Poll: Do You Have a Birthday Party for Your Kid Every Year?

We still keep it in the family for now, he is 6. Maybe for his 8th we will have a party, that's when I had my first non family only party. I just do not see the reason for the big hoopla for young kids honestly. In addition from all the birthday party gone awry posts on here ... I am thinking I want NOTHING to do with the drama.

Oh, but my sister has always gone all out for her daughter's bday bash, she is "that mom" that everyone tries to beat but falls flat and she is proud of that. UUUGGG.

Yes I do. At one - it was an at home 100 people party! Never again. From 2-6 we did it at a place (Gymboree, and some other places similar) and invited the whole class (preschool or K) plus friends kids. This year, she wants another home party. If I do it, it will be 10 kids max.

She loves bday parties. so we go to everyone she is invited to. I wish there were more drop off opportunities!! It seems like no one drops off where I live!

My son is 5 so since he was 3 he he has had "Kids parties". At 1 and 2 my parents threw parties where we celebrated with their friends because my dad's birthday and my sons are 5 days apart. My son LOVES birthday parties so it does baffle me when the parents dont throw a kids party for a kid 4-8. I assume as my son gets older he will be less into the traditional party. I personally think spending 4 or 5 hundred dollars for a party is just crazy but many parents around me seem to think it's ok.

we have had a birthday party for our kids every year starting at age 1. They are 5 and almost 8 now. I love birthday parties and the more people the better! We invite neighborhood friends, school friends and family. Sometimes we do a seperate party for family, but we still celebrate with them. I also welcome siblings and parents are welcome to stay and eat.

If my child has a birthday, we celebrate it with a party. Everyone deserves to be recognized and feel special on their special day, even if they are a little kid. The whole "they're not going to remember it" argument really bugs me. We don't skip Christmas because our kids are babies. We celebrate and make memories. I'd love to know how the kids feel about that attitude when they're 12, 15, 18 and ask to see pictures from their first birthday and they're told it wasn't celebrated because they were too young to remember.
We do big parties because we have a big family and lots of friends from my daycare. First birthdays are huge affairs at the park, about 60 people. After that we do something special and age appropriate with friends and family. My daughter had a family only 2nd birthday party at home, 8 days after her brother was born, that still had about 15 people there. We then celebrated with friends and family at our swim school 6 weeks later. Last year her 3rd birthday was at a bounce house place. She has chosen to celebrate her 4th and her brother's 2nd together at the same location and we'll include some of her preschool friends this year too. I will be less than 8 weeks away from the arrival of #3, so we are doing a joint party while most of their friends are still the same. We plan on giving them the choice and maybe doing joint parties every other year, if they want.

Yep. and my oldest is 11.
I just don't get not doing one every year. I know people that say - ok, you get one when you're 7 - and that's it! Or only the odd years. I think "how sad" for the poor kids. they know their friends get one every year. but my parent(s) can't be bothered.....no, money is not a good reason - that's what public parks are for. a cake is $5 top if you make it yourself and that is really all the money you have to spend.

so, keep it simple and there's no reason not to. the last few years have been sleepovers for 4-5 kids w/a special activity that is reasonable in cost (less than $15 per kid). this year, both kids do tours of local stadiums (favorite team) and that was FREE! Bonus! and at both parties, i heard, "coolest birthday party, ever!" I have fun with it - they're kids for such a short time.

before they were old enough for sleepovers, we did parks, a couple of times for the whole class or all the girls (or boys) - again pretty cheap.

at ages 1 and 2 - family only. at ages 3-4 - family friends and family. 5 and up - friends from school.

Great question and I'm looking forward to hearing from parents with older kids.

We have had birthday parties, in all sizes and locations, for our kids each. Sometimes just family, sometimes the entire class, etc. Sometimes a trip, sometimes at home or nearby amusement.

Just this past weekend we took our 14 yo plus friends to an indoor paintball facility. OMG, they had a blast, but whoever thought that giving 20 guys with airguns and paintballs inside was a grand idea? I had an instant migraine.

Anyhow, I looked at my husband after the last guy went home and said, do we have to do this again. I mean, ever? Can we just stop the whole birthday party day, night and hangover spiel? I'm just done with it all.

So, I would love to know when people stop...I'll go ask...

