DD 10th birthday tomorrow (school day) - is this “normal”?

[Acunningruse]

For context, I have been stressed with work recently, kids only went back to school yesterday and so I haven’t been as focused on DD’s birthday as I ought to have been. Combine that with social media influencers (I know, comparison is the thief of joy, etc) and I just feel I need a reality check that this is the right level of “special” for a mid-week birthday?

Wake up and do presents
her favourite breakfast (waffles) with a candle in and we will sing happy birthday
go to school- (haven’t got badge or sash- could pick up today?)
birthday tea at home with grandparents (she requested this rather than meal out)
cake and candles

Rather than a party we are going away for the weekend but not for 2 weeks.

just checking it seems special enough? I haven’t ordered the big helium balloons this year as it seems such a waste, we take a picture with them and thsts it. But maybe that makes it special? Aaaargghh

ds just turned 10 on his first day of school. We did his choice of breakfast, presents (with one balloon) but no badge or sash, he took a bag of sweets in to school to give out to his class.
After school he chose what dinner I made (smash burgers and chips) and I made a birthday cake, there was one extra present I had kept back for him to open. We watched a film of his choice from Amazon prime.
We also did a day out at the weekend (swimming, followed by McDonald’s lunch)

Our school the birthday child brings in mini packets of sweets on their birthday. I'm assuming that's not a think for you.

I read the chosen tea as Smash, burgers and chips and felt surprised that you could still buy it! I've now re-read and discovered it's not the "delicacy" I enjoyed for tea in the 70s . Your son's tea sounds delicious x
#formashgetsmash

However it is her first ' double figures ' birthday, so yes do go and get the helium balloons.

our school allows own clothes on bday and lovely seeing kids say happy Birthday to them

but yours sounds fine. It’s like an hour before school and wake up

lovely wants a bday tea with gp tho
unusual for her age that she doesn’t want a best friend over for tea

It's absolutely fine,some people are ridiculous these days

Sounds great! Glad you’ve decided against balloons. Our children have never had helium balloons on their birthdays. They are now adults and don’t seem to have suffered any lack of joy from the lack of needless waste balloons.

Sounds lovely! Depending on the school ours always let kids in with a birthday badge so that’s the only thing I’d say yeah go and get as mine love that on the day. Everything sounds lovely!

Sounds fine op. Doesn’t always need to be a big fuss! For my 10th birthday I went to the cinema to see Flubber 😁. Bugger social media!

Sounds fab to me. I stopped doing balloons a few years ago due to environmental damage so I have a beautiful reusable birthday bunting I put up for everyone. Everyone chooses breakfast on their birthday. Did used to get them a badge to wear at school when they were in primary and sweets to hand out and we’d go to eat out wherever they felt. Nowadays sometimes they’ll just request take out which is fine. Then we have a proper day out at the weekend.

Ah Flubber is amazing!

Happy Birthday. Could you make some cupcakes and send along to school to share with classmates.
she will have a great day.

This sounds great and you are clearly doing a good job. Well done, and give yourself a break. She's going to love it, and it sounds like a day that will be full of love from start to finish, with a big treat to look forward to. I hope you all have a lovely day. X

Helium balloons are dangerous. There was a woman on This Morning not long ago talking about how her little boy had been killed by one.

totally normal. except the weekend away! haha! like, is that a family trip or is it with her friends instead of a party?

Birthdays just need:

• sing happy birthday at them as soon and as often as possible
• "special" birthday breakfast (which when I was a kid was just a special stencil thing that was pressed on the bread before it went in the toaster for the much celebrated birthday toast)
• a birthday cake with candles on to blow out at tea time
• birthday cards and birthday presents (doesn't have to be anything massive but it's nice to have a few from different relatives in bed or on the sofa in the morning)
• a special birthday tea of their favourite meal at home or a meal out
• age appropriate, a badge if there's one on their morning cards

party wise, I was a winter birthday so it was a few friends to my house for party games and food (2 hours top) which then became watching a video from the video hire place then party food, we did a cinema trip one year.

my summer kids had parties at the beach, in the park, in the garden. my spring kid had a few in the house and then as it was around half term we did a few friends to a magic show, a handful to bouldering, parkour, a couple to an escape room - had a bit more freedom as he didn't have younger siblings to take into account.

It's more about the fuss and attention and the celebration and the spirit of the day than of the stuff and the expense. Sounds like you've got it all sorted.

Hear you on the balloon thing, we've got a fabric birthday banner that we hang out every birthday which goes back in the drawer when it's done and gets reused over and over - recommend!

That sounds wonderful. The only thing I might have done differently is given her the day off school, if she wanted it. She may well not have done, though! My parents always gave me the option to not go to school on my birthday, and I sometimes took them up on it and sometimes didn't.

We say ‘Happy Birthday’ but do nothing else until after school when they can open cards and gifts etc.

We don’t really do ‘big fuss’ in our house, and we definitely don’t ever use TikTok or other pointless social media as a measuring device, to be honest. It’s all fake anyway.

I have seen this in secondary schools and tiaras with Birthday Princess on

I just had a quick Google - bloody Hell.

I am aware of the environmental implications but felt okay but as we don't run a car, have been on a plane x4 times since 2014, have a relatively small carbon footprint - I didn't feel too guilty. I am seeing the balloons in a whole new light now.

We stopped the massive helium ones after the kids reached 9 (buying two of them did seem excessive!!) so I only have one more child and one more birthday to do.

Sounds like a lovely Birthday op. We always do presents after school in my house, purely because the mornings are such a faff and they have more time to open and enjoy them after school. I do put some banners up and have some balloons dotted around their gifts. Mine play with the balloons for days after, especially my son, keepy uppies for days!

Hope she has a lovely 10th Birthday!

I do love how on MN no-one ever seems to partake in these "Insta / SM" type fads - everyone is just above it I guess?

It is almost funny how competitive this thread has become about how little people do for their kids birthdays !

Sounds lovely and exactly how our week day birthdays run.

The only thing we’d do differently is something ‘extra’ of her choosing on the nearest weekend eg meal out / cinema / trampoline park

What sort of things would you expect people to do for their kids’ birthdays?

It’s fine.
DS was 18 yesterday. He went back to college (A levels) last week. All his friends are dispersed (rural) and have all been away at different times this summer. So
Friday - took cakes to archery club
Sunday - Half a dozen friends round, pizzas, gaming.
Birthday Monday - Bacon sandwiches for breakfast; cards and presents after college, favourite meal at home with granny. He didn’t want a big do. His main present is that we’re paying for him to go abroad with his orchestra next summer, and more driving lessons! He’s a low key person.
I’ll do a bigger celebration. In 3 years time when the dc are 21 &18 within a few weeks.

Kids don’t actually like having things just for the photos. That sounds genuinely nice!