I have a daughter who is getting ready to turn 7 on January 22 and my son will be 5 on January 30. What do you all think about having a combined Birthday party? In the years past I have combined them but now they are getting bigger and have their own friends and I am not sure this is still a good idea.. Any advice?
Try asking the kids what they would want. They might be a little more helpful with things. You might want to have the party together but make the difference in one is for boys and the other is the girl. They are both at the age boys are yuck and girls have cooties!!!! I hope this might help
B.
I wanted to jump in here...
I am 3 years younger than my sister, to the day...yes we were born on the same day, just three years apart....
Every year it was one cake with 'Happy birthday kids' or 'Happy birthday girls'. I only had 3 birthday parties - 10, 13, and 16 - and lets just say - Now I make a huge deal out of my birthday....
I would ask your kids - but me being that second child - I guess I felt like celebrating was an after thought....
Thank goodness I have an understanding husband who celebrates my birthday!!!!
Hi B. I don't have a daughter that old but I would personally reccommend seperate parties if they are inviting friends to it. Your 7 year old may be emberassed having her brother and his friends around when they are trying to do "girly" activities. But if your children are close and are used to having a combined party they might look forward to it. If you aren't planning a surprise party I would ask them what they want and let them make the decision for you.
Hi B.
Have had this problem as well with my children, I had a "family combined party" when they were younger. As they grew older, I still had the "family combined party" and then I asked their teachers if it would be okay if I brought in mini cupcakes on the day of their birthday. Each were made to feel special cause mommy made a special trip to school with hats and cupcakes. I hope this helps you as much as it did me, now they are older and want sleep overs so its usually the weekend before or the weekend after if its on a school night. Good luck to you.
I agree with asking them. Yeah they are young but many parents forget that no matter how young they are they still have they're opinions. Give them the option of having one big party with all of they're friends together or 2 smaller seperate parties. If they're close anyways they might just opt to have them together. I have a almost 4 yr old girl and almost 12mt old boy. They're bdays are 2 or 3 weeks apart. So i understand the problem...
I agree with Brandy. You can still celebrate together, but allow each one to have their own style invites, their own cake, their own friends, etc. The best way to do this is to have the kids have their parties together somewhere special... such as chuckee cheese. Let the boys all sit on one side of the adult tables and the girls on the other side. In one way they're separate, but your "killing two birds with one stone" by getting both the parties out of the way! Let me ask you this... do the boys and girls invited all get along and play together? This can also determine your answer to the dilema!
As a kid my Mother use to join mine and my sisters birthday together, because we were about a week apart.My sister and I hated it, WE didn't feel like I got my on special day. So I would say give them two different partys, its alot of work but they will thank you later.
i personally think at this age, they would probably both be happier having separate parties. But that doesn't mean having to go all out for both of them. I'm sure a simple girl cake and ice cream and some girl friends over for a sleep over would be fun for your daughter and the same thing for your son with a boy cake and some of his buddies to have a sleep over on another weekend. just get them a few videos and munchies and a couple of $5 pizzas from lil ceasars and there you go. 2 instant parties for not a lot of $. thats what me and my friends always did and we always had a blast...oh...maybe get a couple of diposable cameras so they can take funny pics of their friends to keep in a scrap book.
B.,
I have a brother 2 years, 354 days apart. When I was in 1st or 2nd grade, my mom decided to separate our celebrations so I could have my friends over. That was the best decision for us. My parents started celebrating our birthdays together again when we were both over 18 (with the exception of the 21st birthday and my 30th.)
I think it would still be okay to combine there parties. My birthday and my brother's birthday are 6 days apart and my parents combined our parties until we started having sleep overs. Then she usually scheduled one for one weekend, then the other the weekend after. That helps with slupplies also. Anything left over from the first party you can always use at the 2nd (plates, napkins, drinks, snacks).
Maybe they could both decide on a place to have their b-day party at together and invite a couple of thier friends a piece. Maybe have games to play and maybe two cakes instead of one.
The best thing to do is ask them. Ask the question to them together, and give them the option to answer you privately. That way there is no pressure for one of them to answer "the way you want them to". But explain to them that if they have two parties they may need to be smaller than if they had one together.
I understand where you are coming from. My younger sister's birthday is the day before mine. So we always had combined parties. I remember as a child never feeling like mine was that special because I always had to share. However, now I enjoy it because my sister and I are very close, and I think it's great!
I hope I was able to help you even a little bit! Good luck! If you have anymore questions or I can be of anymore help, please feel free to message me!
M.
My birthday is close to Christmas and my parents always made sure that the decorations were down so that my birthday was just my day and not a continuation of another holiday. I would ask your kids what they want to do. Personally, I feel that your birthday is the only day all year that is all about you and having a joint party takes some of the focus off you.
Good Luck:)
My brother and I are only 4 days apart. We had a family celebration together (One giant cake!) And then our "friends" parties would be seperate. He would take the weekend before our birthdays and I'd take the weekend after. I love the fact that our family acknoweledged the closeness of our birthdays and still gave us room feel like "my" birthday was special.
