2613: Simple Children's Birthday Parties by Rachel Jones of Nourishing Minimalism on Reducing Stress as a Parent

[00:00:01] Wenn jemand Charles und Melanie gesagt hätte, dass sie nach ihrem Tinder-Match gemeinsam einen Channel mit crazy Aufgaben starten, also wirklich crazy, fünf Tage auf einer einsamen Insel verbringen, eine Zipline an einem Gurt runterrasen, eine Million Views knacken, eine Wand mit Saugnöpfen hochklettern und Falschirmspringen in Ägypten? Das hätten die beiden niemals geglaubt. Aber das ist das Ding mit Tinder. Es führt dich an Orte, die du nie erwartet hättest. Wohin es dich aufführt. It starts with a swipe. Tinder.

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Relationships Daily. Simple Children's Birthday Parties by Rachel Jones of NourishingMinimalism.com As the years have gone by, it seems like kids' birthday parties have gotten more and more elaborate. With having six kids, I had to set some boundaries fairly early for attending and having birthday parties. How many birthday parties should my child attend?

[00:01:26] When my older kids were young, money was pretty tight and our school had a policy of everyone in the class had to be invited to birthday parties so no one would feel left out. Needless to say, they got a lot of invites. Our budget wasn't very flexible and honestly, allowing the kids to pick out a $10 gift for their friend meant that other things in the monthly budget had to be juggled and it caused a fair amount of stress.

[00:01:50] I had to set some limits. After thinking long and hard, I decided that I would let them attend one birthday party per year. Even after our finances eased up, thanks to Dave Ramsey, we still kept with the one birthday party a year rule. Limiting the attendance of parties freed up our schedule. That said, I didn't limit extended family birthday parties, but our family is huge. I'm the middle child of 10 siblings and spread out across the country, so we rarely attended family parties anyway.

[00:02:20] Our kids did well with choosing one party to attend and they never complained. They had their close friends and they knew when their birthday was. They were excited as they looked forward to it. It also meant they took more time in planning their gift and thinking about what their friend would enjoy. How much time, energy, money should I put into my own child's birthday party? I always felt a bit deprived, not having an extravagant birthday party as a child.

[00:02:46] But then when I had children of my own, I found out how overwhelming big birthday parties were to children. A three-year-old just wants to be celebrated. They don't want to open 28 presents and thank each person. With so much excess, can we blame the child for tearing off the wrapping, discarding the item and demanding the next gift? Or the child that screams and throws a toy in frustration, simply because it's not the one he wanted? My answer is, of course, minimalism.

[00:03:14] Just like every other area of our life, minimalism helps us keep balance in our celebrations as well. There's no need for extravagance. I've given many a party and I've organized large elaborate events for people and organizations. But the ones that bring the most joy are the simple intimate parties, even for children. Have bigger parties on bigger birthdays. We allowed friends to be invited to the 5th, 10th, and 15th birthdays.

[00:03:40] The rest of the years were just shared with grandparents and an aunt and uncle, who graciously attend without giving gifts. Keep the guest list small. Allow the birthday girl or boy to invite friends. If they tend to get carried away, set a moderate limit. Three to five friends is good. Just remember, the more children, the more overwhelming. Play simple games. Part of having a big party means party games, at the age when party games are still enjoyed by all involved.

[00:04:10] We've done, Pin the tail on the blank. In our case, it was pin the tail on the dragon and pin the horn on the unicorn. Don't pop the bubbles. Lay out bubble wrap on the floor and have children take turns gently walking across it. Whoever doesn't pop any bubbles wins. Scoop the cotton balls. Have a bowl full of cotton balls and an empty bowl in front of the child. Hand them a spoon and blindfold them. Whoever moves the most cotton balls into the empty bowl wins. Make your own pizza.

[00:04:39] Cooking with friends is so much fun. Have bowls of pizza toppings and individual-sized crust ready for the chefs. What does the winner get? To say that they won, of course. Keep it simple. Just have fun for the sake of fun. Make birthdays special with traditions. Allow your children to pick their birthday dinner. This gives a great opportunity to learn about your child and get them involved in the planning. Planning and anticipating is the best part. Make a homemade cake.

[00:05:09] Have them help you make their birthday cake. They can decide what flavors they want and how they want it decorated. If they're so inclined, let them decorate their own cake. And if they don't even care for the cake, let them pick their birthday dessert. Ice cream. Pie. Strawberry shortcake. Cupcakes. Cheesecake. Cinnamon rolls. The list is only limited by their imagination. In the end, it's the time that you took that makes the memory special.

[00:05:34] To know that their parent took the time to make their favorite dinner and favorite dessert makes them feel special and celebrated. Nothing has to be perfect. And the great thing about kids? It doesn't take much to get excited. You can make a sad-looking cake with wobbly letters, and they don't care. If you made it for them, they love it, and it's perfect. What about gifts? I recommend keeping gifts simple as well. When we send out invites, which just happen to be a group text message,

[00:06:03] I make my request, no need to bring a gift, but if you want to bring something, please limit it to something homemade or craft supplies. This has worked very well for us. You just listened to the post titled, Simple Children's Birthday Parties, by Rachel Jones of nourishingminimalism.com. Hey Sandra, wir haben uns ja lange nicht mehr gesehen. Grüß dich, Nadine. Mensch, du siehst ja toll aus.

[00:06:32] Ja, danke. Ich hab mein Plus fürs gesündere Ich entdeckt. Was? Komm, ich zeig's dir. Die Bewegungskurse der AOK Plus. Kostenfrei für AOK Plus Versicherte. Entdecke dein Plus fürs gesündere Ich und starte mit unserem Self-Check. Ganz einfach online auf aok.de. Aus Liebe zur Gesundheit. AOK Plus. And thanks so much to Rachel for this one.

[00:06:57] You guys probably know I've been part of the OLD network for a while now, not just as an employee, but what started as having my own content narrated. So I've been around for a lot of minimalism content, but I don't recall any being applied to birthday parties. And I really love this idea. I think Rachel is right in that there are so many opportunities for more simple parties that children would love all the same.

[00:07:20] And since that's the goal, it might be worth your time to first consider a theme your child loves and what they want from the party. And then taking a minimalist approach to that. You might also consider grouping parties together if you do enjoy the extravagant a little bit more. Right. So having a single party for several people that have birthdays close to one another or birthdays and holidays nearby is a great way to not only save time and money, but also encourage more guests to come and celebrate.

[00:07:48] My parents actually used to combine my birthday and my brother's when we were little. And I remember it being a lot of fun. You know, all the family would come out and the place would be full to bursting. Not to mention others would bring good food a lot of the time. Right. So that potluck type of element also supports a minimalist birthday approach. So I hope you've got some cool new ideas after listening to this post, parents.

[00:08:11] It is time for me to get out of here, unfortunately, but have a great rest of your day and be sure to come on back tomorrow because there's going to be another awesome parenting post for you. That's where your optimal life awaits.