We did parties. We didn't live near family so it was us and friends. When they were little, it would be the whole class at say Burger King or McDonalds. We then graduated to slumber parties and then themed parties. Now we just take them to dinner. Birthdays are a big deal in our family. I tended to go over the top but that is what my Mom did for us as well. It is a great memory I have and I was able to create that for our kids as well.

The hardest one was when my daughter turned 21. There were 5 of us celebrating for the weekend in San Antonio. Pictures were NOT allowed!! =) I bought her her first shot. What is the most awesome thing is that she asked ME to go!!! She a great kid. My husband is doing the same with our son in September when he turns 21 only its Vegas. Yeah, I'm not invited to that one! =) Boys weekend!!!

Wow - a bit judgemental with the comment about kids from class...? Some of us don't have family around! In general we have a very small extended family and they also live thousands of miles away. But thanks for making me feel bad that I'm not getting to teach my kids "the importance of family and the people who care about us most." We've thrown parties for our kids every year since they turned around 3 or 4. And they have LOVED them. I guess they don't realize most of the attendees don't really care about them.

We do have a birthday party each year. Started when they turned 1. We do a combination of family, friends, and school friends (starting at age 3 with pre-k). Most of ours have been backyard BBQ's, with just the playscape to let kids be kids, no bouncy houses or anything like that. We just don't have the space for those. I see it as a celebration of more than just their birth, also a way to have us all be able to get together and celebrate the fact that we even have children (we had to do IVF with both, so that is worth celebrating in my book). The grandparents also are all there, and our two kiddos will be the only grandchildren on both sides, so it is their chance to spoil them a bit. I am sure once they are older we will limit the number of guests, but for now this works for us.

The first couple were family only - she didn't know what a birthday was.
When she was old enough to understand the idea of a birthday, we invited other kids over.
I kept parties simple - cake, ice cream, open presents, run around and play in the yard, go home. No goodie bags, no space walks, no pony rides.
I only ever did one venue party - at an amusement park near our house. Cost me a small fortune, and I made it clear that it was a once in a lifetime event.
When she got older, I let her have sleepovers for her birthday. I ordered pizza, laid in a supply of chips and soda, we had cake and ice cream and they stayed up late watching movies, playing games, and eating junk food. For her sixteenth birthday, a friend let us use the clubhouse at her condo and she invited her friends over with their favorite cd's. We ordered a ton of pizza and bought a ton of soda, and the kids ate, drank, and danced all night.

Now that she's grown, I still have her and the family over for a special dinner on her birthday - she gets to choose the menu and I cook whatever she requests.

We have a bash for each kid every year that usually includes 40-50 of our family members and close friends.

We love to entertain and people love coming to our parties. It's not about the presents, it's about celebrating the person's life. We are big birthday people. :)

Side note- I am never, and I mean NEVER!!!!! Going to make ribs for that many people again. Cooking that much meat stresses me out, for some reason. Haha!

Mine is only 5, but yes, a party every year. The first couple of years it was more for us, a chance to get together with our friends and their kids.
Some years our parties are bigger (like this year we had it at a venue and invited the entire class) some years they are smaller (just a handful of DD's closest friends) - but there is one every year.

I don't know how I feel about them... I think it's ok not to invite the entire class and I also think it's ok that we don't get invited to every party... other than that I just want DD to have a good time.

Good luck

They get to choose from a party, to just taking the money, to doing something fun as a family. Of course, the younger ones choose party with friends (we don't have family nearby) and get the theme. The older ones just choose the $ that we would have spent on a party. And then sometimes, like my 10 year old this year, said instead of a party he wants us all to go to the mall of america and the amusement park in it (more than a party costs, but who doesn't need a weekend vacation). We always as a family celebrate with cake or something on their birthday.

We have had at home parties, parties at gymnastics places and outside. I have never and will never pay to go to a chuck e cheese place or anything too expensive, like pump it up.

First of off let me say, All of our family is in town..
Birthdays are always a big deal for all of us.. Grown ups and the kids.

Our daughter always had a party offered.. If she wanted to do something different, that was also fine. What ends up happening is that not everyone comes to the party, so we go out to inner, with different grandparents. Sometimes, it was a blow out, big deal, sometimes, it was a sleep over, sometimes, it was a special trip or event.. But it is always celebrated with the attention on the birthday person.

So a birthday can go on and on for weeks.

You can tell we live in the South. lots of birthdays happen in the spring and summer.. We get frisky in the fall, when things cool down.. hee, hee.

