Do you throw birthday parties for your children

Yes, I arranged parties for my (only) child. Full class in infants (22 kids in his class) and then smaller parties in juniors. The class parties were reasonably well attended and we could afford them.

As a kid I had no parties or celebrations, ever. Zero. Didn't even have birthday cake as standard. So making sure my DS didn't miss out on this was a priority for me. I wouldn't judge any parent who didn't though, you do what you can to make things nice for your dc. Making them feel special and treasured for themselves is doable without parties.

I'm 43 and from a poor background. We had parties every year until we turned 10. Mostly at home but one year I had a joint sports hall party with my brother.

Yes we do, DD has had 3 and we've hired halls and bouncy castle. It's expensive and stressful as we're in London, but she doesn't have many play dates so having lots of parties helps to mitigate that. I would hate hosting a party in my house and I'd rather pay to hire a hall though. About half the class do whole class parties (including us), so quite a few do smaller parties.

11 year old son. Had parties since he was 2, but only one class party when he was 5 I think. Other things have all been an activity with a small group.

I did a whole class party for my daughter when she turned 4 - we'd just had our son and I guess I was feeling guilty as I drove myself crazy icing cupcakes at midnight the night before. Not even sure she had fun. Never did that again!

My kids have parties but sometime at home and never more than maybe 8-10 kids. My son has two friends who don't have parties - they have the 4 of them (he's in a tight group of 4 boys) and have pizza at their house or go bowling or whatever. I always send a gift and my son has a lovely time. Now they're older they all fit in one car so it's even easier!

I like marking occasions and so my kids do too so that's important to me - but that can happen in lots of different ways.

We always have a party but I couldn't manage the whole class - most I ever had was 19 and that nearly sent me over the edge!

If skint I would still do a house party with 5-10 kids as it is a nice thing to do imo. It doesn't have to cost much.

We have a 7 year old, unfortunately he’s never had a proper birthday party. We just can’t afford it, even with reduced numbers.
instead we have a special day out for their birthday as a family (as we usually can’t afford that the rest of the year) and then once or twice we’ve met up with one friend outside of school at soft play etc as well (which we’ve paid entry for)

We always did big parties, whole class plus a few extras. We usually did organised things so it wasn’t stressful.

Having said that, the best one we ever did was a 6th bday where we did an old fashioned garden party with trestle tables down the length of the garden for the tea and a massive bouncy castle and slide as the only entertainment. It was lovely and a fraction of the cost of all the magician/ski slope/fun rings/climbing/pottery/rented venue etc etc type things we did.

Personally I love a party so yes, but I know quite a few people who find it stressful so haven't ever done a whole class party.
In our school it's quite common to do joint parties, for sometimes even 3 or 4 kids together and then you can split the cost of the hall/activity (also good as means less weekends taken up with parties)
One of mine has a summer birthday and we have a picnic/games in the park.
Biggest hit is the (basic, supermarket) balloons

No. DS has a crap birthday and not many friends so we go to Center Parcs each year instead.

Genuine question when did this become a thing? I'm in my early 40s and there were two parties of other kids in primary school. I never had one because my parents couldn't afford it and even if they could they probably wouldn't. I just don't get this kids have to have a party every year. And it puts horrible pressure on people like the Op. Because for some people even "a few kids round for sandwiches" isn't doable. Some people literally don't have that money.

No- not whole class parties anyway. I’ve hired a bouncy castle for my house just for my kids and their closest friends. I’ve also hired those teepee sleepover things for my sons and closest friends.
We have 5 kids and they have never really shown and interest in parties. We do make a big deal of birthdays- we have took them to Legoland, Disneyland, CBeebies land etc this year for their birthdays. But parties just aren’t our thing.

Do what works best for your family.

With my first I always did large parties, I found them stressful.

With my other children, we have smaller parties... I also find this stressful 😬

I didn't grow up with much money as a child but even I had parties, usually small ones at home. So for me, it would be weird to not have parties for my own children.

