A Sweet & Simple Birthday ~ Dolly Turns 9

Happy Birthday to a sweet girl! That party looks absolutely lovely. I'm still figuring out birthday parties, honestly. We have them, but we don't have a solid tradition for what we do, and I don't feel that great about them so far.

The one thing we do that I AM very happy about is create very simple half-birthday celebrations, like this:

http://twochicksandahen.blogspot.com/2010/10/how-we-celebrate-half-birthdays.html

I think I'll check back to see other people's birthday ideas.

Your birthday party sounds lovely. I am sure she feels loved.

We usually don't do the big parties either. I allow my kids each to plan one "friend party" for their 6th birthday. So far we have had an Alice in Wonderland party, an Indiana Jones/Archeology party and this year we had a Harry Potter party. Each has taken so much time to plan and money that I am really glad we never established that we would throw these every year. But even at these parties we haven't done the bounce house and such. We just play party games (altered or named to go with the theme) have some food, crafts, and of course cake.

We usually just have a family party where we either have Grandma and Grandpa over for dinner and presents or we go to the other grandma's house. My brother's kids live nearby and they have a "cousin party". Which is just hanging out with their favorite friends, their cousins.

happy birthday sweetie!!

emily doesn't care for birthday parties with friends, she doesn't like the attention, but she likes to have parties for other reasons. she has an annual christmas movie party with girlfriends, this year we're gong to do a valentines day party, she had a small halloween night party this year... a few years ago we had a birthday party for abe lincoln that was actually really fun and i wrote about it (sorry the formatting is strange...hmm.)

http://beautythatmoves.typepad.com/beauty_that_moves/2009/02/abe-lincoln-fest-2009.html

We just do birthdays as a family thing. We scatter opening presents throughout the day so each one can be enjoyed. If family is in town, we get together in the evening for cake and ice cream. If not, we Skype. The birthday child chooses their favorite meals and what kind of cake they want. I also made a fabric bunting thingy that I hand up all over the dining room for decoration. We keep it pretty simple.

I love reading about others who keep birthdays simple. My girls are almost 7 and 5 and we've yet to have friends over. Part of that is that we have moved and lived in 4 states in their lives and another part is that we live far from family. The girls have started asking if they can have friends, as they have been invited to a few parties. When I was young, I could have a friend party every 4 years starting at age 8 (so 8, 12 and 16). I don't even remember those parties - what I remember are the family celebrations we had.

Like you, I am intentional in building a strong family that enjoys each other. I limit peer time and instead focus on building the relationship between my daughters.

I think you've read my birthday posts, but I'll include a link to our most recent celebration. http://jill-foleyjourney.blogspot.com/2011/10/simple-birthday.html

A few years back we had a cooking party for our older daughter. She invited four friends and they had a great afternoon together.

That's about as "big" as we've gone. We've found that small/intentional parties (whether that be family or friends) have allowed us to truly enjoy and take part in the day.

I wrote about it on my old blog. Here's the link.

http://thoughtsinterrupted.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/a-cooking-party/

It's nice to know that there are others out there who aren't big party people. I think my two older kids each had one friend party when they were really little (about 3 or 5 years old - now they're 13, 10, and 7). Usually, we let our birthday child invite one friend for their birthday celebration. They get to choose one activity (like bowling, going to the aquarium, or a movie) and a restaurant where we all go out to lunch together. Then the friend comes to our house for cake. It works really well for us. Even though there are lots of kids in our neighborhood who have big parties, our kids seem to be OK with our tradition.

Athena does not like birthday parties with friends either. She went to a party with about 8 little 5 year old girls and it sufficiently turned her off. I am glad about that because that is one thing I do not like about being a mother, that and sleepover (oh my). This January for her 8th birthday we are going swimming with her three little cousins. A first "party" so to speak for her. I love what you said about your family being the friends. I really love that. That is kind of how things are here with Athena. Sometimes I wonder if that is such a good thing and then I look at some of the negative things that come from peers and I am reassured, just as this post has reassured me.

Happy Birthday! Home made and home based are the best. The skort bag is just lovely and a fantastic way of upcycling... I loved the wall of boxes to maintain the secrecy of it all.

Sounds to me like you got the whole thing just right.

San x

Happy, happy birthday Brienne! I threw a camping-theme birthday party in August: http://www.travelingmel.com/index.php/TravelingMel/2011/08/29/how-to-throw-an-outdoor-camping-themed-b

I hadn't planned on throwing a party, but it was important to...my husband.

On another note, I'd love to hear how you guided your kids to getting along so well. Or maybe they just came out that way.... My boys get along 80% of the time, but that other 20% of fighting drives me crazy. Is it inevitable when two kids 18 months apart spend 24 hours a day together? I hope not ;)

happy birthday!!!!