My kids are 2 and 5 (comin' up on birthdays 3 and 6 in the next few months).

Yes I have had a party every year starting with 1. It ranged from immediate family and 1st cousins only (which is still kinda big because I have 5 sisters, 3 with kids so far plus hub's bro and SIL and kid) and for my older one we had friend/family combo backyard parties with extended cousins and school friends included. I plan to have a party every year for my kids, but it will probably eventually be either/or on family or school friends, not combo.

I love parties! I like having them and going to them. We rarely say no to a b-day party in our house.

Nope. We rarely have parties at all. All 3 had a party for their 1 year. There were a couple more parties for random ages.
But, they don't go ignored.
Each one of us get a trip to Disneyland as close to their actual birthday as possible, allowing for weekdays and weather. During that trip they get their button from City Hall and they get the larger choice of what we do that day.
We go to my parents house which is in town and have dinner with them and my brother and SIL close to the date.
My inlaws always try to visit around my daughter's birthday, they are out of state. So we do something with them.
On everyone's actual birthday they get to pick where we get dinner from.
Because of when my kids' birthdays are we ran into people not coming when we threw parties.

We try to. The first and second are usually just family and our friends. By the third birthday, we usually do one party with our families (grandparents, aunts and uncles, often overlapping a couple of birthdays or a holiday) and a separate one to which we invite their little friends and their parents, or our friends and their kids. This is because my mom gets a bit edgy around a lot of little kids and will spend the party worrying about someone getting hurt instead of relaxing and enjoying herself. By K or first grade, the kid party then usually becomes just their school friends (not my friends and their kids). Our oldest is 15 and we are still doing parties for her - at that age, it's something low key like taking a group of friend to a restaurant and having them sleep over, or pizza and music and movies in the basement.

Our youngest was born in January so we used to celebrate his "kid party" in July or August so that we could have a pool party. Sometimes the party for my second-youngest (they're two years apart) would also be pushed to summer instead of March and we do both together. This year my youngest wanted his party in January so we just did it last weeked.

With our family, we celebrate my son and my brother together in January, my two older sons together in March (usually on St. Patrick's day, Easter, Passover or some other gathering), and my daugther in November at Thanksgiving. My parents still get me a cake and celebrate my May birthday at Mother's day, my sister's November birthday at her daughter's party, my husband's birthday on Labor Day, etc.

We used to tease my mother that we were too old for the cake and ice cream bit as adults and cringed when she would insist on taking a photo of everyone at the table, year after year. However, when my brother died, and later her sister, those birthday shots were some of the best photos that we had of the deceased as adults. So now we shut up and smile!

As you can probably tell...I was raised to believe that it was important to celebrate everyone's birthday, every year. In big families it can mean a lot of celebrating, but everyone deserves to have that one day a year acknowledged. I intend to carry on this tradition to my kids and hope they do the same for theirs.

I grew up with what felt like a month long birthday celebration. Mom would bring cupcakes to girlscouts, to swim class, to school, to language lessons, to orchestra practice, and we'd have a birthday on my birthday at home (nuclear family), then on the weekend with extended family. I grew up in NYC, so the different classes were all different groupd of people. Never any favors, never any friends at McDonalds, the bowling alley, or anything of that sort.

DS is two. We hosted a party at our apt. Friends, family and their kids were invited. We had roughly 25 people, pizza, chips, dip, soda, cake and old school party games like pin the tail, and limbo.

I understand that the kids in his daycare class sometimes bring cake/ cupcake, and sometimes he comes home with party bags. We both work so that style of party would take some effort.

If he asks for something different down the line, we'll think about it, but right now, this works for us.

F. B.

Yes, though they vary. When SS was 16, he wanted a house party with 16 friends and they linked game systems and played Halo and we just supplied food. When SD was 8, we had a party at a place called Jeepers (like Chuck E Cheese). So far with DD they have been house parties and mostly family and close friends though last year was the first year she had real friends of her own where we were not really friends with the parents ourselves. I think many people stress about parties and try to make each one a huge event, when the kid might be just fine with 3 friends and a trip to the zoo. The point IMO is to celebrate the child's birthday. We do bigger things for "big years" and the rest are pretty tame house parties, usually. We are actually phasing out so much "family" at her parties b/c then it makes them huge. More than a dozen kids (and their parents) is more than I want to host.

