This Is What I'm Saying

Friday, October 01, 2010

Preschool Birthday Conundrum

In what is sure to become a regular series of posts, I have to ask: Is My Kid Weird If...

In this case, the "IF" is "If she doesn't want her preschool classmates to come to her 4th birthday party?"

It seems that all of her peers' birthdays are in the fall, and they are all inviting the whole class to their parties. Between now and November we've RSVP'd to events at Pump it Up, Little Gym, a local park and child's home. Julie's birthday is at the end of November (and is a perpetual topic in our home from about April onward). So we've discussed the theme and guest list ad nauseam, and she's adamant that she only wants to invite grown ups (i.e., grandparents and a few close friends of ours who are like aunts and uncles to her).

She enjoys going to other kids' parties, but she doesn't seem to equate that with having a similar event herself. We've always had a simple party with kid food and cake at our house, everyone crowded around the kitchen table singing "Happy Birthday." I've always assumed that she just enjoyed being the center of attention and that not inviting other kids meant not having to share her toys. But is that abnormal? Should we be hosting 15 kids at Chuck E. Cheese next month? I just wonder...