Dutch's Birthday ~~> A Different Celebration

At the beginning of June, my oldest, Dutch, turned three.  This seems like a huge milestone, right?  He is definitely a toddler now; no longer a baby (but always MY baby hehe).  For his birthday this year, we decided not to do a party.  We've done parties in the past, so I have nothing against them (I promise, here's proof: first birthday & second birthday), but we wanted to do something just us.  I don't know if it's just me or not, but I've noticed that birthday parties for kids have gotten way over the top, & honestly I'm guilty of this too, but I didn't want to get distracted by having the right balloons or matching invitations, or the trendiest food truck.  (Sidebar- If you've done this before, please don't feel judgement from me.  I LOVE that stuff.  I love to plan a party, but I also know that my attention to detail distracts me; I know myself too well).  So for his 3rd birthday we didn't want to go over the top and actually get so wrapped up in the party that we missed the reason for the party.  Instead of a party we did all of his favorite things.  We went fishing at the park, rode the train, played on the playground, went to the splash pad, ate McDonald's cheeseburgers (this was a sacrifice for me because I am not a fan, sorry Ronald! lol), fed the ducks, had pizza for dinner at home without having to sit at the kitchen table, opened gifts sent from friends & family, played LOTS of hockey, & I made a chocolate cake.  It was a special day because we got to celebrate him with his favorites.  I have to say that I enjoyed this more relaxed approach more than any of his other birthdays, & even more importantly, I'm pretty sure he did also.  This might be the new trend in our household.  Maybe we will save the parties for the really big birthdays, but focus on the birthday boy or girl on their special day for the other birthdays?  Let me just show you this smiley boy on his birthday!

  

What do you think? What are you birthday traditions in your family? Do you do birthday parties or take a more relaxed approach?