# Did you have birthday parties when you were very young?



## Ruth n Jersey (Jun 29, 2016)

My birthday is in July and as I was growing up I was allowed to invite one or two friends to our family gathering to celebrate my birthday. My Grandfather had a large piece if property that he kept as neat as a pin under beautiful shade trees. He made the picnic table in the photo to accommodate the family. My Grandmother would bake a large sheet cake,and put coins in wax paper and slide them down into the cake for a prize, then frost it in pink icing. I am the taller of the girls standing. I'm don't know what became of my friend, we lost touch, but all at that table are now gone.. I love to look at the old photos I have but there is a sadness to it also.


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## Buckeye (Jun 29, 2016)

Great picture Ruth!  That is one fine picnic table!


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## Guitarist (Jun 30, 2016)

The first one I remember (vaguely -- cake with pink icing) was when I was three.  

We had parties every year on our birthdays.  

Not pony rides or roller skating parties, like some of the kids I went to school with had , but fun. Pin the Tail on the Donkey, other games (including fishing for prizes, a game my dad made up), cake, ice cream, presents, party favors for the guests.


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## NancyNGA (Jun 30, 2016)

Great picture, Ruth!

Nope. Can't remember ever having a birthday party. Usually had a cake though.   

:notfair:


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## Butterfly (Jun 30, 2016)

We just had a family dinner for our birthday and a cake my mother made.  None of that fancy stuff kids do now.


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## SeaBreeze (Jul 18, 2016)

When I was young I just had a small birthday party with family too, usually a cake either homemade or from the bakery with candles and a few presents.  resent:  Simple times but fond memories. :sentimental:


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## Sweetpea (Jul 18, 2016)

*That is exactly what I had for my birthday.  We never had parties and I don't recall going to one either.   Now they are a big deal and lots of money.*


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## Lon (Jul 18, 2016)

It was so long ago I can't remember.


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## fureverywhere (Jul 18, 2016)

Awwww, I love, love that picture! Looks like family reunions when I was a girl. My Mom and all the neighborhood Moms rolled out the barrel for birthdays. Simple party games and cake and ice cream...but with so many kids in the neighborhood it was like a party a week. Nowadays I think some people go way overboard. Spending a couple thousand dollars for a four year old's party is stupid.


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## Lynk (Jul 19, 2016)

Growing up we never had Birthday parties.  We stayed a lot at my Grandparents house. We always had a cake for our Birthday and the morning of our Birthday we would wake up to find money stuck in our shoes which my grandfather would secretly put in them.  When I turned 21 I was working at a restaurant with this older lady.  Every time someone who worked there had a birthday she would throw them a birthday party at her house.  That was my first birthday party and all the people I worked with were there. It was a lot of fun.


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## ossian (Jul 20, 2016)

No, I did not have birthday parties. It was a pretty quiet event as far as I remember. I hate the bloody things now too.


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## Ruthanne (Jul 20, 2016)

That's a very nice photo Ruth.  I know how the old photos bring back old memories.  

My mother always had birthday parties for all of us.  She often made a decorative cake, for example she made one for me that was a doll with a cake skirt.


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## Pappy (Jul 20, 2016)

We always had cake and ice cream and the family. Never big parties.


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## fureverywhere (Jul 20, 2016)

Something that was the hit of every birthday for several years. My Mom would take crepe paper and small toys and wrap the toys into a big ball. The kids would sit in a circle and pass the ball and unwind it to a toy and then pass it to the next person. Such fun, you wonder if today's kids of the techie age would enjoy such simple pleasures.


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## chic (Jul 21, 2016)

That's a beautiful picture Ruth. One of my gradnfathers made a picnic table just like that. Family get togethers were huge in the old days. My birthday was in the spring, but I did have small parties a couple of times. Sometimes, I'd have friends and then my mom would make me have a birthday party with family only the following Sunday.


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## IKE (Jul 21, 2016)

I'm not complaining but I honestly don't recall ever having a birthday party.


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## Susie (Jul 25, 2016)

Only one birthday when I was 8 yrs. old.
Tante Rose came down from Live Oak to S.F., had me invite all the neighborhood children and set up this wonderful birthday table: Streamers running from table to ceiling, party favors, table decorations, ice-cream, a beautiful birthday cake.
Have never forgotten the best birthday of my childhood!  artytime:


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## Carla (Jul 30, 2016)

Never had a party. Think maybe a cake some years when I was really young but birthdays were never fussed about in our house. I was born close to Christmas so sometimes I was promised something "extra" then.


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## Dupe Murkland (Jul 31, 2016)

Maybe 1-or-2 non-family ones.  I felt uncomfortable with the official 'center of attention' aspect of it... with the same kids I always hung-around with anyway.


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## Jackie22 (Jul 31, 2016)

I can remember a few, my mother made the cake and I had friends over for a sleepover.


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## Sassycakes (Dec 17, 2018)

I don't remember ever having a birthday party. Usually it was just me,my parents and my Brother and sister. I did have one on my 16th birthday that my boyfriend (and now Husband )had for me. I only remember my cousin Anthony who was 3yrs older than me, having one every year. He was born on Halloween so we would all dress up in costumes. Recently my cousin sent me a picture of one of his Birthday Party pictures I'm sitting on the floor and my sister is standing in the back. He put red hearts on us to remind us who we were. I have no idea what my Mom dressed us in.


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## terry123 (Dec 17, 2018)

Never had a party as a kid.  Whatever I got for Christmas was always my birthday gift too since I was born on New Year's Eve.  Did not have a party or gift until I was married and grown.  My MIL gave me a birthday party for family when I was 25.  I look at it now as everybody celebrates my birthday since its New Year's Eve!!  I have made sure my kids have a birthday cake and gifts on their day and parties while they were still at home!


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## Gary O' (Dec 17, 2018)

Went to one I was invited to, as a very young lad

I remember hearing another boy say 'dumb ol' paper dolls' after Connie had opened a couple gifts

I woulda given him a thumbs up if I'd known what a thumbs up was


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## Aunt Bea (Dec 18, 2018)

I don't recall ever having a birthday party with people outside of the immediate family when I was growing up.

My mother always allowed us to decide what we wanted for dinner and what kind of cake we wanted.

I usually received a small family gift a couple of cards and clothes or a little money from my grandmother.


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## hollydolly (Dec 18, 2018)

No party for me..ever as a child, and to this day I've never had a party for me !!


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## jujube (Dec 18, 2018)

Only one that I remember as a child.  I'm pretty sure it was my sixth birthday and my second-grade class was invited.  Didn't have another one (except for parties that only family was invited) until I was an adult and my late husband gave me a surprise 30th birthday party.


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