“Especially in this tough economy, birthday parties can be very expensive. How do you celebrate your kids’ birthdays? Do you “go big” or do you "keep it simple?”
Lisa Faircloth, Douglasville mom to a boy (7) and girl (3)
Most the time we just have a nice meal or outing with our family and give the honorable one a couple of gifts. We take the other couple hundred bucks we may have spent on a big party and put it in the birthday kid's savings. We will probably start doing outings and allowing Joey to invite one friend for a day of fun and spend the night now that he is getting older.
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Heather Beachy, Douglasville mom of two girls, ages 3 and 4
Young kids' birthday parties are just like one big play date so we stick with parties at our home and keep things simple. It's easy to make home celebrations simple. For our four-year-old we had a princess party. All the girls dressed up in their finery and instead of hiring a princess character like some families might do, I wore a bridesmaid's dress and put on all the shiny jewelry I own—instant princess! I printed out coloring pages from various licensed character sites and set out a big box full of crayons and colored pencils. We brought a few toys that encourage group-play from the playroom to the party zone and let the girls have a giggly-good time. Our party was close to lunchtime so we served PB&J sandwiches cut in flower shapes, juice boxes and a big pot of mac-n-cheese. I also made pasta salad for all the moms and served them soft drinks. All the food was bought on sale or grown in our garden and, when applicable, made from scratch. I picked up all the goody-bag items throughout the previous year as I found things on sale and end-of-season clearance (Halloween and Valentine's Day in particular). My one big splurge was hiring a friend to make the cake—it was worth every penny! The way I see it, you know when your kids birthdays are, so it's easy to pick up general things as you see them go on sale throughout the year. Keep an eye on their tastes and pick up specific items (princess, cowgirl, Dora) as you see them on sale or can find them at great prices like Target's Dollar Spot, or wait 'till it's time to decide and print out decorations for pennies. Goody bag items that you've picked up that may no longer fit the theme can just be used to supplement birthday gifts for other kids, as stocking stuffers or keep some in the car to stave off a meltdown.
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Rochelle Norris, Douglasville mom to 6-year old girl and 10-year old boy
We totally go for it! Birthdays only happen once a year so we pull out all the stops. We usually have the party somewhere like Chuck E. Cheese so that we don’t have to deal with clean up. We usually foot the bill for all the kids since we don’t expect other parents to pay. Sometimes the parties can get a little expensive but we plan for that. We set the bar high very early in our kids lives and don’t want to let them down.
Minde Herbert, Douglasville mom to nearly 5-year old boy/girl twins
Every other year we alternate between “Family Celebrations” and “Kid Birthday Party.” We don’t get too crazy. “Family Celebrations” include a special dinner of their choice, plus a homemade cake. They each get one present from us and we spend lots of quality family time together. Sometimes we do a fun theme but mostly it’s pretty low-key. “Kid Birthday Party” is a fun event for up to eight of their closest pals. We have a themed party, with a simple craft and lots of free play. (This year my kids chose a Garden Party theme… All the kids planted seeds and dressed as Garden Fairies, farmers, bugs, etc.) We try to keep all birthday, holidays and events very simple and meaningful and emphasize the relationships we have with others.
