Birthdays - Cuba,MO

I had parties for my kids until my oldest was 4 and my little one was 2. my house is too small, i have to much family and both of their birthdays are mid summer. June 1 and July 31 in FL. and i'm not a big social person even with family. and i felt uncomfortable saying "ok first we have the chit chat and kids play, then we have cake and then presents. ugh! i let my kids pick where they want to go for their birthdays, they can pick a cake or have me bake a cake, and they still get presents. if family wants to buy them something, that's fine. but not necessary, especially in todays economy. my in-laws felt bad and have a get together for the kids at their house with my husbands 2 sisters and their kids and they will get something there, but i don't go all out. if they told me they wanted a party i would try to give them one though.

Birthday's are VERY important for me....

For my boy's - it's a BIG ta-do! We have a party and CELEBRATE their birth!! I cook WHAT THEY want for breakfast, lunch and dinner - it's their day to be KING!!! :) (doesn't mean they can be mean and rude - just it's all about them!)

it took my husband 14 years to get my birthday right (for me!)

He could care less about his birthday - it's just another day to him. However, he's turning 50 this year and I want to do something special for him. He says ABSOLUTELY no surprise party...I gotta respect that one (we did that on his 40th)....any way - for me - birthday's have been a special day - my mom started it and I want to keep it that way. It's the one day of the year when it's all about that person!

yes! we always do a cake and special dinner the night of the birthday.

Birthdays are HUGE in my house I make sure there is a present when they wake up that day, whatever you want for breakfast, dinner. There is a family party and a friend party honestly a birthday can last a week in our house. My mom never made a huge deal we had parties but it was more like I was putting her out I make sure my kids know that I am happy they are here and they are mine. It can make my husband crazy but we do the same for him.

In our family we have birthday week. So you might get a card one day, a trip to DQ another, and so on until the 7 days have been used. Nothing expensive or too over the top. The kids can have a party every other year with friends over. We do a family birthday get together every year. Yes when I was married I did this for my husband. No real parties except for his 40th. Well, he did try for the birthday week but, hmm never could quite work it. Hope this helps.

Yes, we celebrate birthdays, although not nearly as grandly as most people we know. Many of our friends and family go all-out for birthdays, dropping hundreds of dollars on expensive gifts, rented bounce-houses, extravagant themed parties where everyone they know is invited. We keep things much more low-key. Last year I took my son out to breakfast and he really loved the 1-on-1 time and asked if we can do that every year, so that is our plan. The kids get to choose what dinner is served on their B-day. Grandma bought us a birthday cake book and the kids love choosing which cake I will make them each year. We keep gifts under $100- a few outfits and toys. The parties have always been just family- we will have a BBQ with Grandmas and Grandpas over or go out to a movie or to a kids place with bounce houses and games. This year I told the kids we have $30 per party so we can either have friends over for a traditional party and spend the $30 on cake, ice cream, goody bags and decor, or they can invite 1 friend to go out to a place of their choosing like the aquarium, Classic Skating,etc.

One of my good friends recently mentioned she was offended that we never have invited her kids to birthday parties (she is one that does the grand bday parties with 50 people invited) and I had to let her know that we generally keep birthdays as a small family affair. We just do things much differently.

As for me and my spouse, we usually invite our friends over for a BBQ or dinner and drinks. This year is my 30th so I want to make it a bigger deal than other years and will probably make it a bigger theme party.

We celebrate with a party/event once they are about 4, and go until they are 10. After their 10th birthday, the big parties are over. We found that the older they get, the harder and more EXPENSIVE it is to entertain and feed them! *I thought 11-12 year old boys ate an insane amount of food(which they do)-then saw my daughter's 9 year old friends take out 3 bags of chips, a whole bag of apples and a large bowl of grapes within a couple hours!!! It felt like I turned my back for a second and it was gone.....Called my husband to have him pick up more food!!! Crazy!!! After their 10th, they can still have a friend or two over, pizza, movies, etc at the house. With two of my kids, they have February birthdays, which are really hard to plan-with it being winter and all. My 10yr old's is July, so his have always been a blast.

We used to do their party on a weekend, then on the night of their actual birthday, we'd go out to eat. But, that has also kind of dwindled off, just because it's hard to get it in with everything we have going on during the week nights.

