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Celebrate your child's birthday in a unique fashion.

As someone who is an introvert, I don't relish the thought of a birthday party either as the recipient or a sponsor. Birthday parties have become very expensive and stressful with some families trying to outdo other families. It is amazing, but some birthday parties for wealthy tween children can surge into the tens of thousands or even millions of dollars. Since I'm nowhere able to spend anywhere that much and because I have no desire to "keep up with the Jones'", I've come up with some creative ways to celebrate birthdays.

1. We allow our child to pick one special friend and create a family night doing something we normally would not do. For example, we once went to see the Harlem Globetrotters. Another time, we took a skiing trip complete with an overnight at a hotel with a swimming pool. We try to keep these to new experiences only - something the family has never done before and we can try as a family. Since money is tight, we save up for the once-yearly extravagance, and gain some truly great memories in the process.

2. The family takes the birthday child to a restaurant where the waitstaff will sing Happy Birthday upon request. The public nature of the restaurant allows the child to feel special and at the same time, I have no preparation or cleanup duties!

3. My kids get money from their grandparents, so we may take the kids to a mall or shops to purchase something they really want. This teaches the child money management skills since he has to stay within his birthday money budget as well as teaching him to bargain shop and plan before purchasing. Not only does the child get to "handle" his own money, the learning experience teaches fiscal responsibility.

4. Celebrate at home as a family. Each family member can write down special thoughts or remembrances involving the birthday child. All the notes go into a hat and the family takes turns picking a note and reading it out loud. The birthday child can then glue these notes onto posterboard and hang it in his room.

Some of these are more expensive than others, but by interchanging the activities, the kids and family never get bored. And best yet - they're very low stress activities that involve the entire family.

Learn more about this author, Linda J Banks.
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