Birthday Simplicity

Jen Lea is Queen of Financial Peace. Visit Jlogged and you’ll always come away with valuable ways to save your family budget. Being her friend is like Keeping Up With the Jones’ on a Budget. Way more fun and far less guilt.

One of the easiest ways to teach our children empowerment is to teach them about financing and budgeting. Freedom does not come from relying on your mate’s income, credit cards, or loans. Real freedom comes when one is free to pursue their purpose without the shackles of debt. This can be achieved by teaching your children to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. One of the ways our family saves is by throwing simple birthday parties Vs. costly extravagant ones.

1. We invited immediate family and Jonas’ two very best friends. (not the whole class and every person we know.)
2. I made the cupcakes and brownies myself. Then I provided ice cream + toppings for brownie sundaes.
3. I drug out a stack of board games, and broke the kids into teams. They had a blast playing Operation, Trouble, and Checkers.
4. Didn’t make party favors (that are always plastic junk that ends up in the trash, or sugary candy)
5. Hosted after dinner, so didn’t feed the whole group. Just cake, ice cream, and drinks. This is a first for me, as I have always served food of some kind to party guests.

It was simple, inexpensive, and F-U-N! I didn’t have to worry about entertaining (or impressing) people I don’t know, IE: parents from the Kindergarten class. No complicated party schedule. No fussing with meal prep. I was there for every whimsical second of my twins’ special day, and not busy doing other trivial tasks that over-the-top parties entail. Living small is really working out nicely for our family. Because less stress=fewer glasses of Merlot more joy.