I’m a stay at home mom of four kids.
We live in southern California.
We’ve been debt free for about 9 years.
My daughter turned ten this past week, and to kick off her birthday celebrations, we had a couple dozen friends sing happy birthday to her at the park and enjoy piles of donuts (purchased on clearance).
Saved money, but her face says it all…she was one happy girl!
It was a good reminder to me not to feel pressure to spend amounts of money I don’t care to spend in order to have a birthday “like everybody else” when this was a great start to her celebrations and for much less than a more traditional treat/decorations/venue would have cost.
(I also took her for a free virtual reality exhibit, got her ears pierced at Walmart - at a fraction of the cost of other ear piercing places- , gave her brand new yarn rolls that I purchased at a thrift store, etc.)
What gifts have you given or parties have you thrown that didn’t break your budget goals?
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A lot of times I think people fall into the trap of hosting parties for the intent of impressing their guests that they miss the point of the party.
Growing up in a large family, we never had elaborate parties but we always tried to do something special.
Gifts were sometimes re-gifted items and cards and wrapping paper was all hand-made.
In the end, it was the thought that counted and being together as a family was the only thing that really mattered!
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Having a large family of 8 kids. We would let the birthday
person pick out what cake they wanted made and there
dinner that they wanted for there birthday. We would all
get involved and make every thing tougher. Watch movies
or go to parks depending when the birthday was. Plus we
gave 1 gift to the birthday person.
Now because they are older and we don’t see the kids much
we give a card and $20 for birthday.
We have a granddaughter in april and our 3 dogs lol
We start in June with our son and granddaughter
than July we have a daughter and son born 3 days
apart but didn’t years.
august we have a son daughter and son and a grand son
September is my husband
oct is our daughter and granddaughter
nov is our daughter and a new grand baby will be
born in nov.
than thanksgiving and Christmas
than my birthday in jan
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Best birthday was family with a few friends… I think daughter was turning 14 or so… I made homemade calzones with sauce, grandma brought the cake, I had free ice cream coupons from an in-store promotion that I used at a store that had buy 1 get 1 free so ALOT of ice cream was consumed… think cost for food was less than $15 for 25 people…
Taking the time to make the food was great as daughter and I got to work together then were joined by my two sisters and it was the time we spent together that made her birthday the best. The rest of the family and her friends arrived… Uno was the easy game winner with the kids and a many of the adults…
All the family had a great time, all the food was consumed at the party…
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