I’m done throwing birthday parties for my kids

A mother has explained why she’s had enough with children’s birthday parties.

With a video shared on TikTok on 24 March, Hannah Winslow sparked debate online, causing parents to deliberate on the merits of hosting regular gatherings for young children. The mother-of-three began the video, saying: “I think we’ve had it with kids’ birthday parties.”

The thought struck the young mother after having recently hosted a birthday party for her six-year-old son.

“Is this fun for anybody?” the 34-year-old continued in the video. “Like, why are we doing this? I just added all that up and that was $718 for a mediocre, average, run-of-the-mill birthday party.”

She explained to Good Morning America that she wanted to give her children - ages seven, six, and two - what she didn’t have when she was their age, so she began to go all out, pulling out all the stops as she threw annual birthday parties for her daughter and two sons.

“I grew up not having birthday parties every year ... and I remember feeling like: ‘I really want a birthday party all the time. I want to do that for my kids,’” Winslow noted. However, the mounting costs of throwing these extravagant birthday parties eventually took a financial toll. She admitted that all of the planning that went into hosting three birthday parties each year, with each costing an estimated $700 for an “average” party for approximately 15 people, led her to feel “disenchanted”.

“I just became kind of disenchanted with it. It wasn’t living up to my expectations. My children would have a good time but they have a good time doing mostly anything,” Winslow said. “The experience wasn’t matching the dollar spent for me.”

In the comment section of her video, parents were divided. One user pointedly wrote that throwing these parties was not about her passion for planning parties, it was about celebrating her children. “As a kid who never had a birthday party, and we could have afforded it, throw a damn birthday,” they wrote. “It’s important.”

Meanwhile, someone else suggested that perhaps Winslow should try planning an experience rather than a party, and that maybe the change would take her out of her party planning rut.

“Both my kids get overwhelmed with birthday parties,” they commented. “We decided to do trips to the beach, aquarium, out of town and we’ve noticed they enjoy way more.”

Since the video has made its rounds, Winslow said that she discussed different ways they could celebrate their special days. As a family, they’ve been leaning towards going on trips, whether locally or to a new destination.

“When I was telling them, ‘This is how much it cost. Think of all the other things that we could do instead,’ they got really excited about doing other things, doing a one-on-one trip with mom or doing something really special locally with just like one or two friends,” Winslow said. “We can take that birthday party money and spend it on something else, which is still creating memories.”

Now, when discussing birthday parties, Winslow makes sure to discuss with her children what they want and what’s within her budget so that everyone can be happy.