Belated birthday tea? Ideas needed

MrsSippi

My eldest was 6 on New Years Day and as you might imagine it is one of the worst days to have a birthday party or similar as everyone (particularly of her age) is busy so we haven't been able to do much. Tbh this has been fine with me as I'm not really into arranging children's parties etc.

However now she is a bit older and has had invites to classmates parties it has made her more aware of the situation and she has recently started asking school friends to her birthday parties (usually nowhere near her birthday and when nothing has been organised!)

This has made me realise that maybe we need to do 'something ' for her. I was thinking of having a birthday 'tea' idea for mainly close family and family friends, probably in the warmer weather and maybe going to a big park or a small petting farm or similar so there's something for younger ones to do. Maximum 10-15 people and although I can't ask people to bring gifts etc I thought maybe ask everyone to bring something food wise and we could just have a big picnic together.

Do you think this would work? Any other suggestions or ideas on what else we could do would be appreciated too. I just want her to have her own special day without going overboard and also while keeping costs down.

arbrighton

I don't think you can delay it too long after her birthday really. She won't understand why friends have theirs within a week or so but she can't

lika_86

Rather than celebrate her actual birthday with friends/family each year, could you (given the date) do something on her actual birthday just with close family and then celebrate her half birthday with a little party for friends? So on 1 July (or there or there abouts) get everyone to a pot-luck Mad Hatters Unbirthday picnic?

MrsSippi

lika_86 wrote: »

Rather than celebrate her actual birthday with friends/family each year, could you (given the date) do something on her actual birthday just with close family and then celebrate her half birthday with a little party for friends? So on 1 July (or there or there abouts) get everyone to a pot-luck Mad Hatters Unbirthday picnic?

Thanks for the replies. Re timing of this - I did consider doing it in the fortnight after her birthday but to be honest the weather is always pretty poor, limiting what we can do - our house is pretty small which makes a decent gathering almost impossible.

I'm really not keen on the whole soft play (or similar) party idea, esp as they yend to be quite expensive. I did have a look around to see if there was a nice place to eat suitable for kids (not McDonald's or anything but we have got a range of assorted sundae restaurants etc fairly near us but all are closed on her birthday. I have also tried to arrange a small get together with cake and balloons for family to attend but I have been a bit disappointed because the vast majority declined due to illness, hangovers or having other arrangements - this bugged me the most really because I did remind everyone 4 or 5 times in the run up to December and beyond and was told by all they would attend buy then still had cancellations. Either way it put me off doing it again.

I love the idea of an Unbirthday party - esp as it's not her birthday. She loves Alice in wonderland too so that might work really well. That way there's not to much emphasis on it being for her birthday as such. Maybe some Balloons, some food, hopefully some nice weather and somewhere for the younger ones to play or run around and job done.

rach_k

I think she's old enough to understand that it's too late to celebrate her birthday now. She's also old enough to understand that you will do something extra special next year. I'd probably do it the weekend after she goes back to school - send out invitations before the Christmas hols and get people to RSVP by text message so you can text reminders the week before.

I do think you could do something nice that she knows is instead of a birthday party this year, but don't tell anybody it's a birthday thing. You could do what you suggested with family and family friends, but I know my girls (aged 5 and 7) would prefer having some school friends round instead, or even just one child. You could go swimming with a 'grown up' cake and hot chocolate in a cafe afterwards, have a traditional afternoon tea at home, have a craft session at home, or just play with bubbles in the garden! I think most girls that age like to invite people from school and would prefer that over a family thing, even if the family thing was huge!

Faith177

My cousins birthdays are Christmas Day and the 29th Dec so they use to have the same problem.

My aunt always did them a party in June/July one year was a bouncy castle, next year a magician things like that

They had a small family do around their birthdays they always understood why they had a party later in the year because they had special birthdays

suejb2

Tbh this has been fine with me as I'm not really into arranging children's parties etc.

Wow, on that thinking then you wouldn't have parties , don't blame the time of year for not having a party.
My birthday is Christmas Eve, it was and still is really recognized and celebrated
My D.S birthday this year is on Good Friday,
I have a niece who's birthday one year fell on Mother's day.

Spendless

I'd go with the half birthday with relatives in the summer for this year.

For the next birthday, I'd let her have a party in early Jan. You can book something like a village hall.

Within a few years her classmates will outgrow soft play parties anyway. My DD's 7th birthday was the last soft play party I had, because I'd booked the most expensive (newly opened) soft play place in town who wanted their money a fortnight in advance and I had around 50% of guests let me down either the day before or on the day. :mad:

After that, I always did parties, but in a different way. I'd book an activity (one that you paid for when you got there) have everyone meet at our home, transport the kids there myself (you need enough transport for the guests to do this) feed them at a fast food place afterwards, then back home for birthday cake and their parents to collect. Doing it this way meant it was cheaper and I could control and manage 'no showers' easier. Amongst the activities we did for the birthday parties over the years have included, ten-pin bowling, trampolining, photo shoot.

ALIBOBSY

My birthday is christmas eve and basically my Mum decided it was too hard work and the wrong time of year to have a party, so I had one party in my whole childhood. I would get a cake at home (homemade of course in the 70's) which was OK but pretty much every year my parents would go out or have a new years party so my birthday was a bit rubbish tbh. Obviously better when I was 18 an older as plenty of free "birthday" drinks when out at new year.

Thinking about it my sister never got many parties either and she wasn't a chrimbo/new year baby (was in winter tho). Maybe my Mum liked the excuse not to have to throw a party anyway lol. Mind you in the 70's parties were much smaller affairs than they are now.

If any of mine had been born around christmas new year I would definately do the half year birthday thing. My daughters best friend is a christmas eve baby so has a family meal/cake thing on the day and a fab party with her mates in July .

Know all about the no shows thing with my kids. DD3 we invited 16 then did some extra invites because of people not able to come. Invited practically the whole class and still only got 10 that came. Luckily the place didn't charge us for the no shows, but could have.
Think it was the fact her birthday fell on half term and alot went away, next time will go for the week before or after.
Ali x

FatVonD

What about taking her and a handful of friends to a panto next year?

You could do it in the days between Christmas and the New Year, they're usually still running then.

It could turn a negative into a positive in that she's the only one with a birthday in panto season!

TBagpuss

I have a cousin who was bron on Christmas Eve. When he was a child he had an 'offical birthday' in June, when he had a birthday party etc. i think it was explained to him that he celebrated his birthday in the summer with his friends.