Im new to the birthday-ing (2 and 7 months) but i naturally lean towards the quiet home stuff and was feeling guilty that we havent yet thrown a birthday party for the 2 year old and this year did NOTHING because she was really sick. i didnt even make cake (what 2 year old needs sugar anyway?) we have special days often and because shes 2 she is often the center of those activities!! anyway - youve made me feel a bit better about wanting to stick close as a family. I would also love to know more about how you parented (and still do) your children as it seems as though they get along rather well and have a really great sense of family. (I know that talking about these things gets a bit controversial- so i understand if you dont want to!!) were your kids jealous early on?

anyway thank you again for another lovely post!

kelsey

Hi Rene,

Looks like Brienne had a great B-Day party. I love your focus on art & crafts.

For our family (2 kids who were born one day apart), we do birthdays both ways by alternating between a family centered celebration and parties. One year we do a big party with friends and the following year, we do a family day where they get to plan what they want to do for their special day. For example, last year we organized a really fun Harry Potter Adventure Quest which we called Farmwarts. They had a bunch of friends come to our home and complete all sorts of outdoor challenges and team building exercises. Here's my blog post about it: http://popfarm.xanga.com/729689118/welcome-to-farmwarts/. (You guys might enjoy something like this given your love for the outdoors). This year was the family birthday celebration and we let them choose how they wanted to spend the day. Our son wanted to go go-karting and our daughter wanted to play putt-putt, so that's what we did (even though I despise playing miniature golf--and thankfully they didn't decide to go bowling, which is even worse :))

I don't think there is any "right" way to celebrate birthdays--as long as you recognize it as a special day and let your children know you're so thankful they were born.

Glad to see your life is beginning to "settle down" a bit.

Renée, we are so alike! I feel so proud and happy that my girls' best friends are each other and that our main focus is our family (even more so now that we are traveling). I LOVE this! I totally believe in limiting peer attachment and focusing on family attachment for as long as possible.

For birthdays, we do the exact same thing. Actually, we have never invited friends to the girls birthday (they never requested it!). It is a family affair, very simple, and we love it that way.

It is great to read like-minded people!

Happy birthday Brienne! This looks like a lovely birthday...who could ask for anything more?

Happy birthday to Brienne! My girl's birthday is coming up, and I think she needs a princess day too! :)

Hi there. Well, I love that you keep your parties a mostly family affair. That has always been our schtick until this year when I caved to pressure (mostly internal, I'm sure) and hosted my boys (5 and 7, not the 3-year old yet) summer swim and play parties at home. As simple as I could make them, not too long, only 5 and 7 kids respectively, but still over the top. Sweet kids from sweet families, but still too much stuff came our way, and the excitement level was over the top. In my gut I knew to stay low-key, and that has been reinforced. We're heading back to the land of simple celebrations next year. We usually have gatherings for other reasons, like Halloween or at Christmas time, so we can host but without the focus on one particular individual. By the way, your blogging about your family hikes have really inspired us. I've always spent much of my time outdoors and taken the kids along, but our youngest is just reaching the point of self transport (phew!) and we've made an effort to get out on the water or hiking each week for the last few months. Reading your posts has me looking forward to what's to come (but still enjoying where we're at.) Thanks for that.
And Happy Birthday to Brienne.

A very happy birthday to Brienne!

Before I forget, I found a website that you might find useful for your son...http://dyslexicadvantage.com/. I thought of you as I was reading.

Birthdays here are very low-key affairs. We have had friend parties, but always at home and always with very simple activities. I also limit the number of kids to no more than five. The kids simply enjoy being able to get together and play.

My kids are each allowed parties every other year. Most of the parties they are invited to are huge, at kid event locations and are general mayhem (often the kids don't even interact with one another!). We've talked about the expense of these places and how it just doesn't make sense to spend $400-500 on a birthday party year after year. Ever the practical one I point out that money will be much more wisely invested in their college funds! This year is my daughter's turn. Her bday is 12/21 and she will be 10. We have told her that she can invite three friends to go bowling (matinee hours!) or have one friend join her at an arcade place.

We primarily make birthdays family affairs. The kids open one gift in the a.m. before Daddy goes to work. The birthday person choses dinner. The cake is homemade. I usually don't do any decorations or anything, but after hosting my nehphew's birthday over Thanksgiving I'll probably do a little decorating. His mom put up balloons and curling ribbon streamers. Both my kids were impressed and commented on how I never do any of that stuff! It took her all of 10 minutes to do so it's worth it.

We keep birthdays low key as well. With all 4 of our children being born less than 4 years apart (nope, no twins!) one on one time with mom and dad together is a special treat so for thier birthdays they get an entire day out with just mom and dad. We get a sitter for the other children and usually go out for a nice lunch (something we NEVER do with a 1,2,4,and 5 year old) then spend the afternoon doing something special. We have done Disney Princesses on Ice, a Learning Farm Fall Festival, the Air Force Museum. It is so special for us to get a chance to focus on our birthday girl or boy and really see them and how they have grown over the past year. Our day out is usually the weekend before the birthday and then on the actual day the birthday child picks the food for the day and we have a small family celebration in the evening. I sometimes feel guilty for a split second when one of them has asked to have a party for all their friends in the neighborhood.

What special birthday gifts you all gave: from special food, decorations, activities - and some wrapped in paper. The bag Celine made for her is amazing.