We did a simple backyard thing for our 6yo's birthday - no decorator, no expensive character, just some pizza, games, and a sheet cake from Trader Joe's. The kids had way more fun than at the Pinterest-perfect party we threw last year. Also spent like 1/10th the money. My kid was just happy his friends were there and eating cake. Parents stressed for no reason imo. Thoughts?
This isn't unpopular at all, it's just common sense that got buried under Pinterest culture. Your 6yo is gonna remember playing with his friends, not wondering why there wasn't a balloon arch.
Did you get any weird comments from other parents about how "simple" it was? I feel like that's always the awkward part of keeping it low key.
Trader Joe's sheet cake is absolutely fire though. I don't get why people spend $100 on a custom cake when the TJ's one is legit delicious and the kids don't even notice the difference.
The real question is did the 6yo actually have more fun or did YOU feel less stressed? Because honestly that's the real dad-win here - not breaking the bank and not spending weeks planning.
We did the exact same thing and people gave us so much grief. Apparently not hiring a face painter and a balloon artist makes you cheap lol. Kids just wanted to run around and eat pizza anyway.
This isn't unpopular at all - it's just the reality that kids care about hanging out with friends way more than backdrop quality. The Pinterest perfect parties are for the parents honestly.
The parents at these fancy parties are always looking stressed af. You were just hanging out watching kids run around having fun. That's the whole point right there.
The backyard pizza games approach is legitimately the move. We did this for our daughter's party and the kids were literally running around for hours. They didn't care that it wasn't at some trampoline park.
Did your wife push back on the 'no decorator no character' thing or was she on board from the start? Because my wife is threatening to hire someone for our 7yo and I'm trying to gently pump the brakes
100% agree. The kids remember the TIME with other kids and their parents, not the Instagram-worthy decorations. Sheet cake from Trader Joe's hits just as hard as a $200 custom cake.
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Literally every kid just wants pizza and games. The fancy decorator stuff is for the parents to feel like they're doing something special. Your 6yo was just happy to have friends over.