HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Mom, Dad: Do you remember your birthday party when you were a child? A lovely homemade cake decorated by your mother with some juices and balloons along with special hats and ornaments prepared by you and your mother a night before the event? Wonderful memories spent with your best friends and family trying to blow the candles in one time. Back then, our parents did not worry about the birthday theme, the decorations, the invitation cards, the extravaganza… and lots of other stuff.
What happened? Where did it go wrong? When a child’s birthday turned to be extreme? Why do people feel this social pressure? Birthday parties nowadays have nothing to do with the birthday child. Parents plan the party; add shows, animations and stuff, and the child is not even interested. Invited parents are pressured also. They tend not to send their kids to these parties because it makes them feel less fortunate than other kids. I am not saying that having a nice birthday party is bad, but going overboard and spending huge amounts of money where the child won’t be interested is crazy! Believe me, your child won’t care if the balloons are 4 or 5, if this pattern is used or not or if you have a ribbon on each chair, or any other mania. The success of a birthday party is when your child is happy and has spent wonderful time with his friends. Going overboard can harm the child and often sets his expectations beyond reality in the future. He will expect more and more in the future.
Don’t be carried by social pressure, offer suggestions to your child, create a trend in your community for stress free birthday parties. There are lots of tips were you can start from:
Involve your child in the party. He would love to organize his own party and he will give you amazing ideas.
Bake the cake at home and decorate it with your child
Prepare crafts at home to decorate tables, chairs and walls.
Try simple birthday activities according to the kid’s age.
Give homemade gift bags as print out photo for your child and his friends, small cookies baked at home, thank you cards prepared by your child, etc.
Use simple party themes as tea party for the girls, or painting party or race party. There are lots of ideas that you can implement.
Your child would definitely appreciate your efforts and would enjoy more when he sees that his mom and dad are also enjoying themselves and participating in all activities. Let us turn this birthday extravaganza trend into an enjoyable simple birthday party made for kids and where great memories are kept to cherish in the future.