Swearing off birthday parties

That's right. We are not longer hosting huge birthday parties, and will from now on only be attending parties of those we are truly close to. Sorry if that offends, but after the hassle and heartache that went into my son's party I have come to realize just how over the top these things are.

From now on we will have small celebrations with only family (and by family I mean those actually involved in my children's life regularly) and close friends(again those actually involved in my kids lives regularly).

I was reading yesterday and read some things that really hit home. When we get invited to a party do you know what my 5 year old asks? What's going to be in the goody bags? Yep. Not what can we get or do to make the day special for the birthday child, but what am I going to get out of this. Who can blame her though? Isnt that part of what these parties have become? Who can have the most guests, who can spend the most on party supplies, who gives the best goody bags, look how many presents my child got? When did it become ok to spend $200+ on a birthday party for a child who wont remember it the next day? Then family that is there splits into groups and no one is actually in the same room for the majority of the party. Oh and the presents, and this isnt just a birthday thing, I remember Brianna's first Christmas. She had so many presents she fell asleep before even half of them were opened. Out of all the toys she got that year, there were maybe one or two that she actually played with regularly.

The same presure exists when attending the party. Who can get the best gift, and who spent the most money. I admit this probably happens more among family members than friends but seriously anything over $15-$20 (with the exception of maybe shoes?) is rediculous.

I have thrown quite a few parties by now, between all of my children. Do you know which my children talk about most? The $300 ASI party? Nope. The $250 Build-a-Bear? Well that came in second but nope. They talk about the $75 party I threw for Keira's 3rd birthday. We had a total of maybe 10 guests including family, I made the saddest looking castle cake I had ever seen, and I ordered crafts off of Oriental Trading as our activity. They took the crafts home in place of goody bags. My daughter to this day asks me when I am going to make her another castle cake, and pretty regularly tells me a story about her "best birthday ever".

So from now on my family will be taking that $200 and celebrating in style with just our closest friends and family. I am not particularly bothered about who gets offended for not getting an invite, you probably weren't going to come anyways.

For Christmas this year, something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read.