I may ruffle some feathers here, but I think it needs to be said: I think we may have lost the plot for kids birthday parties.

The things that stood out to me from these messages was the power of tradition & bonding over simple every day activities like learning to bake or playing a card game—not the epic goodie bags, over the top decorations, or (breakdown inducing) balloon arches

To be so clear: Throwing an aesthetic, thoroughly themed & decorated party for your child is not inherently bad, & if it makes you happy & you can afford it, then go for it. (And support the small businesses in your area to make your vision a reality)

This post is for the parents who are wondering (like I was last week) if their kids will be disappointed with what they can realistically plan & provide for their birthday celebration, & are at a loss for inspiration because all they see are the professionally decorated birthdays.

I think the spirit of the 90s mom was that the kid may choose the theme, but the parents set the expectation for what the party will look like based on what they could & wanted to do, which was often low key & not decoration focused.

My theory is people had lower expectations because Pinterest and social media didn’t exist, but someone also pointed out to me that since Amazon didn’t exist, cheap decor wasn’t usually an option either.

People had to get creative & work with what they had & knew how to do (which could only be so much while juggling every day commitments)

🎈Here’s how my mom did birthday parties (all me & my siblings born between mid 80s - mid 90s):

☀️Location: Our Backyard (it had a huge grass area, it was the backyard ever)

🎂Cake & food: Homemade cake with the theme and usually just snacks (it was in between meal times)

🎈Decorations: Sometimes streamers, very few other decorations if any, if there were it was likely DIY

💕Favors: Usually there was craft and that was the favor

🌙Sleepovers were an option when we got a little older

❌We never had: performers, bounce houses, balloons

☀️All messages sent to me from followers & shared with permission

#growingupinthe90s #birthdaypartyideas