SacMomsClub.com

My son Logan celebrated his 9^th birthday this weekend by inviting a few friends to join him for some indoor go-cart racing and then a sleep-over. It was a pivotal change in the way we’ve celebrated birthdays here in the past.

To give you a clue at how over-the-top we used to go around here, take my daughter Whitney’s simple observation when she was 3 years old: “It’s not your birthday until there’s a big, giant, bouncy slide in the back yard.”

So, we finally went with a low-key birthday celebration around here, not the usual three-ring circus of events with tons of kids, presents and preparation. A level head finally prevailed.

It just happened to belong to a nine year-old.

I still wanted the big, giant, inflatable slide.

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Birthday Momservations™ :

There’s pretty good odds the guest of honor will nap through their one year-old birthday party.

No matter how you wrap it, new clothes just don’t register the excitement of a new toy or even a cardboard box.

Reserving an inflatable bounce house for a party is a modern day rain dance.

She who spends hours making special birthday cake shall be rewarded with tears for Hannah Montana ice cream cake instead.

Never turn your back on frosting tester.

The amount of money spent on a birthday party seems inversely proportional to the likelihood of said birthday boy/girl coming down sick the day of the party.

Buying extra party favors, strangely enough, still does not guarantee you won’t come up short at the end of a party.

Always wear long sleeves and long pants when sliding down a giant, inflatable slide – or at least have plenty of band-aids for inflatable slide novices and their friction burns.

It is virtually impossible to get through a birthday party without someone crying.

If you’re going to throw huge birthday extravaganzas for any child under six, then buy a good camera and take lots of pictures because in a few years, you’ll be the only one who remembers it.

It’s a good weekend when you don’t have another birthday party to go to.

For each additional child you allow to be invited, add an additional half hour of fighting over the completion of thank you cards.

Any amount totaling over $50 in Target gift cards for a child is a waste and should be contributed to the greater good of the family.

A slumber party for girls requires a completely different survival plan than a slumber party for boys.

It is possible to have too much of a good thing evidenced by the melt-down of the birthday girl or boy.

A gift worth giving is a gift worth receiving is a gift without a gift receipt being re-gifted.

Chuck E. Cheese is just wrong on so many levels.