With James' birthday tomorrow and Daniel's coming up in just a few weeks, it makes me think back to my childhood. I've gone 7 years now without throwing any actual birthday parties, and at times I feel guilty, because my mom always threw us birthday parties and I loved them. Then again, neither of them have ever asked for one (although James did mention games for his "party" tomorrow).
I try to make their big days special for them, and we always celebrate with both sets of grandparents at some point. I'm not against ever throwing any, but I think it's best for my anxiety if we always go low key!
I never had an extravagant birthday party, but I have fond memories of them. Quite honestly, I don't remember all of them, but certain ones stick out.
I had my very first sleepover birthday party in kindergarten. My mom let a few of my friends spend the night. I opened presents, I'm sure we had cake, and ice cream, and then played until bedtime. Mom and Dad put all the sleeping bags downstairs, got us all settled in, and I freaked out. So...I abandoned my friends and went upstairs to sleep in my own bed. The next morning we had Cookie Crisp for breakfast. I begged and begged for that cereal for weeks, and my mom got it for me. I was beyond excited. Spoiler alert: I hated it. Ha!
In 2nd or 3rd grade I think I had my biggest party. My parents actually sprung for a pool party at The Holiday Inn! I felt like the coolest kid ever. After we went swimming we got to have lunch. I'm pretty sure it was burgers, but they brought each one out on a platter with one of those silver domes on the top. You know, the kind you only see in fancy movies!? Talk about feeling like royalty.
4th grade was my most memorable of my childhood parties. My parents threw me a surprise party. Another spoiler alert: I figured it out beforehand, but pretended like I didn't know. 2 of my friends were being all secretive and when I asked what they were talking about they said "shampoo". Haha! I managed to coax the truth out of them though. Mom invited 4 of my close friends, and the night of the party she sent me to Toys R Us with dad because he wanted to buy rocket engines. I remember my heart pounding when we got home because I knew what was coming. I was preparing in my head how I would act. I'm pretty sure I just looked like an idiot because I dropped the shopping bag and stood there with my mouth hanging open. Mom was always creative, and she took us on a "penny walk" in the dark. Such a simple thing, but we seriously had the best time. We took flashlights and every time we'd get to the corner of a street we would flip the penny. Heads you'd go one way. Tails the other. I remember when I got older, Erica and I would go on "penny drives" sometimes when we were bored.
There were other parties thrown in there, but the next one that I deem memorable was my 16th birthday. A lot of people had big Sweet 16 parties, but I only wanted to spend it with my 2 best friends. By that point, I had realized that I'm more of a low key kinda girl. I'd rather spend my time with people I'm close to, than tons of people that I don't know as well.
So, my friends Tracy, Bridget and I went bowling and to Dairy Queen. Nothing big, but always memorable, and I'm glad I got to spend that night with them.
I spent my 17th birthday at my aunt and uncle's new house. They were coming from California to Iowa and the day they arrived just happened to be my birthday. We spent a lot of the day at the house, as everyone helped unload the truck...except me because I was a turd and called myself the Moving Box Manager since it was my birthday. That night, everyone came to our house to just hang out and celebrate my birthday. The adults banished the "kids" outside to the deck where my sisters and I sat in awkward silence with our 3 cousins, until our cousin Andy broke the ice with the most random question ever. "So...how bout them Padres?" I think we all just stared at him for a good 10 seconds before erupting into laughter, thus beginning several years of cousin shenanigans.
What I've learned is that birthdays don't need to be a big production. Life is always better when you can celebrate and spend those milestones with the ones you love and care about the most.
Maybe my boys won't feel deprived after all.
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