We did a first birthday party but just a special family day for his second. I'm leaning towards another special family day for his third as well!
Our families aren't local and a lot of our friends either don't have kids or their kids are much older. I'm not sure at 3 that I'd want to do a daycare friend party yet, maybe for 5!
I've attempted four times to do a poll with 0 luck.
0 votes
honeydew / 7917 posts
We have one every year for the kids, but the party mainly consists of family and a few of our friends. Not sure how long I will continue it for, but I really enjoy seeing everyone come together to celebrate.
coconut / 8279 posts
Yes. I thought about skipping it for his second but we joined a playgym and they offered a package.
By his 3rd birthday he had a good understanding of parties and was asking for one. (We have a parade of everyone we know's kid's parties leading up to Js birthday..)
GOLD / wonderful coconut / 33402 posts
Yes! She will have a family party every year at least. We are doing a friend party for the first time this year.
pomelo / 5678 posts
No way!
-Unless you mean cake and presents and a fun day with DH and I!
pomegranate / 3983 posts
Kind of? Yes in terms of having a cake and getting presents. But some have been just at preschool during their normal lunchtime, a couple were just a glorified play date- I put up decorations and had some special activities planned. But no if you mean going all out, inviting a bunch of people and the whole shebang.
honeydew / 7230 posts
We did a big party with extended family for their 1st. For their second I just want to do a zoo day that weekend with their baby friends (kids of our friends), then cake with grandparents on the day-of. DH's cousins all have big parties every year so I'm getting some push back from MIL, but I don't feel like throwing a big (expensive) party again.
coconut / 8079 posts
We had a family party for LO's 1st. My family is local and DH's is two hours away so everyone came. We will do the same this year. I made the cake, had a few decorations, and made lunch. If we didn't have family nearby I would probably just do special days as a family until he asked for a friend party!
ETA We only invited both sets of grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins which is less than 15 people! 
persimmon / 1188 posts
Yes but his 2nd was smaller than his 1st and I think the 3rd will be even smaller. His birthday is around Thanksgiving so it's at a time we have family in town so that makes it bigger than we'd normally do.
persimmon / 1436 posts
Yes, but mostly family and our friends. She will be 4 in June, so I was thinking of inviting some of her preschool friends over to swim if we get a new above ground pool this summer. That would be a separate day from her family party though.
pomegranate / 3411 posts
So far yes. I was torn about daycare friends this year and didn't invite. I'll likely start that next year for his 4th - depending if he makes good friends by November as he will be starting a new school in September
pomegranate / 3393 posts
We've committed to taking a trip every year for his birthday. He did have a party for his first one.
coconut / 8430 posts
Yes we've done a big backyard party with our friends every year. I think starting this year we may start doing a friend party.
pomelo / 5866 posts
Yes, every year! It's getting smaller every year but I'd like to do a huge backyard blowout one year. 
I'm thinking pajama parties in a few more years.
pineapple / 12566 posts
We always do a family celebration (just us plus my ILs usually make it). My older LO turned 5 on his last birthday and we did his very first friends party for that one.
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
No, for DD we did a big 1st birthday (korean dohl), then family get togethers for 2nd and 3rd. A small birthday with friends at home for her 4th, and a bigger birthday including family friends and daycare friends at 5.
For DS, we did a big 1st birthday, and just small family get togethers for 2 and 3. We'll see if he has friends he wants to invite for his 4th, and probably start celebrating friend type birthdays from there on out.
But for every birthday, we both take the day off work, keep them home from school, and do something fun as a family.
pear / 1852 posts
So far yes.
We had family and close friends over for her 1st birthday. Then we moved and had our friends for her 2nd and 3rd, and a couple of our friends kids for her 3rd. Her 4th is coming up in less than a month, and it will be a mix of Family (we moved home), friends and her friends for the 1st time.
grapefruit / 4400 posts
Nope!
Just 1st birthday parties. We might do a 4th birthday party for Char this year since she's in preschool and has friends.
wonderful pomelo / 30692 posts
We do one with family every year. It wasn't originally something I thought we'd do, but now that our kids are here, our family really wants to be involved and see them, so we've decided to go ahead and do a family party every year.
Friends though - no. We won't be doing a friends party every year.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
We celebrate, but it's not always with a party. So far, we've done a larger party for 1 and 5, with just cake and family the other years.
coconut / 8472 posts
We've only had 2 birthdays so far. For the first one we did have a big party. It seems like the minute we involve DH's family the guest list triples. Plus we had bought a new house a few months prior so it was kind of like a housewarming also.
For DS's 2nd birthday I didn't want to make a huge deal. We had our immediate families over for dinner and we invited our closest friends because they invite us to family stuff for their kids. We brought in catered food including a birthday cake because it was right after Thanksgiving. It was a little more elaborate than the small dinner I originally had in mind, but definitely not a big party.
I'm guessing this year when he turns 3 he may want a friends party. If not, we'll do something like we did for 2.
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