My rule-family only till Kindergarten, then I guess that will be a whole new ballgame. It works for us and keeps it simple!

Brittny - love your blog and it is NOT offensive. That being said - my boys are grown, but they DID NOT have a birthday party every year - neither did I growing up. We had immediate family each year with the birthday boy choosing his favorite food/meal and what kind of cake. Now, for special birthdays - 5,10, and 16 - we thre a party. The 5-year was a McDonald's (my boys are 26 and 30 now - so this is dated!!), the 10-year was a bowling party, and the 16-year was at home. If I recall, we had the 5-closest friends, at 10 - we had the BOYS in the class, and at 16, we invited whoever HE wanted to invite. This worked well for us. I think we did party favors - like cookies or a small bag of candy for 5 & 10. Bottom line - it's your child's birthday so you and he gets to choose what to do! I know it will be special whatever you decide!!

Thank you Susan!!!! That helps a lot! We've mostly been doing family (they always have to come from out of town) and a few friends and have it at the park so the kids can run around and we would have pizza and cake with some balloons. Worked well. I think the older they get the easier it will be, I just feel guilty because I didn't/don't go all out one their parties. So, thank you for giving me some advice!

I hear ya! I don't do big parties either (as you can see!). We keep it small and inexpensive! I think they can get out of hand really fast! Though I DO enjoy attending the fancy parties, I am not one to throw them every year myself!
Do what works for y'all! There's no standard procedure!
Just HAVE FUN!

Well, if you're going to offend me, I'm so glad you threw in some new pictures to cushion the blow.

:)

I'm on board with your thoughts! I do enjoy entertaining, but have learned not to break the bank on parties. Carter's 1st birthday cost us hundreds. But, I was inexperienced and felt I had to follow the status quo.

Have thrown a variety of parties over the years and truth be told, my youngest 2, Jack and Lainey, have had very few of the "big" version.

My best? Carter's 9th birthday.....we took a bunch of boys to the neighborhood park and Blake played flag football with them. I made my own cake and made cookies for party favors. I think the whole thing cost me $20.

Tips:

Only invite who you want. Forget about the rules.

Make your own cake. Find a great recipe and follow it. (I have one that shines every time if you want it!)

Keep favors simple or include a craft to keep kids busy and then consider the final product their favor.

Schedule around meals to keep costs down. Just provide snacks.

Choose a location other than your house. Public parks are typically free and easy!

Research themes......scavenger hunts, fairies in the woods, pee wee sports, etc. Make them simple and easy.

Coordinate with holidays.......Valentine making or Halloween costume wearing. That defines your party with little expense or none at all!

OK, I'll stop. Good luck!

ha ha ha ha ha!

I'm reading this post writing out my comment in my mind when I see a note to me in there!

Don't think twice: CHICK FIL A it all the way baby!!!!

Well Brittny, we have talked some about this already, but here are my thoughts. It is fine to only invite the children in the same age group to the party. If the siblings must come due to circumstances (and the parents ask you) then they do not need a party favor (have done this myself and parents totally understand). Most years we keep it small. This year, "5", we are doing a little bigger. I agree with everyone, no need to break the bank. Homemade cakes like you have done before and snacks are good. Hmm....what else...I might have to reread to see what other questions you had. :-)

Totally okay to say no gifts if that is what you choose. Or many of our friends choose a charity to have the kids donate a specific item to instead of gifts. Another thought.

I say do what you want. If you like small, go small. If you don't want to do favors, don't do favors. If you enjoy throwing parties and that's your love language, then do it! If you enjoy giving favors, the do it!

Don't do it for attention or out of guilt, but because you genuinely love it. Never ever compete with other Moms. That's just silly. And don't judge others. Some don't like to throw parties, some do. Just enjoy the ones you go to and feel comfortable with the ones you throw. If you throw one at all.

My two cents.

Thanks everyone!! I do love seeing what others do/create/plan and can totally appreciate the effort they put into it. I guess I just needed to make sure that my kids were not going to grow up feeling like they missed out because their mom was a wreck when it comes to party planning.

I know what I can handle and if I try to do more than that I'm not going to enjoy my own child's party and I don't want to ever regret trying to do something nice for my kids. I want to enjoy it with them.

Thanks again for making me feel better!! : )

I love this post!!!! You said everything that I was thinking about birthday parties and I've only had to throw 1 so far!!! There is way too much thought, time, effort, and money that goes into them. People have made birthday parties out of control and it makes the rest of us look like we're having lame parties!

We don't do big parties either. I've been to some that would rival MTV's "Sweet 16" for preschoolers!!! I just don't get it. Anyway...
We do small parties mostly. And usually they are held in our backyard.
And yes, we let our kids invite who they want. I don't get my feelings hurt if we're not invited to a party, so why should others?? Whatever you decide to do will be great, I'm sure! And about the homemade cakes and such...
Publix is AWESOME. :) Actually, for one party this year, the b-day boy actually didn't want cake, so I made brownies and served icecream over it. All the kids at the party loved it. One little girl told her momma that she wanted to do that for her birthday, and to be sure and get my secret recipe. (Betty Crocker.)

And as far as the gifts..
I don't mind people bringing my kids a gift. But I have been to parties where the invitation asked you to bring a bag of dog/cat food so they could make a donation to our local Humane Society. I thought that was a really sweet and neat idea.