The very first birthday party I threw for my son was in 2010, a couple weeks into his Kindergarten year. I knew no one, so what better way to meet some parents than having a party. Boy, was I wrong. All I was introduced to was the concept of a "drop off party". I was a little astounded that these parents were like "Hi, I'm so-and-so. We've never met before, you could be a serial killer for all I know, but here's my kid, I'll be back in two hours." Try managing 20 kids whose names you don't even know and who were bored of bowling after 5-6 frames. I didn't even take pictures! This is from the family party:
Yeah, I swore off parties after that until last year when I figured I owed my daughter at least one party like her big brother had in Kindergarten. (That whole even-steven thing.) This time I was introduced to the concept of I'm going to bring siblings because, wow - you're having a mini golf party and that's way cool. (That whole even-steven thing, I guess.) When I tell you we barely scraped by with drinks, I sweated over having enough cupcakes for the kids (and it was like 95 degrees that day!), and had to pay-off my niece to forfeit her goodie bag to one sibling who was too young to not care about it. But my girl had a blast!!
I bribed my son not to ask me for a birthday party that year by promising him an iPad. **Tip for parents, research your bribes first - I really did not know how much it would cost!
This year, I explained to my kids that there would be no birthday parties for a legitimate reason - money. My daughter just made her Communion (which was a huge expense), we're going camping in a few weeks (they LOOOOVE it and cannot wait), and we're going to Disney in July!! That on top of day camp and all the summer activity costs that will come - trips to Splashdown, the zoo, etc. We just can't promise both of them a party (one at the beginning of summer - late June, one at the end - early September) and we can't just have only one either - yep, even-steven.
My daughter doesn't understand. She's had three parties to go to for friends last month alone and another coming up. She's literally cried every time we picked up a present, and when we've left each party, because she's not having one. My little social butterfly is sad and I don't like that. So, I am e-mailing her 3 BFF's parents to see if they can go see Inside Out when it comes out to celebrate her birthday with a movie and pizza. I hope my baby will be happy.
Oh, and now I'm introduced to the dilemma of whether to pay for the parent's tickets, too, if they want to come. I figured $30, in the scheme of things, isn't worth the awkwardness.
Any advice would be welcome!
