Keeping Birthdays Simple… Just Cake

 When I think back to my birthdays as a child, I remember a handful of birthday parties. For the most part it consisted of a friend or two. I loved my birthday.  I still do! It’s my special day. I remember my family always making me feel special on my birthday.  I remember my 10th and 13th birthday parties because those two were BIG!  But for most birthdays, we had cake and some kind of food – although I don’t have a clue what was on the menu.  I received presents, but I couldn’t tell you what they were. Either way, I loved my birthdays as a child growing up.  It was my own special day and it still is!

Fast forward a number of years and now its my turn to throw my children birthday parties. How fun! I have a number of tools to help me be as creative as I want to be. Between Pinterest, Google, Etsy, Social Media and Michaels, I can get creative and have fun while doing it. 

Planning a party is fun, especially for your own child. It can also be very expensive and time consuming.  

My son recently turned two and during this time I had an 8 week old baby at home.  We
all know how busy and time consuming a newborn is.  The idea of throwing a big party didn’t seem exciting.  As my husband and I discussed our birthday options for our little guy, we reminisced about our childhood birthday memories, the little things we remember. My husbands most memorable birthday was simply having his favorite dinner with his family. I loved planning something fun to do with a friend or two.  But when it came to remembering any of our birthdays before the age of six, we simply lost that memory. After brainstorming, we knew that our two year old only cared for balloons, the birthday song and cake.  We had our answer. Let’s keep this simple and invite his people (immediate family) over for cake. This was a relief.  

I feel that sometimes I get caught up in what I see from social media or on Pinterest; I think I need to do this and that for my child, when in fact I really don’t.

A month later our son is still singing his birthday song and looks at his birthday cards daily like they’re books.  We kept it simple with what matters…birthday cake.  Most importantly he felt special on his birthday.

Do you keep your child’s birthday parties simple, or do you enjoy planning a big event?

Have you ever felt pressure to plan the “perfect” birthday party for your child?