Yes, two. A family party and a friends party every year. The friends party is usually just the neighbors - @ 10 kids, but some classmates have been invited also.

For my son's 10th, we didn't do a big party for family or friends. We surprised him with a trip to the local amuzement park for our family of 4. Then on his birthday, his favorite dinner and cake with the family that could make it.

We never had parties growing up so that is my normal. Our celebrations consisted of our immediate family (parents, sibling, grandparents) coming together for a special homecooked dinner and maybe a present or two. My husband grew up with a similar set of traditions. So far for our two year old we have taken that path - we make his cake (a special bonding experience for my husband and I when the kids go to bed), have a special dinner at home with just the three (now four) of us and open a few gifts. We will see how it evolves over time. I agree it is interesting to see all of the variations on the idea. It helps to remember the different paths people come from.

I have two boys, 8 and 15. When they were very young, we had family parties and invited a few close friends, too. By the time they were about 6, they preferred having a couple of friends sleep over. We usually take them somewhere fun, too - the movies, bowling, miniature golf, etc.

Don't get me wrong; birthdays are a huge deal in our house. We celebrate birthWEEKS instead of birthdays. We just aren't big party people. We do special things for the birthday person for a whole week. :)

Our oldest son did have one party where he invited his whole class. I think he was in the second grade, and we went to a skating rink. Our youngest doesn't want a whole class party (yay!).

Yeah, we have a birthday party every year. This year though, I gave my kids the option of a party or an outing with a friend to Dave & Buster's. They chose the outing. Their birthdays are both in February, so we usually do a double party. This year, I'm so glad that they chose the outing because with a new baby in the house, we are pretty maxed out in all aspects.

Every year, starting at age 3. If I'd known how the 3rd birthday was going to go, though, I would've waited 'til he turned 4.

We invite close friends and a few family members. My son's birthday is in the summer, so there's not the same pressure to invite the whole class.

I have so far. My kids are seven and ten. For the first, second and third birthdays it was family and a couple of close family friends for a back yard bbq. They started nursery school when they were three, so from then on they had their own friends, and no more family parties. We have never done the whole class, just the friends that they usually play with. How many friends depended on the venue. For instance, I let my kids choose if they want 12 kids at the YMCA or in the backyard, or they can have 6 kids and go go-carting. My boys birthdays are 8 days apart, so birthdays are busy. I have done a combined party, but because they are three years apart it was not ideal. I sometimes have the parties a week apart, but I sometimes do the parties on the same weekend, one on Saturday, one on Sunday. We have done parties in the backyard with carnival games, a Mad Science party. parties at the YMCA with rock climbing, bouncer and play structure, a McDonalds party, bowling parties, mini-golf parties, go-carting parties and an amusement park party. I usually budget about $100 for the party. I bake my own cupcakes, and keep loot bags simple (usually just a full size candy bar). We never open gifts until after the guests leave. I like birthday parties and so do my kids.

We celebrate our birthdays every year.
But we only had 4 'invite the friends/classmates' parties for our son.
We did those for 4 through 7 yrs old.
And that was enough.
Growing up - I can remember 2 friends parties for me.
I'm not sure my husband ever had a friends birthday party when he was growing up.
For us, a meal out, cake with candles at home and open a few presents is celebration enough.

My daughter is 19 now and we managed to never have an "invite the whole class" party. We always celebrated with family, special dinners, friends to Disneyland or awesome vacations!! They were always her preference to do something more meaningful.

We have parties every year. Before elementary school it was just family and a few family friends from daycare. The first 3-5 years of elementary were usually whole-class parties (15 kids or so.) After that it became 2-4 kids going somewhere fun, like to the fishing float, water park, bowling & dinner, etc. I did one over night with DD and 4 friends at Wisconsin Dells, and took them to MOA one year for a day trip. DS doesn't really have any close friends so we scramble to find a couple kids to do something fun with him. I guess that's why I don't have the big parties for DD anymore - there is no way we could have a similar result for DD.

So yah, I try to do something special. We'll have a small family party with the grandparents around the date as well.

I have a very simple b day party at my house for each of my kids. My kids really like attending those fancy b day parties...but I only did one of those one time.
I limited the party to 8 kids. We usually pick some type of theme...like if its a pirate party. We would have a pirate treasure hunt.
Sounds fun. Good luck.

C.:

Typically we do. However, 2011/2012 was "off" for us due to financial considerations.

