Whether you have little toddlers or school aged children birthday parties are a part of your regular routine. Even if your children are not a part of a traditional school, homeschool, not in school yet, rural school, one room school house, there is a good chance you’ll be attending several parties each year. This page is just a little spot to offer tips and tidbits for buying gifts, attending parties (do you stay or do you go?), Thank You notes and the like, and of course the flip side of it all planning a party for your child.
Gift Giving
Each year my children go to dozens of birthday parties and as a mom of two children who play very differently and live in a house with more clutter than I’d like, buying a child’s birthday gift is no simple task. To simplify the process I do these three little steps whenever I can:
- Ask the parent (in person, a quick phone call, or by email) if there’s anything that the party child is really into lately.
- Ask my child what they think their friend or classmate might like. (My children are surprisingly accurate as have their friends and classmates been for them. Even the Kindergarteners who tend to think first about what they themselves would like do well when asked to think about the party child.
- Ask the classroom teacher. It depends where your child goes to school and whether you have a second to touch base with a teacher at the beginning or end of the day, but I find that if I don’t know a child well and neither does my child the teacher usually has a few good tips (so and so really likes art, dramatic play, a certain book series etc.)
