There was a time when birthdays were fairly simple affairs - a few friends, a cake, maybe some pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. Unfortunately, among some parents and in certain communities, celebrating a child's birthday has become expensive and "out of control."
We read about Birthdays Without Pressure in the latest issue of Domino. The organization is made up of parents and professionals in St. Paul Minnesota who believe birthday parties are getting out of hand - renting llamas, birthday registries, "half-birthday parties," and they're trying to initiate a national conversation about it. For many parents, throwing a birthday party has become extremely stressful and, for some kids, they're becoming spoiled by more and more extravagant parties.
A sampling of what you'll find on the Birthdays Without Pressure website:
Can you relate to birthday pressure? Have you seen examples of "out of control" birthdays in your community? Share your experiences in the comments.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Ugh. No kidding. My cousin's daughter has a huge birthday party 2 days after Christmas every single year and the entire extended family is invited. And now my friends with new babies are having big 1 year birthday parties. When I was a kid it was just my mom, dad, my brother and grandparents at our birthdays.
view Nikita's profile
It's funny, I occasionally catch bits of reality shows like My Super Sweet 16 and that other one (I forget the name) about out-of-control moms who throw ridiculously extravagant parties for their school-age kids, and while they sometimes make me laugh, mostly I just find them depressing. It'd be one thing if it looked like these folks were actually having fun, but they generally seem really stressed and kind of crazy.
In my family, we had, and went to, a lot of birthday parties when we were kids, but they pretty much followed the "cake, balloons, and loot bags" formula. We'd play pin the tail on the donkey and a few rounds of musical chairs, and then we'd just run around like sugar-fuelled maniacs till our parents came to wrangle us home. It's a fine birthday tradition, and I see no reason to deviate from it.
view TammyE's profile
Ah the days us running around like sugar-fuelled maniacs... I miss them.
Always had two parties. One after thanksgiving dinner was over (my birthday was usually the weekend after) with extended family. But it only was a cake with candles and some presents. Everyone was gathered for the holiday, just throw in a birthday!
Then some weekend I'd have the kid party, which was exactly as the previous poster described.
And that's how my son's party will be. No Chucky Cheese, no rented clown, nothin but some kiddos imaginations.
So much fun,
view thoroughlymodernmama's profile
In complete agreement here about parties going overboard, but this mama would go insane having kids running around with no agenda. How much structure is good/bad?
view selena's profile
My daughter's birthday is in October, usually the weather is good enough to keep kids outside. We just put out an open invitation to our friends and kids from class. blew up some balloons, gave a rough 2-3 hours of operation. I made a cake. some drinks and some food. no scheduled games or activities. Kids ran themselves exhausted playing in the trees and hide and seek. ate some cake and went home. Perfect.
view little green's profile