In just a week, my twin daughters will turn ten, and my wife and I, of course, are planning to throw them a big birthday party. After all, this is a jubilee, and you want this birthday to really be remembered for a long time. However, recently, many parents have been throwing grand parties for literally every birthday of their kids.
How justified is this? Especially if the child is still a toddler, and, let’s be honest, it’s unlikely that they’ll remember everything in detail. Amber Cimiotti, a mom of 2, probably thought the same thing when she and her husband were planning a party for their youngest son’s third B-day. Mrs. Cimiotti shared her opinion on TikTok and it was really interesting.
More info: TikTok
The author of the video decided to not throw a lavish party for her 3 Y.O. son’s upcoming birthday
“For my son’s third birthday we did like, the cake, pizza, family and close friends model”
“What do I mean by that? Like, I didn’t rent anything, I didn’t rent a bounce house, performers, paint face, you know, I didn’t have a big balloon wall. I did all my own decorations, I ordered one bouquet from Party City, balloons.”
“Moral of the story is I kept it simple for a couple of reasons”
“One, my husband and I, we both grew up where our parents did not have a lot of money. And we always had great birthdays, we have fond memories of our birthdays. And they didn’t have all of this, like, extra fluff.
They just had family and running around with your friends and presents and cake and kind of just the traditional stuff. Two, I have done a lot of stuff for my kids in the past for their birthdays and the birthdays have always been so exhausting to me and a little bit stressful, if I’m going to be honest.”
“I just wanted to bring the birthdays down to earth a little bit”
“And I’m not saying for bigger birthdays in the future, like my daughter’s 16th birthday, that it’s always going to be like that, but I just feel like sometimes that’s nice. And for us, it’s just been little surprises, like I, you know, blew up a bunch of balloons for him to wake up to this morning and we surprised him with decorating the house while he was sleeping and we got super fun doughnuts and things that don’t cost a lot of money but they still make him so happy. And I have felt like, 5% of the stress that I have felt in previous birthdays and my kid is just as happy.”
@ciaoamberc hubby has been traveling the entire week so i was on my own so the simple birthday was actually achievable #birthday #kids #toddler #birthday #kidsbirthday ♬ original sound – Ciao AmberC
Mom and dad just preferred to arrange a warm and cozy family celebration for the kid – and he was more than happy
So, the Original Poster (OP) says that she and her husband used to always organize large-scale parties for birthdays for their children, and it was quite exhausting – because it always required maximum effort from them. And so, when their youngest son’s birthday approached, the couple decided to change everything.
Firstly, according to the author, both she and her spouse grew up in families that weren’t very rich, but still, their parents managed to arrange b-day parties for their kids which, even now, years and years later, left only warm and good impressions.
Secondly, both mom and dad wanted the boy’s birthday to be a holiday not only for the children, but for the parents as well – but how to achieve this when you have constant stress due to renting a place, hiring performers, face paint and whatnot?
In general, this time the parents and their eldest daughter decorated the house while the toddler was asleep, blew up a bunch of balloons for him, and prepared super fun donuts and much more, which will also make a kid happy, but will not be so exhausting. And so, as Cimiotti claims, she experienced a maximum of 5% of the stress that she had before, but her son was no less happy.
This does not mean at all, says the original poster, that in the future she and her spouse will not throw some lavish parties for their kids – but, rather, on big dates, for example, on their eldest daughter’s 16th birthday. But in general, the return to the roots, to the good old ‘cake and pizza’ parties, turned out to be extremely successful here. And the children were happy too – and isn’t that the main thing for parents?
You know, I immediately remember the remark of one of my friends, whose parents traveled literally all over Europe when he was a toddler: “Damn it, it turned out that I visited almost all the main attractions on the continent – but at the same time I don’t remember absolutely anything about it! Not one bit… It’s even somehow frustrating!” In any case, the kid in this particular case was happy – and that’s pretty much enough.
Many commenters on the original video share a similar opinion. “We only did a ‘big’ birthday party for big birthdays like 5, 10, 16, 18. Otherwise small group of friends,” one of the people admitted in the comments. “Daughter requested: pizza, grapes, and pink cake. DONE!” another commenter added.
People also sincerely admit that they don’t remember many of their own birthdays. “I don’t even remember my birthdays… not one. Idk if I even had any honestly,” one of the commenters wrote. Well, it’s likely that the approach illustrated by the original poster actually makes sense. And what do you, our dear readers, actually think about all this?
It turns out, many parents do share this sentiment, according to people in the comments to the video
