Joint parties

[ZeeBaby]

Has anyone done a joint party for kids that aren't twins? DD1 is 3 and DD2 is 2. Their bdays are in June and October. I am thinking of doing a joint party in September. We have a very hectic summer and I am feeling like doing no parties, but feeling guilty. I came up with a joint party as a solution. Is it a bad idea. Please be honest. They will be attending the same school in September and I would just have it at a local play space.

[HIU8]

My friend has a 7 and 4 yr old whose bdays are 10 days apart. They have never had an individual party (although I think the 7 yr old is aging out of that). We did a joint party with anothe little girl in DD's class 2 yr ago at a gym place.

[ilfaith]

I have three boys with summer birthdays, and we have done joint parties for them. We have a pool and have thrown pool parties inviting the boys' friends entire families, which works well since several friends have siblings the same ages as my boys. For me it is easier to throw one big party over the summer than to plan three separate events. The only mishap was the year that the kids started opening the presents without adult supervision, and we weren't sure who gave us what (with three groups of friends the amount of gifts can be overwhelming)...thing was we didn't even bill the party as a "birthday" party that year, we just sent invitations to a pool party.

Now that my eldest is turning eight, he does want to have his own party, which will probably be at some outside venue.

[mypa]

My niece and nephew had a joint party. They are 3yrs apart and their bdays are in Dec and April. Life was hectic for them one year and they picked a random date to celebrate both kids birthday.

It turned out great! It was like a big party, everyone had fun. They each had their own cake but the decor was neutral.

[elephantmeg]

we do, this will be year 4 of joint parties. Their birthdays are less than a month apart. The first year we did garden with dirt cupcakes and a flower cupcake, the second frogs (regular with some princess and frog stuff sprinkled in), last year was mickey mouse and this year is angry birds. I thought that this year DS would want his own party but he is happy as long as he has some friends there. They still have quite a few mutual friends so this really works well. (Oh and DH's b-day is between them so I'm so glad not to do 3 parties in a month!)

[JustMe]

Yes, my kids are turning 6 and 9 this month. Last year was the first year ds was with us (my kids are adopted), and both kids easily agreed they wanted a joint gymnastics party. This year they easily agreed upon a joint skating party. Since they are older, I was able to talk to them about this and make sure they did not feel snubbed about not having their "own" party--they didnt. On their actual birthdays (which are 12 days apart) each child will get to choose a restaurant that we eat dinner at and I will give them my present on that day---so they get their own day of feeling special too. I don't know how much longer this will last, but I thought for sure this year they'd want separate parties--so far they like the joint party thing.

[div_0305]

We have been invited to joint parties for siblings. When it's close friends it makes sense to us to buy two gifts; but when it's for DS to go to a party for a classmate and a sibling, I feel awkward not giving a gift to both siblings, even though we don't know the second or have some relationship with them. Since I spend a decent amount on the gifts, it adds up. I know the parents are doing the joint party to save their money and time, but I think there should be some fair way address the gifts part for two siblings. As an example, DS has twins in his class, and the mom has always sent a bday invite from only one twin to a guest. You know it's a joint party, but the mom has made sure you don't bring a gift for both kids, and the twins each get a decent no. of gifts.

[misshollygolightly]

My kids' b-days are about 4 days apart, and I'm hoping to do a joint party this year (this will be DD's first birthday, DS's 4th). They are both so young and still at an age where most of the guests are family friends with young kids that I see no reason not to combine the parties. Otherwise, we'd likely be inviting some of the same families back two weekends in a row! I haven't decided for sure, but I'm hoping to do some kind of neutral party theme that is suited for boys and girls, range of ages. Right now, I'm thinking maybe hungry caterpillar. I know DS will have some opinions about theme/decor, though, and I want incorporate as many of those as I can (but hopefully without ending up with a "Cars"-themed party for my DD's first birthday!).

[MoJo]

Yes, but my kids are four days apart too!

[janeybwild]

We did a bounce house party for my 4 & 6 yo DD's one year. It was fine. Each got to invite 10 people. I prefer smaller individual parties, but this made it cost effective since they both wanted it there. We sang Happy birthday twice with 2 cakes. Neither talk about that party at all though, but I think that's because the venue was so generic, not because it was a joint party

[ilfaith]

I just wanted to add that we have also been invited to several joint birthday parties. When it comes to giving gifts, if we do not know all the siblings I usually get a present in my usual $15-20 range for my child's friend, and a small gift <$5 for the other child. When we have done joint parties for our boys, some guest brought gifts for all three boys (or both boys prior to DS3), some just for the kid they knew.

[elephantmeg]

I had been thinking about the gift issue for this party as this will be the first where there will be people from DS' class and not just family friends of all of us, KWIM? I was thinking of putting a note in the cards for them (and for some of DD's friends from school) and saying that they are invited as a friend of DS only? Any advice on wording that?

[ZeeBaby]

I was thinking about doing the separate invites for each child. Not 100% sure how I'll handle it. Maybe for school friends I would do an invite from each child. Family would get invites from both.