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How little is too little?

February 9th, 2008 at 06:37 pm

My oldest child will be 6 years old in two weeks. We are having the cheapest party in the world. I am also only inviting family members. I would like to have children from school come, as my son is making lots of friends, but my house is too small, and if it is cold outside, I fear the 25 people already coming will have a hard time being comfortable. But they are all family, and want to squeeze in. Am I bad for not inviting my friends with kids? I do have my best friend and her family coming: husband, daughter, and brothers. But that is my best friend, and she must be there. I can't wait for her daughters first birthday. It will be huge.

I don't want to be a cheap skate around my kids birthdays. I never want to, but this year is a little different. The tax refund is going to necessities, and paying off debt. The bigger they get, the bigger the parties they will want. They can wait until they are bigger to plan to their wants. I may have them figure out ways to raise the money to pay for it too.

Posted in Loving my budget, Darling Dears | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “How little is too little?”

  1. JanH Says:
    February 9th, 2008 at 06:59 pm 1202583561
    1202583561

    Could you have a separate inexpensive gettogether with a few little kids later? Maybe make cupcakes and let them decorate them? My SIL always had a family birthday, then a separate kid party. I don't know how expensive it would be if you had to buy small party favors...but at 6 years old, maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

  2. compulsive debtor Says:
    February 9th, 2008 at 07:36 pm 1202585797
    1202585797

    I've found that the kids have a better time partying with fellow kids. The first few years, I threw family parties for my daughter. But once she started school, I kept it to kids and limited the family to the grandparents and one or two aunts or uncles. The other family members understood.

  3. disneysteve Says:
    February 9th, 2008 at 09:49 pm 1202593748
    1202593748

    I tend to agree with compulsive debtor. For the first couple of birthdays, it was all family and close friends, but once our daughter was old enough to have friends, the parties became for friends, not family. At age 6, we were beyond inviting family members. It was just kids at that point.

  4. db1974 Says:
    February 10th, 2008 at 02:23 am 1202610182
    1202610182

    I rarely had kids over for my birthday parties growing up, but I never felt slighted in the least. I have wonderful memories. For my own kids, well they're not in school yet so we've only had family parties. I imagine I'll give them the option when they get in school.

  5. jodi Says:
    February 10th, 2008 at 03:05 am 1202612729
    1202612729

    I did only family parties for a few years for my boys, but then had two parties (small) when they started making friends - one for family, one for friends - usually just 3 or 4 friends though. I make the cake myself, buy a coloring book or candy at the Dollar Store for each kid, and order a sheet pizza. It's pretty cheap, but even so, I think just a family party is appropriate for a child of that age too. Whatever you decide will be fine!

  6. HelpMeFriend Says:
    February 10th, 2008 at 08:19 pm 1202674751
    1202674751

    My main problem is space. We live in a small two bedroom double. I have plenty of parking, but all of the adults in the living room and kitchen will fill the house. I don't have an extra room for them to go when their children are playing the games in the living room. I just don't want to hurt the feelings of the people who I have invited in the past. If they want to come, fine, but remember that I have limited space. I just hope that they see it like that and not that I don't want them there.

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