Skye’s Birthday Day 2018
A couple of years ago I read the most genius idea I’ve ever seen…. ditching birthday parties for a “day of yes”.
Yaaaaassss!!
It’s not that I can’t plan/throw a fun and festive birthday party, but for me the money that I spend on decorations and food and cake and on and on and on… I could spend on experiences!
I mean is it just me or is anyone else already overloaded with “stuff”? My kids need zero more toys.
So every year I give them their options: have a party or have a WHOLE DAY that they plan and then we’ll have cake with family. So far the day has won every time!
Here’s what we let them choose:
- Fun activity
- Place to shop/gift(s)
- Restaurant for dinner
- Flavor/decorations for cake
This always eats up the whole day and we make a day full of memories! 🙂
Every year they get more creative and specific about what they want to do!
*Here’s some pictures from Skylar’s last year!*
Mason chose to just 100% fish all. day. long. for his 6th birthday with his dad and “Uncle Corn”. I should also mention it was December… he was basically frozen, but it was the “best birthday EVER!”
(Just one picture because men. 🙄)
This year Skylar’s actual birthday fell on a Sunday, and around here Sunday church is basically an all day thing! 
We HAD planned on doing her “birthday day” on the following Saturday. The day Skylar had lined up was:
- Pottery painting (again)
- Buying specific items from Target and Hobby Lobby (with her birthday money)
- Shopping at the mall/riding the carousel
- Eating at Chick-Fil-A
- “Hamburger” theme cake
Well. The common denominator in all of that ^ was Nanny Sav (my sister), but she had to leave on Thursday evening to go work on her new house in Mississippi.
So it was decided we’d break the “day” into shopping with Nanny on Thursday morning and then a family day on Saturday!
We were short on time Thursday so we improvised and went shopping at Dirt Cheap, Five Below, Starbucks, Target and Old Navy. (I somehow didn’t get ANY pictures with Nanny Sav in them.🤦🏻♀️)
Then we had lunch at Chick-Fil-A.
She had such a great time and was so excited that Savanna had made time to go shopping with her!
The following day we had a funeral for a sweet, 3 year old boy that was a friend of our family.
It was such an emotionally draining day for all of us that David and I decided we needed to just get away for a while.
The idea of ditching our previous plans and going to the beach was met with an enthusiastic “YES!” from our kiddos.
So we quickly packed up and headed out the next morning for Orange Beach, Alabama!
We even made a stop to see Nanny Sav’s house that she’s remodeling in Mississippi.
Due to Hurricane Gordon heading our way we had overcast skies and a great breeze all weekend. The beaches also weren’t terribly crowded which is rare for Labor Day!
We also tried some new-to-us restaurants since our long time favorite Wintzell’s is shut down. 😩 Drowned those sorrows in some oysters from Acme Oyster House!
Although it was so NOT in the plans, it was really great to take a spontaneous trip and have some much needed family time ❤️
I know one 8 year old little girl that was very happy!
Do any of you have alternatives that you do instead of birthday parties? Share them below in the comments!
