{"id":347281,"date":"2025-12-16T20:16:52","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T20:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/business\/investing\/the-500-kids-birthday-party-the-barefoot-investor\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T20:16:52","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T20:16:52","slug":"the-500-kids-birthday-party-the-barefoot-investor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=347281","title":{"rendered":"The $500 Kid\u2019s Birthday Party \u2014 The Barefoot Investor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-sqsp-text-block-content=\"\">\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\"><em>Scott,<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Kids\u2019 birthday parties have become ridiculous productions \u2013 themed decorations, catering, gift bags \u2013 and now parents are expected to bring presents for every child attending. We used to do cake and backyard games. Now it\u2019s stressful and expensive, and teaching kids that birthdays are about stuff instead of joy and friends. How do we step off this treadmill without being the odd ones out?<\/p>\n<p>Jen<\/p>\n<p>Hi Jen,<\/p>\n<p>My four-year-old was super excited about Grandad\u2019s 76th birthday last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He got on FaceTime and innocently asked:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat party games did you play, Grandad?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cOh? Erm, well, it was just a quiet day with Gran and I \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">I have four kids and, yes, it\u2019s got out of control. Here\u2019s what\u2019s happened: parents\u00a0 have started matching party costs to gift costs. Yet it\u2019s an arms race nobody signed up for.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">Your kids don\u2019t care. They want their mates there. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n<p>So, hold the party at the local park. Sausage sizzle. One game. Cake from Coles. Booze for the parents. \u00a0 Three packets of mixed lollies in paper bags as they leave (revenge is a sugar high in someone else\u2019s car).<\/p>\n<p>Doneski.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">What\u2019s stopping you?<\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re scared of being judged by the other parents. Or even deeper &#8230; of your kids being judged.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"white-space:pre-wrap;\">\u201cWhy didn&#8217;t we have the Encanto themed party where everyone got themed party gifts?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the truth: that won\u2019t happen. Your kid will be laughing with their mates, eating sausages, and having a ball. And you\u2019ll have saved yourself $500 and three hours of stress.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scott, Kids\u2019 birthday parties have become ridiculous productions \u2013 themed decorations, catering, gift bags \u2013 and now parents are expected to bring presents for every child attending. We used to do cake and backyard games. Now it\u2019s stressful and expensive, and teaching kids that birthdays are about stuff instead of joy and friends. How do [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":104158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[10055,770,13177,351,577],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-347281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing","tag-barefoot","tag-birthday","tag-investor","tag-kids","tag-party"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The $500 Kid\u2019s Birthday Party \u2014 The Barefoot Investor - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=347281\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The $500 Kid\u2019s Birthday Party \u2014 The Barefoot Investor - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Scott, Kids\u2019 birthday parties have become ridiculous productions \u2013 themed decorations, catering, gift bags \u2013 and now parents are expected to bring presents for every child attending. We used to do cake and backyard games. Now it\u2019s stressful and expensive, and teaching kids that birthdays are about stuff instead of joy and friends. 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