We typically have parties for the kids birthday's and have since their first one. Typically, they are for their friends...the first three years were for family...

This year my oldest son will be a teenager...so we are going to do something special.

My youngest son turned double digits last year so this year we would like to do something for him since we were not able to last year....he'll be railroad tracks!! YAHOO!!!

Yes, every year until about age 11 or 12. At that time we still invite one or two friends and do something special.

We did, but now with 3 kids I am rethinking it. We will do a family thing but I may start doing the big parties with friends less often. They tend to run around 300 bucks a pop which comes to 900 a year that I could spend on new iPads for them LOL.

If you mean a big to do every year no. We would have a special dinner at home or restaurant. Then we did a special or two as they got older but no big fanfare.

Birthdays are important but as we get older they become another day. If you have a big party every year no have nothing to look forward to like the 16, 18 or 21 party.

My son has thrown two big partis for his son out of the house but the rest have been mainly family and a few friends. This year it may be bigger as he hits 16.

The other S.

We have a family/close friends only party every year with cake and sandwiches. This year I did slightly more for the kids (mine and a friend of mine's) and got them fairy wings since she wanted her theme to be fairies. Otherwise, it's just lots of hanging out, holding babies and opening presents.

Yes, every year we've had some sort of party...we invite family along with now a handful of his friends...never done the whole class thing...although don't know we'll do for 12 now that he's middle school..Hmmm

Good luck and enjoy whatever you do!!!

For my first 3, we had a party for age 1, 2, 4, and 6. 6th was the first year they invited friends. Then in the summer between 2nd and 3rd grade, they had a little summer splash party. Not called birthday but they invited some friends, we had water balloons, little pool, bbq. They had fun. This year, we will hopefully let them have one. For my 4 yr old, she had her 1st birthday and we had a little celebration on Easter with the family. This is the first year she will have friends since she now goes to preschool and we do know some of the parents and kids. We may do it late though since her date is on Easter Sunday. I do not throw huge things though.

We do have a small celebration at home with just us and a small cake regardless.

Yes, I have a party every year. I think birthdays are a way to celebrate your child - usually the only real day focused on them each year. I don't go crazy, but I do have a party with a big group of friends. For the first three years, we did simple parties (park or backyard). For my son's fourth and fifth birthdays, we did parties at places we actually had to pay for. Not sure what we'll do when he turns six, but we'll definitely have a party. As of now, he wants a sports party at a park, but he might change his mind.

We don't invite the whole class. Because he's young, his friends were more from playgroup than school. We invited a few classmates, most of the playgroup kids, and a few family friends. I don't believe in inviting the whole class - I think it's better to just invite the kids you really want there.

We do have a family gathering each year, even if it's only a few of the 'family'. We've had one 'friend' party, that was for his fifth birthday. I expect we'll have another small 'friend' party this year, but it will be like four or five dear friends, not the class. And we'll likely do it on a nice day at the park.:) Play outside, a sack race or the like, some healthy snacks and some cake. Keepin' it simple.

Always a one-year-old party with the family

Started small friend party at three years old with kindermusik friends

Had whole class party for second year at pre-school (13 kids), and had one for whole class in K

1st grade we will select a group of friends for a party (K class kids now in three separate rooms--too many to invite)

family party is a separate affair from kid party

Her birthday is in May, a busy time of year for another party (graduation, Mother's Day, etc.). One year there was so much going on that we didn't have a family party (just for our immediate family)

Because it is such a busy time of year, I somewhat dread carving out the time, but I enjoy planning a theme, and DD loves to decorate the cake.

My DD loves people and parties, and I foresee an annual event of some sort with friends because she gets energy from being with people. I can't imagine denying her that.

We didn't last year because we were way too busy. This year we are going to make time. My boys like to do joint parties, which is great for us too. They are 2 years apart, but share a lot of friends. My daughter will most likely get a big party this year that we can make an appropriate kids club type of thing...she will be 10 and hubby DJ's. So I think we'll do that. Hopefully.

We had considered doing a big swim party for all 3, but I'm not sure that will work...I see too many things going wrong with that :).

So no party every year, but we always make sure to celebrate with family every year.

