Lazy or efficient? Re: bdays

[shortstax]

dS turns 5 in January, and DDs 1st bday is 2 weeks later.

Is it bad if we have 1 party celebrating both? Is that being lazy?

Pros of 1 party:
My family is 2 hours away, this way they only have to travel once
dS is in pre-k, but doesn't really have any friends friends to invite
Guest list will be exact same if we have 2 parties
Cost will be less (since only paying for food once)
Ifs I had 2 parties the would have the same "feel" since i procrastinated and probably don't have tone to book a party place a month out

Cons of 1 party
dS didn't have a party last year since I was 38 weeks pregnant
I feel bad that DD would be "pulling focus" from him--because he's been an amazing little man this year.

In the past DS has been the kind of guy who's just happy with a few balloons, so maybe I'm overthinking this all
Thoughts? Please tell me what to do

[Deleted]

Efficient. No one wants to travel twice for that.

[shortstax]

You're right, 2 parties would be nonsense at this age

Now it will be funny to comine a Lego or marching band party (dS' wishes) with a hippo or banana party (DDs favorite things) lol.

[luckyno7]

Efficient. My kids are 1 month apart and we do a combined. Especially for family parties. As an invited guest I would selfishly prefer to only go to 1 party.

[glitzy07]

Efficient.

My sister and I were 4 years and 8 days apart. We had joint birthday parties until I was too old for parties. We always had our own separate birthday cakes. One of us got a regular cake and the other a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. We flip flopped each year as to who got which kind. It never bothered either of us.

[lilac05]

Combined, absolutely!

To make it a little more special for DS, you could get two smaller cakes instead of one big cake. Or get plates & balloons in two themes. You won't win any Pinterest awards, but your DS will love it & all guests will understand why it's "mismatched."

[cinco]

Combined!

[kaycee]

Combined!

[cgpm]

Dec 13, 2015 8:17:29 GMT -5 shortstax said:

You're right, 2 parties would be nonsense at this age

Now it will be funny to comine a Lego or marching band party (dS' wishes) with a hippo or banana party (DDs favorite things) lol.

Combined for sure. 

And the solution is a hippopotamus marching band! Lol. 

[linz]

Combined. You can always make DS birthday special by going out to eat or doing something just as an immediate family.

[Deleted]

Combined!

People will thank you.

And who cares if the themes don't match. They're kids having fun!

[noodleskooze]

Combined. My SIL does that for my nephews--they're like 7 years and a day apart.

[dancingirl21]

For sure combined! Baby #2 is due June 27th and DS's birthday is July 14th. We've already talked about how we will combine their birthdays.

[jinkies]

I know 2 families with kid birthdays less than a month a part. In both cases they combine the party. As a guest, I appreciate it.

[cricketwife]

tBH, I would just do your DS because he knows what birthdays are and not do anything for DD, except a small cake at home with the 4 of you on another day. But we aren't into first bday parties. If you want to celebrate both, then yes, definitely combined.

[anna7602]

Dec 13, 2015 9:34:36 GMT -5 cricketwife said:

tBH, I would just do your DS because he knows what birthdays are and not do anything for DD, except a small cake at home with the 4 of you on another day. But we aren't into first bday parties. If you want to celebrate both, then yes, definitely combined.

My family would find this very strange and would ask when they are expected to come back to celebrate the younger kid.

I would combine, no hesitation. It's easier for everyone, not just you.

[VillainV]

Definitely combine.

[kdubs923]

DS and DD's birth days are a month apart. I plan to combine. It's the same family/family friends that would be invited to both. When they're old enough for friend parties, I'll do those separately.

It's partially for the convenience of others (many of our friends/family work weekends or unusual schedules). And partially because if I'm deep cleaning my house and doing food and drinks for 40+ people, I not going to do it again a few weeks later. Also, as a guest I wouldn't want to go to essentially the same party a few weeks apart.

For combining, I plan to pick one color or two coordinating colors for the party, get the balloons, plates and table cloth in those colors. Then their own cakes will be themed, with a few balloons and napkins each to fit their theme. But I'm not particularly pinteresty with themed menus or games.

[Deleted]

My kids bdays are 15 days apart and we have only done combines family party. Never even occurred to me to separate them.

They have separate friend parties.