Question on Combining Birthday Parties for Our Two 7 Year Olds

If money is truly tight just tell them you're only going to have a family party this year. They could have a sleep over or movie night with a few friends that are close to them. I'd even have them on different nights instead of the same one.

This way he gets a special day and so does she and there's not a lot of money spent on either one.

You could do his pizza party/movie night the first Friday in December and her's the first weekend back from school after Christmas Break.

But that's just what I'd do.

I agree with not over thinking it. Just have each of them invite who they would like and whoever comes, comes. My kids bdays are 19 days apart and when they were younger I had combined party for them. We had one cake and generic boy/girl decorations and it was fine. Don't stress about it and it will work out. Good luck.

Don't overthink this. He should invite the kids he wants, and she should invite the kids she wants. The number of guests does not have to be equal for the two of them.

If one has two friends at the party and the other has eight, that's fine. Each child will have fun with his/her friends. If one child asks, "Why does she have 8 friends and I only have two?" the answer is, "Because 8 of her friends could come and only 2 of yours could." If one child has more attendees and gets many more presents, you could buy an extra nice gift for the child with fewer guests.

Send the invitations however it's easiest for you. Dual invites for mutual friends sounds fine.

No one's life is exactly the same as anyone else's, even among siblings, so don't worry about everything being equal and "fair" in their lives. If you dispel that notion early on, your children will be emotionally healthier for it.

My daughter and one of her church friends had their 7th birthday two days apart just two weeks ago. Her mom and I were both going to celebrate on the same day, inviting the same church kids, so she suggested a joint party. I brought the favors, balloons, made a barbie cake with barbie holding a flag in both hands with both girls names in each hand, it was so fun. I made the invitations that said, " ____ & ____ are 7! Please join us for a Surprise birthday party for these two girls. It will be double the fun!!" It was held at her moms house and she provided the food. We had so much fun! And it was very feasable, I got favors at the Dollar Tree. Hope it all works out for you!!!

Have each kid make a list - without talking to each other - of who they want at the party. Decide on a number (5 or 7 each maybe) and have them rank the kids with the number one most wanted first. Then, compare the lists. Anyone who appears on both lists can get a single invitation with both your children's names on it. Anyone appearing on only one list gets an invitation only from the child inviting him/her. That way, the ones that only one kid wants only need to bring one gift.

If someone gets a lot of "no" RSVPs, consider letting them add a few more friends. It never hurts to have a B list, as long as the invitation doesn't come at the last minute (making it obvious they weren't your first choice).

I don't really know. My daughter and her then best friend's birthdays are 6 days apart. We did a combined party last year for them at the roller skating rink.

It was a disaster.

One child got ALL the attention, and the other was almost completely ignored. Sadly, mine was the one ignored.

I don't plan on ever doing a combined party again. Now, your position is a little different because both kids are family.

I can tell you that you will get low turn out for a birthday party in Dec. But you probably already know that. I think i would do separate invites and for the few common friends, give them two and let them know its a combined party. I would make a tentative invite list each and compare to see if there is really a need to limit or add to the list on one side. Then cross that bridge when you get to it. As for RSVP's this is my take: You cannot control or remind people for their RSVP with a paper invite. You can with an Evite. Go out of your way to get emails and Evite. Then you can send the reminder invite a few days before or even send out separate emails a few days before asking for a yay or nay for the sake of a head count on food. I understand stressing about no RSVP's, but its really out of your hands. Just make financial agreement up front, to split the bill 50/50 no matter who shows, or some other financial agreement of your making like a percentage of the bill based on actual turn out.

We just went to this party - sort of - two brothers with birthdays a week apart but ages 7 and 9. My son is 8 and is friends with both. Their mom said that she told them money was tight, they could only have one party and had them make a list of friends together. All invites went out together - they basically have the same friends. We took two gifts - one for each boy as my son is friends with both. It was super fun! They had one gift table - couldn't tell you if one got more presents than the other...Good luck!

I say put join us for jack and jill's 7th birthday party on the duel invites then join us for jack's for his guests jill's for hers. I would maybe do to cakes though as they deserve their own cakes that they pick out.

I did a party for all 3 of my kids last summer. The invite specified it was a party for all 3 kids, but each kid had their own invitation to give out, so people know all 3 kids were celebrating, but they were invited for kid 1, 2, or 3. Some people brought gifts for everyone, but most people just brought for the kid who invited them. My daughter got the most stuff, but the boys had a GREAT time also and fun with their friends. It worked out very nicely.

I have 2 kids.
For their parties, if we do have a party, it is ONE party. For each. Not a friend party, and then another one with family.

Then, per guest list, WE decide, how many friends they can invite. And it is determined by budget.
And we plainly tell our kids that.
And it is NO problem, for them or us.

I don't know about combined parties.
We don't do that.
I don't think, that combined parties necessarily saves, money.

For our kids' parties, there were times that my daughter didn't even want a "party." She just wanted 1 or 2 friends, to come over and it was real low key and simple. We asked her how she wanted to celebrate, and that was that. No HUGE party and she didn't want that anyway.
And no separate parties for friends and then relatives.
At my kids' ages, it is friend... parties. No relative parties. But some of the direct related relatives, can come. But they are not the focus. My kids friends are here for partying, and we focus on that.
My kids are 7 and 11.
This past year for their birthdays, one kid had 3 invited. That was my son's decision. For my daughter, she had 3 invited as well. That was her decision. And it was fine. And it was not a budget buster.
And it was fun and they were happy and it was special for them. And the 3 kids that were invited, had fun too.