My two ds are two years and two days apart. Their birthdays are coming up on the 23rd and 25th of this month. I'm not doing full blown parties for them yet, One is turning three and the other is turning 1. But I was wondering, since their birthdays are so close, should I celebrate them together or separate or what??? What do you all think? I know it may not sound too pressing, but I just want to make sure that each of them feels special.

By Enchens on Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 01:00 pm:

DH and I keep going back and forth on this and we would like some input. Should we do thier own days, one week apart, same day...? We don't know... Thanks for your help.

By Tripletmom on Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 01:08 pm:

Are you having family/friends over or are you just going to have it intimate.My niece and nephew are a week apart 2 yrs apart and every yr so far they have done them together.One big cake with there picure done on a side each(very cute).This is the 1st year where my niece is having an out of the house party, 5 kids allowed b/c she's turning 5.Her party is next Saturday.On Sunday they're doing a family gathering and will concetrate on my nephew who will be 3.I'm sure anyway to choose to do it they will enjoy it.

By Tink on Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 01:20 pm:

My girls are four years and five days apart and my brother and I are also four years and five days apart. We always celebrated with family together, especially when the girls were younger. Last year was the first year that they each had a separate parties for their friends. As they get older, I think we'll just have a party for each of them on different weekends. Since they are at the very end of June and beginning of July, our family celebration is usually on the fourth of July. Can you do something similar with Easter? Good luck. I've heard of different families handling this different ways. I'm sure you'll come up with something that works best for your family.

By Trina~moderator on Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 01:20 pm:

You'll probably be able to get away with a double party while they're little, but when they get older they may want one of their own. FWIW, we don't do parties every year. We usually give each child a choice - a birthday party with limited friends (8-10) or a special family outing at an amusement park or a location of the birthday child's choice. Sometimes we've even given them the choice of a party, family outing or one big birthday gift with a small family birthday dinner.

By Luvn29 on Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 02:27 pm:

My kids are 3 years and 12 days apart. Boy and girl. They still demand to have their party together. That's what they want. And they will be turning 10 and 7 this July. I usually get a cake for each of them of their choice and even will go as far as letting them have special decorations that they each choose sometimes.

This year, however, my family has decided to get together and rent the local pool out for about 5 of the cousins who celebrate their birthdays in July. And that's not all of them! We have tons of July kids!

It is so much easier and cheaper to do a combined party if your kids will go for that. And right now they are young enough not to care one way or another.

Plus, it can be tons of fun! We usually have ours at the park, and all the kids have a great time playing together.

By Kate on Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 02:35 pm:

My sister and I are two days apart and we always had separate birthdays. You could celebrate each child separately within your immediate family, and then perhaps have a large party for both on the nearest weekend. But I think each child deserves her own day and her own cake.

By Cocoabutter on Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 03:47 pm:

Well, this is a hard one. My family has two occasions where we have birthdays parties for 2 people at the same time. If we didn't do it that way, it would get very expensive for separate parties.

But I agree with Kate. You could have one big party with 2 b-day cakes, but then do something on each b-day that is special just for that one child. Like maybe going out to dinner (just you, dh, and the kids) or preparing their favorite meal at home. Maybe going bowling or skating. (Of course, this is for when they get older )

By Crystal915 on Saturday, April 15, 2006 - 04:48 pm:

My DH and his cousin are 6 days apart, same age, and when they were kids they had joint parties, until they started wanting to have parties with friends, instead of just family. Kate's idea is a good one, even with my kids being twins we have 2 cakes, so each child feels special.

By Enchens on Sunday, April 16, 2006 - 03:11 am:

Thank you for all the input. We still don't know who we will be attending. All of family is far away. I know that GM and GP could make it, and maybe one cousin. Which is fine for now, since I want things to start out small.
I like the choices Trina suggested. I think we'll try that as they get older.
Kate, we're on the same wavelength. Your suggestion sounds best for us now, since family is so far.
Time to consult with my other half.

By Kaye on Sunday, April 16, 2006 - 10:03 am:

I have kids that have birthdays 4 days apart. Since we don't have family nearby, we always did seperate parties. I use the word party in a lite tone. For bday 1, 2, and 3. Party was a cake at home and gifts from us, on thier birthday. As they got older it was invite the school friends and we did it mostly on opposite weekends. There has been a year or two that we did one on sat and one on sunday. We also alternate in having one at home or one somewhere else.

Also as they have been old enough to understand money we simply tell them we spend 150 dollars on your bday, what do you want to do. My middle kid is very practical. He wants me to make spaghetti and spend the rest on gifts My youngest (8) this year wanted just him and and his best friend to have the best day ever...we bowled had lunch at rainforest and went to the movies. Pretty simple.

We talked one year about renting a bounce house and doing his party in the am and hers in the pm, but they didn't want to.