Birthdays 1, 2, and 7

stuffed animals!!! you can never have enough stuffed animals!!!NEVER COMBINE GIRLS AND BOYS BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi J.:

I'm a 36 year old mother of 1 - with my second one on the way. Parties are my thing! I love to plan them, have them, everything.

Combining the three parties is a great idea and perfectly fine. It will solve the issue of people not wanting to come to three different parties and you could do a Holiday Themed birthday celebration or winter wonderland type of theme which will have people wanting to come b/c it's something festive to do near the holidays. For either theme, you could have a special cake/cup cake for each child so they will have their individual candles to blow out.

If Holiday Theme - you could do something around the Nutcracker and have your little girl dress up like Clara with a beautiful party dress and your two boys could be little soldiers or something. The 7 year old could be the nutcracker prince and he'd feel really special.

If Winter Wonderland - you could have your little girl dress up like a snowflake princess. Activities for the kids could be snowman cookies or here is also a relatively inexpensive method for making snow globes:

Take a baby food jar or any type of small glass/plastic clear jar (with the lid). Fill with water and a little bit of glitter. Add about 1-2 tsps on glycerine (may need more - depending on size of jar) to the water/glitter. Glue a small figurine (eg: gingerbread man, candy cane) to the lid and attach the lid to the jar. The glycerine thickens the water and allows for the glitter to look like falling snow.

Good luck - I hope this helps!

My daughter has the same issue, with her birthday being the week before Christmas. I've been thinking about what I should do. I think that what we will likely do in the years to come is a family activity around her birthday--for example seeing The Nutcracker or going to tea at the Ritz, and then do a party for her on her half birthday.
As for your sons, the age difference seems a little too big to really combine a party. I would think about doing two different events, and letting relatives know that you dont' expect them to attend both. They can come to just one, and you won't be upset.
Hope this helps,
S.

Hi J.,I have a three year old and her birthday is 12 days before christmas.I know it seems hard ,but everyone will just have to get over it.I mean she gonna be 2.Who would want to miss that?Then a couple of ideas for her party,Baby Bratz is my daughters absolute fav,then of course you have your princess'.I would do something small because it is pretty close to christmas.Maybe get a few party favors,play a few games,make a few dishes,get some streamers,oh and they have these streamers that are kinda like ribbon if you curl them with scissors you could hang them from the ceiling(that looks totally neat)And no matter what you decide to do the baby will love it!Then as for the boys definately do not combine.When I was a kid my older cousin and I had the same b-day and we had to share them.(except I hated that)And your right,I felt less important.So my conclusion for that is have your 1 year olds party the week before his actual b-day and your seven year olds b-day party the week after his actual birthday that will help saparate the two and they will both feel special on their own special day.And if you decide to do the parties that way,you could always make a cake for their actual b-days and give them one of their b-day presents on that day too.I hope I helped you figure out a better way!Goodluck!!!!!From C.

Why don't you try taking them out individually for a day activity that they would enjoy? Such as a zoo, an indoor kids place (i.e. Chucky Cheese's)?
Also, it may help people attend if you say No Gifts on the invitation. Lol. It's a stressful gift-giving time of year anyway without adding that onto people. My birthday is 5 days before Christmas so I've heard it my whole life.

Good Luck!

I would combine the 1 and 2 year olds birthdays and have the party at the beginning of December. At this age they aren't really going to know when their birthday actually is and don't need the "spotlight" to be all on them. As for the 7 year old I'ld definetly have a seperate party for him with his friends. He'll be seeing the relatives during the holidays and probably not be spending as much time with his friends.
You can keep the party simple for the 1 and 2 year old by getting decorations of their favorite character and putting them around the house. That's what I did for my son's 1st and 2nd birthday. It's hard during the holidays because everyone is so busy. My son's birthday is 6 weeks before Christmas so I get to squeeze in his party before everyone gets too busy but I'll be sharing you "dilema" next year because I'm having a baby girl in the beginning of january.
Good luck and try to keep it simple for the younger ones.

My daughter to come is going to be born either around Thanksgiving or early December. But I have already decided that I am going to do a small nuclear family party at home for her on her birthday- a small present (maybe bigger once she gets old enough to care)... and then celebrate her half birthday with a party with friends once she is old enough to care in the summer. (May or June) I figure the inflex of toys from both a birthday and Christmas is not fair to her enjoyment of them and this way it just spreads them out.. so if something new comes on the market she does not have to wait a whole year for the toy- other than earning the money for it herself which is a learned process.

Why not have her birthday a few weeks early? My friend's daughter was born Christmas day, but they have her birthday the first Sunday of December while people are not yet overwhelmed with parties and such.
The boys may not mind having combined parties if you have a cake for each of them and give them their own time to open presents. My birthday was almost always combined with my older brother's, and sometimes my cousin too. I still had a blast! One thing that may get your 7yo interested is having the party before his birthday, who can wait anyway?
You can find great ideas for party themes online. I would let your 7yo choose his theme though.

Hi. It doesnt say where you are from, but in Plymouth, MA theres a place alled THE JUNGLE PLEX that is all climbing stuff and slides. It would accomodate all your kids ages. The best part is they set up, help play with the kids, even cut the cake and clean up! Ive included their website. Even if you dont live near it, maybe try to find something close to it near your house. Good luck. http://jungleplex.com/index.php

owww.. thats a hard one. i would do them all together after christmas, when things calm down. still have a cake and do mommy and daddy gifts on there birthday.
send out invites after christmas so people dont forget because of the holiday.------maybe you could take the 6 year old to the movies with his friends over christmas vaca. (so he doesn't feel....like.....he had to share his b-day with babies.

HI J., My name is D., I have a similiar situation I have 3 girls all the same week 2 the same day. Ages are 13,9 and 4. I combine the 3 of them. Sometimes I get 3 different cakes so they have their own and feel special that way but like your family mine wont come to all 3 so I have to do one party I still feel they get jipped though. But at least it is regonized ya know. As your situations is 2 boys and a girl keep the girl seperate Plenty of ideas Care Bears or barbie or bratz or do all 3 at chucky cheese but that gets expesive. Good luck What I also do is on big birthdays like 1 or 5 or 10 or 13 I keep them seperate. Kids are lucky these days I never had partys. Just a home made cake which u can also let them make their own cake. Could be fun Good luck