An Alternative to Birthday Parties and Gifts

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Fall is birthday season in our home. Zachary kicks off with Labor Day, Andrew ends us on Thanksgiving Day (depending on the year), and Steve and I fall in between.

Rather than hosting birthday parties for the boys this year, we had an experience with each of them. For each child, we chose something different.

As their birthdays approached, we looked at how much money we spend even on the simplest of birthday parties. They receive toys they don’t really need. It’s fun, but it’s over within hours.

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Zachary is an adventure-seeker, he’s athletic and loves a challenge. He is also social, which means he would definitely want his brothers along rather than a private experience.

Andrew is not an adventure seeker, so for Zachary’s birthday we took Zachary, along with Jacob, to the U.S National Whitewater Center in North Carolina. Andrew happily spent the day with a friend and thanked us for not taking him along. Happy to oblige as we’ve had years of experience dragging him along on adventures he wants no part of.

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Jacob loves all things sports and is very much a quality time kinda guy. For his birthday, Steve and Jacob went to the Tennessee/Georgia football game. They woke up at 5:00 am, stopped for doughnuts, tailgated, watched the game, and spent the night in a hotel. Jacob said it was one of his best memories ever. (He says this frequently, but that’s ok. I hope to fill their memory tanks with lots of special times.)

Andrew’s birthday is Thanksgiving. Poor guy spends every single birthday driving in a car either to or from Atlanta. Andrew loves hotels. Any hotel, but particularly hotels with a breakfast buffet, an indoor pool, and an elevator. His birthday we will surprise him with a hotel night with the whole family.

Whenever we give Andrew the option to have one-on-one time, he always begs to bring his brothers along. He would NOT want a hotel night away from his brothers.

We will pack tons of games, a movie to watch in the room, swim in the pool, and eat pizza. He will love it!

We began giving our kids more experience gifts over material gifts a few years ago at Christmas. It is interesting to listen to their reflections. They rarely remember the gifts they open. Rarely. They never forget an experience, which creates a memory.

I’d love to hear how your family celebrates birthdays!

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