Runaway Birthday Train

I bet you thought my blogging days had run their course, didn't you?

I don't blame you. I'm a harried mother of three, with no time to pee unattended, never mind constructing complex paragraphs.

Nevertheless, I'm managing. Blogging is turning out to be a real sanity saver for me. Even though I'm usually only able to write my posts a few phrases or sentences at a time, constantly being interrupted by baby issues or big girl queries, it's worth it. And the comments that people have posted have been great- I've really enjoyed hearing your feedback. I figure if I can let just one other mom or dad (or grandma or whomever) know that they're not the only one to have the occasional crazy thought, I think it makes it all worthwhile (never mind the added benefit to me- just getting things out of my head to make room for more craziness- don't want things to get too cluttered up there).

We celebrated the Princess' third birthday on Saturday. Having a Christmastime birthday is a dilemma- one I know firsthand, as mine falls a few days after the 25th. My parents tried to get me to celebrate my "half" birthday when I was a kid, so I could have outdoor summer parties instead of cramming everyone into the living room, but I wouldn't have it. In fact, I was usually so stubborn as to insist that we celebrate my birthday always on my real birthday- not the weekend before or after. My mom was always pretty great about trying to let me do whatever I wanted to do for my birthday, she always made it special despite it being during the time of the year when everything is already festive and special because of the holidays. I hope I can do the same thing for my daughter.

Kids' birthday parties seem to have taken a turn for the extravagant. Maybe this is a familiar refrain to you, but I'll say it again. Parties that I went to as a kid were pretty simple affairs- your friends came to your house, there was cake, ice cream, presents, pin the tail on the donkey, goody bags, and then they went home. The whole thing took two, maybe three hours tops. Sometimes there was pizza. Or a pinata. Your mom made your cake. Having a theme meant that the napkins and the plates you ate your cake off of had the same cartoon character on them. There was either no prize for winning pin the tail on the donkey, or if there was, only the kid who actually won got one. And it was the same dime store junky toy that the goody bags were filled with, along with teeth-rotting candy. You opened your presents at the party, in front of your guests, and said thank you. Your brothers and sisters didn't get any gifts, just you. In between all this, you and your guests just played.

And everyone had a good time! Amazing, huh? Considering we didn't have party planners, printed invitations, professional entertainment, dancers, DVD invitations, rented photo booths (for favors), "location parties" (the closest we got to a location party was Chuck E. Cheeses)... the list goes on. And the gifts! Oh my. Am I the only one who wonders how anyone can afford all this? Christmastime birthday or not, I can pretty much guarantee that the Princess will never celebrate her birthday with the help of a caricaturist. Her party over the weekend was more like the ones my friends and I used to have. The kids raced around and played in the Princess' room (and everywhere else). I made a simple "cook-out-eat-in" dinner (beef, chicken, and veggie shish kabobs). We sang Happy Birthday, ate cake, and watched her open her presents and say thank you to her guests. The grown-ups seemed to equally enjoy themselves while they ate chips and dip and chatted, albeit over the dull roar of the paper Happy Birthday horns I had found on the cheap months ago.

The most important part? The Princess had a GREAT time. And all of her guests had a blast, too. All of the expensive and extravagant stuff that other parents do- I think maybe it's sometimes more for them than for the kids. Kind of a "look at what a great parent I am, I got my kid a ______ for for his birthday!" I don't know, I could be totally wrong. And they're kind of shooting themselves in the foot- I mean, once you've given your kid a party with a pony, magician, and light show there's really no going back to Funfetti cake and Hoodsie cups out on the deck at home, is there?

Oh well. Every parent has to do what he/she thinks is best for his/her kid(s), right? We've been to at least one birthday party this past year with a bounce house, and it was perfect. And who knows? Maybe one day I'll trade in my clearance-rack, obnoxiously loud paper horns and hop on the bounce house birthday bandwagon. Stranger things have happened.