Porter’s birthday is still 3 months away, but I’m already in hot pursuit for ideas, location, party favors, cake ideas etc etc. We might just have the birthday party at Maria’s apartment clubhouse like last year, but I’ve been toying with the idea of having it at the Chelsea Treehouse. The latter will more than likely end up with us footing a larger bill, but the location would be perfect for all the little kiddos to play and run to their hearts desire.
I was talking this over with Ryan this week and I mentioned that this year I’m cutting back his guest list to close family and a couple of the kiddo friends that Porter actually sees/plays with at playdates. This still would mean a pretty large party as we both have a lot of close family in town. As far as friends of ours, I’m keeping it to people whose kids Porter actually plays with/knows. Ryan got mad because that means I’d be excluding a few friends and he whined "Why do YOU always get to choose our friends!" (waah wahh… because *I* am the one who makes plans and actually takes our kid to play dates to play with friends. Nuff said!). Anyhow, I just didn’t see why we should invite adults that we know who don’t know Porter all that well just because either a) we are friends with them or b) they have kids. It just seems silly to pay the extra $$. Its just a kids party.
Both Ryan and I have friends with kids but I just don’t see the reason
to invite them when they aren’t even that close to Porter and their
kids never (or rarely) play with Porter. I hate to be exclusionary but
man, I feel like if I invited everyone just because they have a kid
we’d have 60 people + at his parties. That, I feel, is a little
ridiculous.
So, here are my questions to pose to you:
1) Do you have big parties for your kids? Or do you keep it simple at home with just immediate family? My SIL does a big party at 1-year old and then I believe she had said at like 5 and up (or something like that… Lori? Clarify?) that they’d have friends from school. Between 2 and 5 they just have immediate family at a small celebration at home or at Nana and Papas. We’re doing kind of a big party for Porter only because we have lots of family in town and our house is small.
2) Who do you invite to your kids parties? Everyone you know? Your adult friends who don’t have kids? Your adult friends who do have kids but never play with your child? Just immediate family? People with kids your child’s age even if they never play together? Kids from playgroup that your child plays with occasionally? Granted, kids in school I understand that they usually invite friends from school. What do you do with kids who aren’t in school yet? Who do they invite?
So, what are your opinions? I am interested in other perspectives on kids’ parties.
nicolebarczak.com 
Well….For the girls 1st birthdays I had a big bash for both. And for Emma’s second I did as well….then the second child came along and they now have to share a party and since we dont have a ton of money we just invite close friends andn family…and I, as well….cut Bobby’s list down. He has a huge family and if you invite one you have to invite all…so basically it just ends up being his mom, dad, sister & brother. This year we are going to get a room at the Holiday Inn and have a few of Emma & Graci’s friends out to swim and have Pizza, Cake & Ice Cream….and thats it. So we try to not have it be so elaborate every year because then the kids will start to expect something better the next year, ya know? …Good Luck with the planning 🙂
i like good party but even so, we just had family grandparents, aunts,uncles, and cousins til they get into school. we have always had them at the house with pizza or chinese food. when john got into school, we switched to his friends from school but have still had them at the house. i guess this has worked for us and they kids are happy with that. they really don’t know it any other way.
Well, we usually invite our close family, no further out than parents and our grandparent’s and then our close friends. We don’t have a whole lot of friends with kids yet, so they just come for the cake. This year though, I had a separate party at my house for the kids in the neighborhood that Annika plays with. She loved it. I did it from 4-6, the kids played outside, swam in the kiddie pool and ate snacks and decorated cupcakes. It was a hit, yet it didn’t take up anyone’s evening or dinner plans. As far as B goes, we’ll just do the same, but indoor since it will be January. Bummer, but she won’t remember anyway. When they get older I expect them to get more extravagent, but for now we’ll just go simple.
We did big ones for the girls’ 1’st b-days, and after that it’s just family with a close friend or two thrown in. Alyssa’s turning 5 this upcoming year, and she gets to pick what she wants to do…she’s leaning towards a girls dress up b-day party right now. I figured after 4 or 5 they can pick (within reason) what they want, and until then just fam is A-OK and easier to boot!
This is a big discussion at our house right now as we prepare for Gabe’s 1st b-day party. We really want to have it at home, but we live in a tall skinny townhouse which means events like this are limited to two main rooms on the 1st floor–the kitchen and the livingroom. This means not much room for a huge crowd! So, we either end up with a small gathering of grandparents, aunt and uncle and the 2 cousins which seems like any other family dinner on a weekend to me. Or we have to invite everyone (cause if you invite so-and-so you have to invite so-and-so) and we are going to be crammed into the house. So, I have to deal with a small, routine group or rent a clubhouse to fit everyone. Still trying to decide…
for tucker’s first birthday party – we had our immediate families/grandparents as well as a few aunts/uncles/cousins that wanted to come. we also invited some of our close friends over (sometimes i think they like hanging out with our kid as much as us – hahaha). we smashed into our house and it was fun. this year i think we’ll do the same type of thing. maybe we’ll invite over a couple of his ‘little’ friends. i love birthday parties for kids (and it is also an excuse for all the adults to get together).
have fun planning porter’s party – i loved the pictures from his first one!
For the first three birthdays we have them at home. We invite family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousin) and our close friends – most have children, but two don’t and we invite them anyway. I usually go with a theme and have food and games for the kids that are old enough to play them. This year my oldest daughter will be four and I think we are going to have it somewhere else so that she can also invite her friends from preschool and a couple from church and dance. We’ll still invite our friends in town with kids, but I’m debating on whether to have another small party at our house afterwards where she can open her presents and have cake and ice cream with the extended famliy.
our house is sooo small so we always have the party else where. we tend to keep it family and close friends. but even then sometimes its rather larger. i used to do yearly parties but now that i have 4 we have to spread them out…like they get a party every other year and on the off year we just do something special. i have to admit i love doing the parties…making the invites..picking the theme..so fun!
We did a free for all for both Morgan’s but that said, he has a Sept birthday so we have done it both times at a park (read: free). If I was paying, no way jose – I’d be totally scaling it back!!
You’re right, Nic, we have their first year with GP, Uncles/Aunts, cousins, and very close friends. Then at their 5 year, we’ll have immediate fam. and school/out-of-school friends. We’ll probably do a 13 year and 16 year. After that, they’re on their own, legally, I hope.
In our situation though, because the girls are 1 year apart, we will always have celebratory birthdays 3 years in a row. YIKES!
We used to have huge parties! Huge. My response is in my Feedback Friday on my blog.
http://casadelesle.com/?p=171