I love Pinterest.  Full transparency, it’s probably my favorite social media app.  I love how I can search for healthy sheet pan recipes, motherhood inspiration, Christmas decorating ideas, beauty hacks and outfit ideas all at the same time.

It’s also been my inspiration for years for birthday party planning for Callie.

I LOVE throwing a party.  I love picking out a theme, finding ways to weave color palettes and signature desserts through it.  I love finding unique party favors and perfectly coordinated table settings.  I love creating gorgeous back drops for the cake table.  I love creating a unique invitation and sending them out to family and friends.

As much as I love it……it’s also freaking exhausting.

And a lot of pressure.

And generally leaves me on the day of the party in an anxiety filled, high strung, and stressed state.

I love it but also…..dread it in a way.

So we’ve decided to take a break from throwing big elaborate “Pinterest Worthy” birthday parties for the time being.  I’ve very cognizant that there is a lot of performance in that space–creating over the top events in the attempts to impress everyone else and the parties have always been about Callie feeling special.  Which is good and I don’t want to lose that intention especially as we come into the teenage years.

There’s a lot of feelings of guilt, inadequacy, and shame in motherhood about birthday parties– as though you should be throwing an elaborate birthday party because that’s what the other good moms were doing on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. You should be creating a gorgeous balloon arch.  You should be buying custom cookies with your son’s face on them.  You should be ordering color coordinating alpacas to come to your backyard boho themed event complete with custom cocktails (despite the fact that your kid is turning one and won’t remember it).

I’m still in a place where we haven’t custom ordered alpacas and I want to keep it that way–and in our quest this year for simplicity, we’re looking for ways to downsize some of the things in our lives that feel a bit over the top.

So this year, we’re going to focus on some more smaller, intentional, and non-party ideas for creating a special day:

• Wake up to a balloon filled room
• Making her favorite breakfast
• Starbucks run on the way to school–including her friends in the order to make it even more special!
• Sending flowers or a cookie delivery to her at school
• Birthday card in her lunchbox
• Dinner at her favorite restaurant
• Create a list of things I love about her that corresponds to the age she’s turning
• Invite a friend to do an activity
• Bigger birthday gift since we aren’t spending money on a party

Will I keep this same mentality forever?  Honestly, I don’t know.  I’m just doing what feels right for us right now and giving myself permission to grow and change.

Curious to see where you fall in the mix–are you an awesome Pinterest Party Planner?  Or are you more interested in doing something small but still meaningful?

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