Hubby and I don't really do much for our birthdays. Maybe going out to eat with the family, if we can swing it. A small gift, maybe. For the big milestone bdays, we have done more. I threw him a surprise 30th and last year was his 40th, so we had a party. Come to think of it, he has really done squat for me for birthdays!! LOL! This year is the big 4-0, so maybe he has a plan......or not.....either way, I'll be with my family, so it's all good :)

1) Yes for my kids. Just a family thing/dinner, or a small party for them at our house. We have a budget to keep in mind.

2) Yes. Dinner out.

Yes we celebrate the kids birthdays. We typically have a party and let them invite their friends. Birthdays are special in our house. We always make a special cake or cupcakes also. However, we don't buy the kids stuff everytime we leave the house and enter a store. New presents /toys/games are usually reserved for Christmas or birthdays and the rare special occassion. SO's birthday is generally a card, a hug, and a kid free dinner and movie if we can get a sitter which we both enjoy.

YES!! We celebrate birthdays in our house - We LOVE Birthdays, and always do something special for birthdays.

On their actual birthday day, they get to pick whatever they want for dinner and dessert and I make them a special meal. And then we have a party on one of the weekends near their birthday for friends and family. If it is my birthday, then my husband will BBQ and make dinner or he will take us all out so that I don't have to cook on my day.

I keep telling my kids that instead of them getting presents on their birthday, that they should get me a present on their birthday because I went through all the work to have them! LOL ~ of course I am just kidding with them, but it has become a little joke in between us......

We do celebrate birthday's in our family but as the children begin to grow up and mature the type of celebration is a little different than when they were young. My oldest niece just turned 22 and she was so bent out of shape because she didn't get anything (she's very self-centered) I had to explain to her again that she is an adult now and her happiness and joy and celebrations don't depend on us but she needs to plan and execute the type of celebration she would like to have.

She is so very funny to me. This is nothing new for her she has been planning her own birthday celebrations since she was 15 or 16, so I'm not certain why she thought this year should be different.

My husband's birthday is also our wedding anniversary. We celebrate big time just the two of us (wink-wink). The kids cook dinner for us or make some kind of delicous dessert. It's really nice. My birthday has always been a celebration. I usually gather the troops and head to an amusement park somewhere. I love roller coasters and my birthday is in the heat of the summer. So I always plan a day or weekend of fun to honor what God has done in my life and that I'm still alive.

We do celebrate birthdays, for everyone in the family. We usually do a family dinner with my parents, siblings, etc. and you pick exactly what you want for your birthday dinner. We do gifts and any try to grant other special requests, for example, my husband wanted to have a big bbq with friends when he turned 30, so we did that. My son, who will be 4 in November, is already planning his birthday celebration. He wants to take a trip to a nearby hot springs resort, stay overnight in the hotel and go swimming "a whole bunch of times on two days."

First I am a bit confused by this question...are there really people out there who don't celebrate birthdays? I am among the believers that birthdays are something very special to celebrate! It is the only day of the year that is just yours - that is very special indeed! It's a day to be thankful for the day you & your loved ones were born & to be thankful to God for such a gift & blessing! I always want those around me to know how special they are to me so, yes, we celebrate. For my son, we usually get together with family for cake & presents & then my child usually has a friend party of some sort - different days & weekends. Though, now that he's getting older he is choosing to just invite a friend or two to do something fun. Birthdays usually involve getting a nice gift from mom or dad & the birthday person gets to decide where to go out for dinner - this is done on the actual birthday day with just our immediate family. Anyways to me you can't really be over the top when it's one day of the year to make memories for a lifetime! We, also, usually make our own theme cake, as well, that has become a fun tradition. For my husband & my birthday we usually just do something fun as a family to celebrate. Again with the birthday person getting to choose the activity. : )

You don't mention your kids ages, but what we did was when they were little we had a party or combined party for the kids each year (they have close birthdays - one year we had 52 kids at one party, a luau). When they reached 10 they had the choice of a party or an expensive gift from us, not both. They liked that idea and we've been doing it each year. Our kids have said that 13 and 16 they want parties. So the other years, they will get a nice gift from us and we'll go out to eat. It has worked great so far. Good luck and God Bless.