Budget Birthdays

When I was a kid, we didn’t have a party for every birthday. We did, however, get to choose what was for dinner. Boy have times changed.

Money was very tight when my kids were little. You know how the saying goes, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Turns out to be a wonderful concept as it put my creativity into overdrive and my kids always had more fun when we created an event rather than simply hosting one.

When my son, Bennett, turned 3, (he’s now 13!) (no, he’s now 16!)we held a birthday parade. At that time, we lived in a track-house neighborhood, which made for the best of parade routes. We invited guests to bring their bikes, wagons, skates and baby-doll strollers. We tied balloons to everything that moved. One mom pulled the wagon with the “Happy 3rd Birthday” sandwich-board that hid the boom-box blasting parade music. (As official parade director, I’m somewhere in the back.) We circled the hood to find neighbors coming out onto their porches and into their yards to wave us by. You’ve never seen a prouder group of tiny people. No one seemed to care that it was raining on our parade. Soon enough we were home for cake, ice cream and presents before everyone left happy and ready for a nap.

Homemade Invitations: $5. Balloons: $25. Cake & Ice Cream: $20. A birthday we’ll never forget: Priceless.