Birthdays in our family are not convenient. My husband and I are on the 18th and 19th of one month, Keeghan is one month after Christmas, and Kathryn is one week before Collin-who happens to be on the 4th of July. With all the madness, we've noticed that it's pretty pointless to have big, blowout birthday parties, especially when the inconvenient timing means that attendance will almost surely dissapoint the honoree.
My solution: The birthday boy or girl gets the birthday dinner of their choice (within reason, of course), one present from each family member, and one birthday wish (again, within reason). For example, Keeghan wanted me to make chicken marsala for dinner, and wanted to go see a movie in the theater with just me. Grandma and Grandpa babysat the others for me, and it was a very low stress day, but Keeghan really felt special and celebrated. That's what works for me!
2 comments:
We did the same thing as you since our 2 children had birthdays around holidays. Son is 12/31 and daughter is 7/5. A special dinner and a special event always made them feel special. Good choice for your family.
This is also what we did after 1 disaster of a party. Can you imagine the results of a party on 1-1, that's right no one showed up. After that we stuck to the celebrant picking their favorite dinner followed by cake, ice cream and presents with family and sometimes best friends. We have grown up and so has our tradition. After we kids moved out m&d started going to the Pine Lodge twice a year, in January for their Anniversary and his B-day, in October for her B-day. Several years ago they invited Don and I to join them; our anniversary is 12-31, my B-day is 1-1 and Don's is 10-4 so it fits. I imagine that when my brother's kids move out he will be invited to join us also his B-day is 11-9, it's too expensive to take all the kids and they didn't seem very thrilled the 1 time they went.
I like your addition, the child picking a special event.
Peace
JoAnn
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