Both of my kids have birthdays in August – they have passed already but we are having a birthday party tomorrow afternoon/evening. It has been very hot here which made us change the party from last weekend to this. The house is clean and we decided to buy pizza so I don’t have to cook – especially since I make two cakes (one for each kid) and they are very decorated cakes. I have a gumball cake mold for my son and my daughter wants a strawberry shaped cake. I know they won’t be hard to do and I’m looking forward to it!

We did great for their birthday gifts – on their actual birthdays we had their pictures taken and went to the bookstore (daughter) and craft store (son – just because he couldn’t decide so I figured we could get something for him to make). They both ended up with three coloring books/things to color. We decided to give small gifts (spending $30-35 total for those two days) on the day and then a bigger gift on their party.

I’ve always been interested in finding gifts that last a very long time. I’ve been lucky – my kids love the LeapPads (educational and fun!) as well as a Barbie computer my daughter received for Christmas last year. All these months later and the Barbie computer is played with at least five days a week, if not everyday. So my son is getting a Spiderman computer (same concept, just a ‘boy’ character). My daughter is getting a bike, which she knows about because she had to be there to figure which bike she fit. She does need training wheels but has a helmet and pads already because of having a scooter.

I’ll say it again – we’ve been lucky in finding toys that the kids love and continue to play with. Sure we have to buy batteries often to replace when they die – but it is cheaper then buying a new toy to occupy their time. I’ve done all that I can to keep my kids as kids – they don’t play with trashy looking dolls (*cough*bratz*cough*), they watch PBS, they PLAY. This is much different then other people I know who have six year olds asking for cell phones or computers. Sure my kids play video games but that time is few and far between.

We aren’t having too many people over – our neighbors and one other couple and their kids – so I know we will have kept the spending down ~ vs. going bowling or to another kids area. I suppose going to a park would have been free though. I am proud that we have been able to keep the costs down considering both birthdays within days of each other. I can only hope it keeps up as they get older!

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 17th, 2007 at 5:34 pm and is filed under Holiday Spending, Kids Spending. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.