles, e.g. pinata, gift bags, presents, etc. On the off years, we do "cake" and by that I mean they are allowed to have a few friends over (usually ends up to be 5 - 7) for cake and ice cream after dinner on the day of their actual birthday. I am very careful not to raise an expectation of a party, just casual cake celebration, no gifts, no party bags, etc. The kids have fun together running around the yard, like a big play date. This system has worked very well so far.

we have two daughters two years apart in age, with birthdays a month apart. The second one has difficulty waiting a month till her birthday, she gets so excited about it after watching her sister have a party.
It would be unthinkable to wait a year. If you are trying to cut back, instead of alternate years, have just a few friends do a favorite activity together, with cake after. A trip to a health club like the YMCA or Court One for a swim party, or, in nice weather, an outdoor public pool. We had lots of fun taking just a couple friends to the roller rink for rollerblading. Gymnastics clubs and karate schools have "buddy days" where they can bring friends, too. If you get your children involved with one of these, it is a fun alternative. Even a backyard BBQ. You do not have to have 30 kids and parents.... just a few closest friends make the occasion. We even had one year where we just took our son's two best friends with our family to Taco Bell. Huge hit. COst less than $10 extra. A year is a very long time to a child. Let them have a special occasion.
L.

In my opinion you should have a party for each of your children. I like the idea of inviting the number of kids of your age, great idea, I think I'll use that one!! Also, like someone said about the Carnival, if someone can afford to go grand for their kid, don't be-little them, that's them not you, unless your trying to keep up with the jones if you know what I mean. Do what "you" can afford period. If you try to keep up with another mom who can do more or afford more than you, your in for a world of disappointment. I have a neighbor who has had a mini carnival (no joke) in her backyard and done some pretty awesome stuff, and my kids are just happy to be able to go!! I never try to keep up with her.
If your kids birthday's are that close together, combine them into one big party! My neighbor does that and it works out great!
Good Luck!
J. in Macomb

We do not do a big party every year we have special ones at 1, 5, 10 or 13, ...you get the idea.
But we do make sure that each one of our kids feel special on their b day! They get to have their favorite foods and make any special desicions on their special day. We also invite Grandma over for dinner as well!
I don't think that you have to have a big party make you child feel special.
Blessings, K.

I have five kids, so I keep it simple. They get to chose whatever they want for dinner. They get to pick out their own cake (or whatever dessert they want). Also, we allow them each $100 and take them shopping to pick out one outfit, and any toys they want with the rest of the money, this way, they get exactly what they want and they have so much fun getting to pick out their own stuff. We really strive to keep equality between them all so we make our decision at the beginning of the year whether or not they will have a swim party, bowling party, have friends stay the night, or whatever. Just as long as each kid gets to do the same thing or something equal to what the other kids are doing.

I am a big fan of birthdays. I came from a big family and we didn't have a big birthday party every year. However, we had a cake and ice cream with family and maybe a few friends over every year for each of us 5 kids. My brother and I had birthdays 2 days apart and we still had our own cake and small celebration on our own birthday. There were some years that we had big parties but not every year and it was fine. With my own kids, I have thrown a party with family and friends every year for both of them. As my teenager got older I let him choose what he wanted to do for his birthday. Some years it was buy tickets to Cedar Point so he could take a friend instead of a birthday party. This year he turned 17 and I let him have his friends band play in my garage for the evening and I fed a garage full of teenagers. They had fun and I knew where he was and who he was with so I didn't mind at all.

Have fun....they're only kids once!

T.

I give both my kids parties....they are seven years apart...but one is a boy the other is a girl...even though their birthdays are in the same month...they each get a party.
but they are such different kids...my son wants a big party...lots of people, somewhere fun
my daughter just wants family and a friend or two over to the house for spaghetti and cake...
ask your kids what they want?

We give each of our now 3 children a party every year. It is their special day and we feel they should be honored with extra celebration once a year.

I am now a great grandma but what worked best for our 4 children and 9 grandchildren (great granddaughter 5 mos. and one on the way) Was to have a big party for the milestone B-days, 1 yr., 5 yr etc. The other years we had a small family get together. Grand parents and siblings. Don't worry if someone can't make it.

My daughters are 18 months apart (5 and 3 1/2 now) and I have, and always will, give each of them there very own birthday party every year. It never would have even crossed my mind to not.

Well, how would you feel if your husband only told you happy birthday every other year? I'd be major ticked. I say each gets a celebration of some sort every year. It doesn't have to be a gala, just something fun.

They are little for such a short time. Celebrate it while you can!

Blessings,

S.

we have started birthday parties every other year or so. when my daughter turned 5 its a big deal so we had a party. she keeps talking about her 6th b day party even though it is months away, and i keep reminding her we are not going to have a party. other wise it gets to be too expensive

My opinion is that it's not their fault they were born close together, so why should they have to trade? Although, I am wholeheartedly AGAINST the birthday carnivals people hold for their kids in a lame attempt to 'one up' the next kid! LOL

Just keep it simple and fun...like it should be!

~L.

Birthdays are a huge thing to kids emotionally. It doesn't matter what they get in terms of gifts, as much as that added bit of recognition that it's their special day. Enjoy!

call me crazy, but celebrating birthdays is a special day that all kids should get to enjoy. It may be easier for the parents to only have to deal with one party, but I think that each child should get to enjoy a special party with their friends, with all the attention surrounding them. I have 2 kids, and I plan on doing 2 parties each year...luckily their birthdays are in Jan and July!

I feel that you could go either way. If they have the same set of friends, you could probably get away with having the two parties together, either in January, April, or somewhere in between. Once they start getting older, it will probably be more important to have separate parties, but they may continue to not have a problem with combining the parties. Just play it by ear.