This is a great question- I was recently wondering the same thing! For my son's first birthday we did it up BIG...had it at a restaurant with 50-60 people/kids...you name it- we did it! I had a great time planning it...yes, I suppose it was more for me than him! :-) For his second birthday, we did lunch, cake and ice cream at our house for just family (grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins) which was about 15 people. in addition, we took our friends (4 couples and their kids) out for ice cream to a local ice cream shop. Again, this year we are just going to do the lunch, cake and ice cream at our house for family. Haven't planned anything yet for friends, and I am not sure if we even will...? I think birthday parties are WAY over done. (Yes I am guilty with his 1st one!) However, I am not making a habit of doing it every year. I think 1st, 5th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 21st are the big ones and deserve something big. My husband and I do take his birthday off (if we have to work) and do something special as a family. Last year we took him to Build a Bear. Bottom line, it's not about gifts (my son is very blessed) and as long as he is with family and friends, that is what matters!

Well, of course we recognize their birthday every year. They get gifts and always a cake (or cookie cake if that is their preference). The party part... no.
They have had parties.
1st Birthday - which is really more about the parents.
5th Birthday - finally in a preschool so they have more than 2 or 3 friends. (Our kids have summer birthdays, so this was the birthday in between preschool and kindergarten)
10th Birthday - their choice: a few friends over for a sleepover with cake and fun activity, and/or A friend to go DO something--water park, whatever, and sleep over after.
Since our son's 10th (he is the oldest) he has been away for his birthdays in almost every summer at a confirmation camp in the mountains that he LOVES. They do a big birthday cake there for anyone with a birthday, everyone sings, etc. They make it a big deal. I also send a card/special note with his adult chaperone who drives them to give to him ON his birthday.
Not sure what will happen this year. He may be away at camp again... When that happens, we do gifts after he gets home, and just maybe have cupcakes. But not the full-on cake. He usually prefers one of those big Birthday Cookies instead anyway.

I hate throwing parties and don't like entertaining, honestly. For her 5th and 6th bdays, we took DD on trips in lieu of the birthday party. DD didn't miss the party, honestly. We did do birthday parties up until then, but they were very low key, either at home, or at the park, nothing fancy. I am not one to go broke for a kid's party, but that's me.

This year is to be determined, not sure what we're doing yet.

We do always celebrate in some way, on the actual day.

We do parties every year (that is the norm around here also with most of our friends). My kids birthdays are 10 days apart (2 years and 10 days)...so far we have had their parties together and will continue until they ask for them to be separate. We have done parties at home, at the grandparents pool and Monkey Joes. When we did the home parties - they were themed (Painting party, Mickey Mouse party) and when at Monkey Joes, we only brought a cake and gift bags and drinks/silverware/napkins were covered by the location.

We do not go overboard on the decorations. They get to choose their type of cake and I will get a matching table cloth and napkins. Plates/silverware/cups are just generic colors that match from the Dollar Store. I usually do gift bags of some sort - but not always 'bags'. One year I gave out a Mickey sippie cup/coloring book and pencil to the kids for the Mickey party. For their swimming party last year we gave Cake Pops to each kid (which they ate at the party in addition to regular cake). They also go to take home a small blow up ball for the pool.

Family has been invited in and past and we've kept it separate in the past as well. It ends up that we have three parties then (one with my family, one with his and one with friends/kids). So from now on we'll just do one and invite everyone! We have a large extended family that lives close by and also lots of friends who's kids are my kids' friends. Birthday parties usually have from 20-50 people at them each year.

When my kids get a bit older and WANT their own parties, we will do something with just a few friends - Movie Theater and sleepover, bowling, pottery hollow, etc. But for now we enjoy them having their party on the same date. That way we don't have ask our friends to not only fork out money for two gifts but set aside 2 dates in one month to attend a party (plus hubby works weekends so one party works best for us).

My son was born a week before Thanksgiving, so we usually celebrate at my parents' house with them and my sister while we're home for Turkey Day. For his first birthday, we had a "party" after church one night at my parents' church. It was basically snacks, cake, ice cream, and singing Happy Birthday. No presents. For 2-4, we just had cake and a couple of presents. Didn't do anything at 5, since we were visiting my aunt and uncle. Now that my grandparents live close to my parents in a retirement community, we go to their apartment and celebrate there. This past time, my aunt, uncle, and their granddaughter (2nd cousin) were visiting, so we had a fairly big group.

I was never a party every year person when I was younger and I hope my son doesn't want one every year either. So far he hasn't asked and I haven't offered!