Time really flies so fast as we had Nathan’s 5th birthday already! That little boy who looked like Churchill in his first month grew into a little devil in such short time. Today we invited some of his friends from kindergarten to celebrate at our place and it was the first time for us to do so. We had first planned that Nathan gets invited to some birthday party and then invite those kids to his celebration but he was never invited in the 1 1/2 years he is in kindergarten. So we had to rethink our plan and let him just chose some kids he likes the most.
Thus far we had only celebrated his 1st birthday with some friends and family but that one didn’t really count as Nathan has zero memories of that time. Now he was all excited the entire week and it was so hard to get him to bed each evening as he was looking forward to his birthday. All the previous years it was just like any other day for him as he did not really understand what a birthday is. My wife did once again all the planning and organising for this event and she really invested a lot of time into it.
Weeks before the birthday she ordered all the decoration and the theme she planned for was Paw Patrol. Nathan is just like most other kids a huge fan of that show. As the whole Paw Patrol thing is rather huge it was not hard to find the proper decoration for the party. Now what was hard was to get the apartment ready for the birthday. We basically cleaned and decorated for two days untill everything was ready just minutes before the kids arrived. I think nothing can prepare you for the madness of having so many kids in your place. Nothing broke or anything like that but it is just crazy when all the kids are running around, screaming and trying their football skills in the kitchen.
Yes we are dead exhausted now but it was worth it as Nathan had tons of fun and the kids also were happy. No matter how deadly such event is for the parents it is still worth it when seeing all those beaming faces. Nathalie also had a lot of fun but she was a bit in the way for the other kids as she is a tad bit too young so I brought her downstairs to her grandparents. Haruki the Shiba was not fond at all of the crazy kids and the noise so I had to evacuate him to my parents as well.
How did you celebrate as a kid or how did you plan your kid’s birthday parties?
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Andy has a hard time with a big group of kids, too. He grew up in a much quieter and smaller household than I did. When we get together with my family and all the nieces and nephews, he tells me he has to drink to compensate.
I can totally relate to him 😀
I grew up basically as a single child as my half brother moved out when I was 6 (he is 20 years older than me) . Thus o had never really anything crazy going on at home except of course my own birthday parties as a child
What a lovely day for Nathan. I love hearing how excited he was leading up to the big day.
He was way too excited so each evening was a mess to get him to bed but we managed and he enjoyed his big day 😅
So good to hear nothing broke and everyone had a good time. I never liked birthday celebrations for myself, the attention and all that. Planning one is also a nightmare for me 😆
I celebrated my birthdays only as a small child as I didn’t like it as well and 8 had for my 18th birthday a party…a computer LAN party in our cellar 😂
Ah, still remember the days when LAN was so cool…playing at home in the near-darkness and having many snacks around 😂 Maybe you can recreate a birthday like that. Never too old or too late to do it again 😂 😂
Me and a friend always talk about it but didn’t manage anything in the past 4 years 🤣
It looks like your wife did a wonderful job planning for the party. My sister had a son. Her rule was: invite the number of kids that matched his age. So for a five-year-old, she invited five kids. How many kids did you invite?
Nathan had invited 5 kids and 4 showed up. I think we will never increase the amount of kids invited even later on as it is just too much to look out for everyone
My sister’s idea was that the kids get more mature each year. But then, I guess it depends on what the parents can tolerate. Five sounds like a good number.
I guess we only invite more in case we go somewhere such as the zoo or similar. That way the kids are not all stuck in a small apartment and can go crazy to their hearts desire:)
Oh, my, already 5!! Time really flies!
Celebrating children’s birthdays with their friends is not really done in China, I think. I’ve been to children’s birthdays which were basically a big dinner in a hotel with their parents’ friends… boooring (I guess they did it basically to get hongbao).
When I was a child I had birthday parties every year… I think one year my mum did it at home but in my hometown the parties were often in cafés as we would invite over 20 friends and mums knew better than having 20 kids at home… haha!
Woah so many children ! We had four kids here this time and it was so much work to look out for everyone.
Indeed in China birthdays are not really a big thing. My wife had never celebrated her birthday till she moved to Finland
We also had a family only birthday for Eli’s first. His second birthday is coming up in a few months, and we’re not really sure how we want to tackle it. He’s still too young to have friends of his own and also too young to remember anything. But we also don’t want to let it pass by with no commemoration. Maybe a trip to the beach or the pool, since he loves playing with water.
We had only small family celebrations up till now. Last year we wanted to invite his friends over but back then he didn’t even really know their names so we didn’t see any use in it
Nice to see that Nathan was so happy! Birthdays are after all the most magical for kids, the older you get the less the excitement and more worry of being older hehe..
That’s why I didn’t celebrate any birthday anymore after I turned 18 😅
Hehe! Until 25 is okay I’d say, then it’s “Wooww I am getting old! ” 😀
Growing up my parents always threw parties for our birthdays. Little O has only had two birthdays so far but we’ve had parties both times. I just like making the cake. Hahaha!
My parents also threw parties for me when I was young but later on I had no interest anymore.
Usually my wife also loves to make cakes but ever since we moved to Germany there had been zero time for anything like that but for Nathan’s birthday she managed to make one again after over five years !