That said, some of my kids' friends don't have parties and I don't think it's odd. It's a cultural thing... some families and/or cultures don't do birthdays/birthday parties.

You may find your child starts asking for parties though, and IMO it would be a bit mean to say no, unless there was a good reason.

I did parties (venues, magicians etc) until my DD was 5. I found it very stressful, expensive & tiring & I don’t miss those days. For the last few years it’s been 4/5 friends to theme park, meal etc, it’s so much easier & cheaper!

DS had venue style parties until lockdown (age 6). After that I was a single parent on a budget so he had friends round with party games, piñata, lucky dip. He's coming up for 10 now and is planning who to invite and which games to play, while I wonder how much money I wasted pre lockdown!

Do what works for you and your budget. I did a party for my kids 5th birthdays after they started school for about 10 guests. Couldn’t afford to do the whole class. After that, we had parties for about 6-8 guests about every other year and usually at home. I just organized them so kids had a good time with traditional games and a couple of craft activities and they were cheap to do. By the age of 10, they just wanted some pizzas, a cake with movie on the tv.

I have three dc and barring covid they’ve each had a party every year. But… we’ve never done the whole class. Under 7 we did parties at home or occasionally at the park.

Just balloons and music, pass the parcel, musical statues, maybe craft and some home made cake. About 10 kids. They absolutely loved it. From around 7 we took smaller groups of kids out for an activity or (my least favourite) hosted sleepovers.

Kids love parties but they don’t need anything fancy or loads of friends. Just pick something you can comfortably afford and throw yourself in with enthusiasm.

We do have a party every year for our kids usually at Softplay/ trampoline type venue but we can easily afford it. If money was tight it certainly wouldn't happen though. Do what u can afford. I only had a few parties as a kid and only one was at an external venue others were at home.

Depends on the school and the area about every kid having a party. My sil lives in very affluent area so every single kid has a party every year. The school my kids go to is a real mix, the catchment area is partly an affluent area further out and a poorer area where the school is. Generally maybe half the class have a 5th birthday party so there certainly is no expectation. As they get older it seems to be less and less invites or split into girls or boys.

My youngest is having a party in a few wks and she is the first party from her class so far. At nursery it was every other week so def more of an expectation.

Parties, especially class parties, are BIG where we live and honestly there's a sharp uptick in invites DS receives to other kids parties when we've hosted one recently! So I do prioritise them and budget accordingly.

Great ideas upthread though for some ideas to do them on the cheap, I also love Instagram for this - so many party ideas from parents! Temu is great for little bits for party bags, and food can be cheap if you DIY it. Venue costs are generally stifling but it's definitely worth calling around/checking in with other parents where they're hosting for any bargains. If the birthday is during summer as well you can always do an outdoors theme at the park - or a year round 'we're going on a bear hunt' kinda trail in your local woods? :)

Yes but I don't do whole class parties. DD1 doesn't want them and neither do I. We do smaller parties.

Sometimes, sometimes she does something more expensive per person with a smaller group or just best friend.

Not everyone had parties in Reception IME, maybe around 30%

I always threw them. Whole class parties were a bit stressful as a single parent trying to host and cut cake, and whatever else needed doing and actually my DD prefers the smaller parties as she got older. We always just booked a venue rather than attempt hall, party games etc to make it easier.

I would try to budget to take 3 children to soft play / the zoo / trampoline park for his birthday and get a meal deal at venue and a Colin Caterpillar Caterpillar cake (or the mini roll versions) for the gift bags

Yes, but not whole class parties. Just the standard friends at home playing pass the parcel, sandwiches and cake and too many sweets.

You can do a party on a pretty tight budget.

Never done a whole class party but we do have parties for them. Usually between 8-15 kids depending on the activity they want to do. I guess maybe it's not a "party" more something like laser quest, gaming bus, climbing party etc.

Yes I did from around age 3-4 until 11 I guess. Some were smaller than others. It does get expensive but at that age kids are so excited about parties, and start planning them months before. Doesn’t have to be huge or majorly expensive if do something at home.