[sunny]

I am starting to feel bad that we aren't doing a party for Lainey but one she is not into crowds of people AT ALL and two I only tend to do them sporatically until they are older and have school friends....I mean of course we will do a cake and presents and prob go out to dinner but it will just be us and then our friend who will be here visiting (her God Father).

[MichelleB]

I wouldn't feel bad. The grandparents are relatively local for us and they expect to come over. Plus, my grandparents are still alive and they expect to come over. We're trying to keep it small - just our parents, siblings, grandparents, and the godparents. No friends this time. Really it's just a chance for people to get together...plus Jace loves the attention. Once Jace gets older and understands it we'll probably just do a dinner or something with close family and then a party with his friends. Probably not every year though.

However, Jace is in a playgroup with 5-6 other kids who are Feb. and March birthdays. We're going to go to Gymboree to celebrate together with them.

[magoo79]

yeah- we really wouldn't be doing anything if we weren't going to visit dh's sisters.

[New Mama]

We're not. And even when we were close to home we only had family.

This topic is entirely "to each his own" but I personally don't feel it's necessary to have a party for every-single-b-day. The girls won't even remember! And they don't need a bunch more toys either!

We take a picture, have a special breakfast & do a few gifts, but that's about it.

As they get older I think we'll celebrate certain b-days. Like 5, 10, 16, 18...something like that.

[momma2marissa]

We don't have any family around so it will just be us celebrating her bday. We might actually plan a short trip to Gatlinburg or something if it's warm enough around her bday.

[Momma2BraylonandMadeline]

We will be having DH's and my parents, SIL and maybe his godparents. Nothing over the top, no theme or big party, just get together and have lunch/cake.

[magoo79]

Originally Posted by New Mama

We're not. And even when we were close to home we only had family.

This topic is entirely "to each his own" but I personally don't feel it's necessary to have a party for every-single-b-day. The girls won't even remember! And they don't need a bunch more toys either!

We take a picture, have a special breakfast & do a few gifts, but that's about it.

As they get older I think we'll celebrate certain b-days. Like 5, 10, 16, 18...something like that.

I find this really interesting Kelly- were you or DH raised this way? I'm not at all judging, just curious where this philosophy comes from.

[sunny]

Kelly I was raised same way! We very rarely had parties really...I mean cake and presents always every year but I could count how many parties I actually had and it was under 5 I think. My girls def need no presents so that is a huge factor too! As they get older like Gabby I have let her have fewer friends over and do sleepovers and things but otherwise Gabby really only had parties at age 1 and 5 I think so far besides a sleepover when she was 8 which was a nightmare so last year she invited one friend over who then didn't show up so that sucked! This year we will do something special with her for 10 like an overnight at a Great Wolf Lodge or something.

[New Mama]

Hey Megan~

I was raised this way so I'm sure there's a big part of it. I grew up very poor and I'm sure my parents couldn't have a party every year.

But, you know what? I really remember those few parties I had and they're very special memories for me now.

At any rate, our family is all very far away and our girls are 2 out of the 5 kids at an in-home daycare so I wouldn't have that many people to invite.

DH and I have the same feelings about Christmas. We only buy a few things for each girl and we plan to continue that. Between family & grandparents they already get way more than they need.

I guess we just want our girls to have their memories revolve around where they were and what we did and whom they were with instead of what they received. That's just our philosophy.

[magoo79]

Originally Posted by New Mama

Hey Megan~

I was raised this way so I'm sure there's a big part of it. I grew up very poor and I'm sure my parents couldn't have a party every year.

But, you know what? I really remember those few parties I had and they're very special memories for me now.

At any rate, our family is all very far away and our girls are 2 out of the 5 kids at an in-home daycare so I wouldn't have that many people to invite.

DH and I have the same feelings about Christmas. We only buy a few things for each girl and we plan to continue that. Between family & grandparents they already get way more than they need.

I guess we just want our girls to have their memories revolve around where they were and what we did and whom they were with instead of what they received. That's just our philosophy.

sounds like a great philosophy! i guess my idea of "party" is a bit different than some others- as a kid we did a lot of family (with grandparents and cousins) parties for birthdays-dinner and cake and a few small presents. so I consider that a "party". I really didn't do many "big" parties either.

anyway, thanks for the explanation. its always neat to hear where other parents are coming from and why they do what they do!

[sunny]

Yup same here Kelly! My parents couldn't afford to do it nor did my mom want to "deal" with the stress I think hahaha....I do remember many times getting together at my grandparents since there are like 4 of us on my Dad's side with June birthdays!

[New Mama]

Originally Posted by magoo79

sounds like a great philosophy! i guess my idea of "party" is a bit different than some others- as a kid we did a lot of family (with grandparents and cousins) parties for birthdays-dinner and cake and a few small presents. so I consider that a "party". I really didn't do many "big" parties either.

anyway, thanks for the explanation. its always neat to hear where other parents are coming from and why they do what they do!

I definitely think there's a difference between a party with family & a party with "gift-bags". I never even heard of that until I joined these boards! So I agree it's interesting to learn about what others do & why/why not they do it.

[Alicia W.]

I love to throw parties for my kids because like someone else mentioned, though I didn't have many as a kid they are some of my best memories and while we are able I will do my best to give them as many great memories as I can that way.

This year I am not going all out for Archer's though. Since we are budgeting right now my sister and I have decided to combine her daughter, Archer, and both hers and mine together and just do a family thing with cake and presents. For Perrin I pulled together a little party, but only because I had a lot of stuff left over from previous ones and it was still just us and my sister and her kids. I don't think it has to be HUGE to be memorable by any means.

[TXMomTimes3]

Originally Posted by New Mama

We're not. And even when we were close to home we only had family.

This topic is entirely "to each his own" but I personally don't feel it's necessary to have a party for every-single-b-day. The girls won't even remember! And they don't need a bunch more toys either!

We take a picture, have a special breakfast & do a few gifts, but that's about it.

As they get older I think we'll celebrate certain b-days. Like 5, 10, 16, 18...something like that.

Exactly. I always do low key celebrations. There's plenty of time for bigger ones when they get older. Trust me.

[ollybgolly]

We're not doing a party either...probably just usual Sunday dinner with my mom and step-dad, with the addition of a cake and a couple presents. I can't afford a big party every year...we have big families when they are all here...so I'm just sticking with the big 1 year party and we'll go from there!

[sunny]

sounds good Andrea! We have decided we will have my mom and dad over as well as my sister her husband and our niece as well as Lainey's Godfather and that will be good