My youngest has been given the joy of a summer birthday. What this comes with is a curse for elementary school birthday planning.

When I was a kid, my birthday was always before the school year started, as I was also a summer birthday. For some reason, I never had any issues inviting my classmates in the summer. Either we had a list of house phone numbers, or we would use the yearbook to look up people in the phone book and call them.

For my kids, that isn’t really an option anymore. Getting kids to come to a party over the summer has proven next to impossible. So we gave up; we celebrate her party the first weekend after school ends every summer. It usually works out pretty nicely attendance wise, and the kids always have a blast.

This year she really wanted to do the skating rink, and here’s the best part. It’s cheaper than renting a bouncy house or a water slide. It is also cheaper than cooking my own food or ordering the pizza as that is included with the venue. The only thing not included is the cake, which my wife is making cupcakes for – so that’s another frugal win.

~~Miniwing~~
Investor, Stoic, Parent