The Birthday Party Dilemma

September is a big month in our house.  I turned a year older.

This little girl turns one today.  Yeah - it's a big deal around our house.

This little guy turned 4.  He made it a big deal in our house.  (As all good 4 year olds do.)

And every year I wrestle with the same dilemma. You see this little guy gets invited to a lot of birthday parties.  Some we go to, some we don't. 

And every year, the parties get bigger...

and Bigger...

and BIGGER! 

And every year we struggle with the appropriate size party to have. 

Growing up, I did not have a party every year.  For one reason, we just couldn't afford it.  But also because my parents were smart enough not to spoil us.  We could always have a friend spend the night and they'd usually take us out to dinner or something.  We only had bona fide parties on big birthdays - 6, 10, 13, and 16.

You know?  The ones where you invite your classmates, your sunday school friends, your family, basically every one you know.

And so when we started having birthdays in our house, that's kinda what I went with.  We just invited family and our best friends.  Even that usually ended up being about 20 people.

So last year, I had what I considered a "BIG" party for my son.  We even rented a bounce house.

Credit

(Never mind we got it ridiculously cheap through the police department.)

It rained the entire time and the kids were soaking wet, but they had a good time.  We even had a theme cake made.  And I prided myself on actually having a "big" birthday party. 

But then the next birthday party we went to, was this...

Ok, so I'm exaggerating a teeny bit

When it comes to birthday parties, I feel I'm in a constant state of failure.

I really shouldn't care.  It's not a competition.  (Sure...all mom's say that.)

And yet, a part of me will always wonder if I am doing my children a favor or if they will be in therapy twenty years from now complaining about how their mother was too cheap to give them parties comparable to their friends' parties.

Pleaser tell me I am not alone in this plight?