My middle boy is about to turn 4, and will have his party later today. It will consist of 4-5 guests, a craft, decorate your own cupcakes, pizza, and ice cream. Plus a back-up craft in case we get through the other too quickly.
Then I saw an ad for a parenting magazine this morning, and one of the headlines was “Kids’ birthday parties that will wow.” A brief glance shows bouncy houses, themes with lots of parental involvement, goody bags filled with impressive things, and mostly purchased decorations. It makes me sad!
Our party has been planned by my kids, mostly the soon-to-be-4 year old. He got to choose the guests, which we kept at 4-5 (maybe for one invitee). He chose what craft he wanted to make. He chose his cake flavor and helped make the cupcakes. We aren’t sending home goody bags, but will have bags for the kids to decorate and take home their craft in. He is excited, and that’s really what counts.
Simplifying our lives. That’s something that we hear a lot about–whole books, tv shows, magazines are based on this idea. And yet, we have to impress even at our young kids’ birthday parties? This whole keeping up with the neighbors is making all of our lives harder!
On to our day of fun.
