Minimalist Birthday

My kids' birthdays are very close together so every year we do a joint party. This year, they are 7 & 9 years old. And NO, they don't want separate parties yet. Can you believe that?!

I have been working to minimize every area of my life. So to that end, I go in search of the Minimalist Birthday Party. This year's party was so super easy! Although it was Not inexpensive. Sometimes you have to choose your minimalism.

My kids LOVE having their party at some indoor play place and they had been begging to go to an indoor trampoline park. Considering their birthdays are in July, the 2nd hottest month in the South (the 1st goes to August here), and the weather is either boiling hot outside or thunderstorming, we ALWAYS have an indoor party.

So for venue, it would either be our house OR a play place type party. Yes, our house would be inexpensive. However, it would add stress to my life by inducing a mad house cleaning BEFORE and AFTER the party. I would also have to act as HOST. Which means less time watching my kids have a great time at their birthday party. So for us, it's a no-brainer. We will foot the bill for a play place type party.

Let me highlight the advantages of having a kids birthday party at a play place setting. Our experiences doing this type of party have always been great. But this particular place and year were more awesome than any other year/party before. Here's my number 1 reason why: THE PARTY HOST. Provided by the play place, we had our own "party host" who took care of basically everything! She took care of the table, the food for the kids, and she even had candles (I forgot them!) for the birthday cake.

So what did they provide vs. what did I bring? I brought: 1) the birthday cake 2) treat bags 3) my kids. They provided: 1) decorated table with balloons & birthday sign 2) cute paper plates, napkins, and cutlery 3) pizza + drinks for kids 4) candles for the cake  5) cake knife 6) the FUN! - trampoline park 7) MORE fun - arcade cards for each kid 8) birthday gifts for my kids - a free mechanical BULL ride (LOL) + a gift certificate for a free jumping next time  9) clean up (YES!)

The kids had a BLAST! And there was plenty of play time with friends! We barely got them to sit down long enough to eat pizza and cake. My son deemed it the "best birthday party yet"!

While what I provided already seemed very minimal and easy. It was even easier than that! The cake was homemade by my RIGHT NEXT DOOR neighbor! She made the cake and I walked 25 feet to her house and picked it up. As for treat bags, I hate giving kids a bag of small toys and trinkets only to get played with once and then become junk in someone's house. So this year, I gave a small (think snack size) bag of candy for the ride home. The birthday cake was rainbow and sunshine. So I did a "taste the rainbow" treat bag - Rolos for pot of gold, skittles separated to show rainbow colors, and mini marshmallows. So EASY and the kids loved them! (Even the parents did - I had a parent take a picture for Instagram!) Best thing was the parents had no junk to throw out later as these were long gone before they even made it home!

NOTE on minimalist gifts: While I would love to have more experiences for my kids than Stuff, they did still receive toys. This year, however, I noticed that more people gave them gift cards so they could choose their own toys. This is definitely a step in the right direction. At least they can have the experience of budgeting their birthday money to pick out a toy they will love and enjoy for a long time to come!