We never hosted a friends or classroom party at McDonald’s, Chuck E. Cheese, Toledo Zoo or anyplace like that to celebrate my daughter’s birthday.

Our birthday rituals involve opening a present and a card or two at home; a sit-down dinner at my mother-in-law’s home (she usually orders chicken and a cake from a restaurant and makes the side dishes); and a casual picnic-style dinner at my parents’ home.

I booked a park shelter for a picnic when my daughter was 3, but it rained so hard that day we had to move the party at the last minute to my parents’ home.

When she turned 18, I told her to invite a bunch of friends over to the house. I bought a stack of pick-up pizzas, assorted ice cream flavors and toppings. The friends provided their own entertainment with a deck of cards.

When we wanted to celebrate with summer camp friends or with classmates at the end of the school year (her birthday is in June), I would make a tray of cupcakes to send to camp or school.

What did we miss out on by taking the budget birthday route? Not only did we save a lot of money, we saved a lot of headaches.

Trent at The Simple Dollar has a post that’s getting a lot of comments: The Economics of Children’s Birthday Parties. A snippet:

Unless you’re equipped to spend obscene amounts of money regularly, you’ve set them up to be disappointed on some level by future birthdays. It’s fun to have a birthday party, but when it stretches the limits of what’s reasonable (and what you can reasonably afford), then it begins to stretch their expectations, often to a threshold that you won’t be able to afford in the future.

I also recommend the Birthdays Without Pressure web site.