Deciding whether to do a "big" or "little" 2nd birthday party

My DH and I have been debating on whether to have a big or small 2nd birthday celebration. There is a part of us that wants to do it at a club that we belong to, and cater it, with toys, bouncy castle etc, etc. But then there is a part of us that wants to go smaller this year, with just a few friends at the house, some snacks and a birthday cake....but we can't decide...
What did you do for your LO's 2nd birthday?

 

We did little -- just extended family (grandparents, two sets of aunts & uncles, and 2 cousins) and 2 or 3 close friends. I didn't think the kids would enjoy a big party that much and I certainly didn't think they'd miss it if they didn't have one. We waited till age 3 for the big party, and they definitely appreciated having a party with all their friends (plus, that was the age when all their daycare/preschool friends had big parties too).

 

My intention was to have a small 2nd birthday party for my girls, but somehow it evolved into yet another HUGE party! :faint: Before I knew it the guest list grew to over 80 people! Still not sure how that happened! :shok: It was fun though, and the girls had a great time, and to me that is what matters. I don't think it really matters either way, as they are still young and don't know any different.

 

Because their birthday is so close to Christmas and we cannot really do anything outdoors this time of year (plus we have a small house) we did a small party of about 12 people...just my parents (my Mom, Dad wasn't feeling well), DH's aunt & uncle and sisters. Like Krystyn said, there is no wrong or right way to do it, whatever works out best for your family. Good luck with the party planning!

 

2nd birthday we did a small party (actually 2 since my parents and IL's don't get along so we can't just have one party)...but we went family only for their 2nd birthday...

 

Small. I prefer small family parties. Even our "big" first birthday party was just held at a local park and we invited more family. There was a park to play at and that was it. Ever since, the parties have been small. For me, the fun is in being with family and my kids love it too!

 

So far we have just had family to my twins parties, but that is still around 25 people with all the cousins. This year I am actually doing a separate friends party for them. I have done all their parties at home so far and will do it at home again this year as well.

 

The girls' 4th birthday was the first time we asked any other kids over to our house besides our family. The only reason we did it this year is because they wanted their "friends" to come, so since they asked, we did. I just felt it was unnecessary to do anything big since they probably wouldn't even remember it in the years past.

 

Same exact thing as Kyrstyn. We started off saying small ... but once you added just the cousins on both sides, it was like 30 adults and 13 kids. We couldn't fit that many in our house and in April you can't count on the weather ... so we ended up renting a place. Then, once we had the room, we figured, we might as well invite more people!

The kids did love it. Every year I saw "this year will be just a small party" ... I got 4 months to figure it out ... hehe.

 

For year 2 we went small. They won't remember it at all, so we decided to scale back.

 

It was just my parents, my sister and her partner, and my best friend and her kidlet. So very small.

 

We don't have any families left on either side of our family. When the twins' were born I knew time was coming that I would have to search for a play group to join. I couldn't be happier that I found this wonderful group consisted with 58 Moms in our community. We are so supportive of each other and our kids. I am the only one has twins for this group so needless to say they were super extra helpful at times when I first joined at 8 months old. The play group is going strong and watching all of the kids growing up too quickly. I look back at all of the photos when the kids were little and now they are calling each other their first names. It is amazing! For my twins' birthday we always had about 30 kids at our house for their 1, 2nd, and 3rd birthday party. We couldn't afford to go to vendors. I like the idea of having at home because I was able to have my decoration/control over with their themes. It work out well for us. We rented kids' table/chairs (the table cost us $7 per and chairs were $1). We had it set up in the garage area last year because we had rain that day. The party was limit up to 2 hours because a lot were still napping. So we did a really simple craft to keep them entertain.

1st Birthday-Minne and Mickey Mouse
2nd Birthday-Raggedy Ann and Andy
3rd Birthday-Mod Monkey (Monkey See, Monkey Do)
4th Birthday-debating for this year (101 dalamatian / Fire Engine) because I have a girl/boy (my daughter love animals/dogs & cats) otherwise we may do "Pinwheels"

 

I think it is a totally personal decision. You need to decide what you are comfortable doing and what your finances can afford. If you can afford the big party and would enjoy it, why not?

My DD had her first "big" party when she turned 5, but it was still at our house. She has a September birthday though, and we were counting on the weather to stay nice (it did) and we just invited her pre-school class and the family members we normally do.

My boys turn 4 in two weeks, and we'll still have a "just family" party for them because we can't afford different right now. We'd love to rent this awesome play center for the afternoon of their party, but it would cost $160 for two hours. Instead, we will take our kids and their two cousins for the "open play" that morning, and have family over for cake and ice cream that afternoon. Still fun, but in our budget.

Just have fun. They're your kids - you get to celebrate their birthday the way you want (at least until they get older and have their own ideas on what they want to do!).

 

For our girls second birthday, we took a trip.
We also did this for their 4th birthday.

 

I did not have a party this year. They turned 2 this past Tuesday. Last year I was torn as well and did have a party. We got about 10" of snow that day and I was very suprised that almost everyone showed up. We had family that drove from Wisconsin & Indiana and it took them over 3 hours to get to the house (normally it would of been an hour to 1 1/2 hours). I spent so much money on food and most of it went in the trash. Honestly, I think many people were relived to here I was not having a party for them this year.

We seen everyone at Christmas and most people gave them their birthday gifts then. I seen my mil, bil & sil over the weekend and they got more gifts.

As they get older and get friends they'll have parties but at least for this year I decided to pass on a party.

 

We also didn't have a party for their 2nd birthday. We were in Chicago on a trip and celebrated with them, had two cakes for the 4 of us when we got home, and then had my parents over a few days later. We had a huge blow out 1st birthday party and I just wasn't up for another big one. This year we'll be on another trip for their birthday (my big annual work conference coincides with their birthday), so we'll probably do something small over a couple of days again this year when they turn 3.

 

It was just the four of us plus the set of grandparents that live in town. There birthday is two days before Christmas, so we plan to celebrate their half birthday in June when we can be outside. Even then it will be fairly small: One family we're friends with, the neighbor who watches them sometimes, and the grandparents.

 

We decided to do a big 2nd bday like their first and I regretted it right when it started. We really wanted to do a big one since they have a summer bday. We thought it is nice to be outside and we really dont have a ton of visitors during the year since our house is small so we thought its nice to have everyone over (70 people). They woke crabby from a nap and all I had a really hard time with them and make the party not enjoyable.

This year was so nice to have just the family!