Speaking of Birthdays..

I'm going to elaborate a little more on the birthday issue.

I'm very torn about what to do.

I've always assumed I would have a big house party for my child for his/her first birthday. I assumed a cake, food, family and friends. A big present with a fancy red bow and hundreds of presents from everyone.

Eventually the idea of hundreds of presents made me sick to my stomach and my throwing a party was less important. I wanted to take him somewhere special for his first birthday where we could share time with just us (and maybe some other family members or friends) soaking up his first birthday. Absorbing those moments and making them our own. I am just itching for a vacation, so I figured mesh the two and take him to Disney. I'm pretty sure I was convinced that's what we were doing and have given little to no thought to an actual birthday party.

Well, now here we are two months before Jude's first birthday and I'm back to square one. Should we skip any sort of celebration and just take him somewhere on his birthday - take any money that would have gone into a party and get him a cool gift? Throw a very small and intimate party for family? Throw a big party for all of our friends and family?

Throwing a big party at our house is pretty much out of the question right now. We're under construction and I have no desire to try and patch things up quickly for the party (and would not have people over until it's done). I've considered a pavilion at a park - which is right now towards the top of my list. But big parties mean lots of gifts, spending more money and a lot less "family" time.

A small get together might be dinner out, maybe taking a couple of people to a local museum or play center with pizza and cake. We wouldn't get a million presents, we could be greedy about Jude time and it'd cost a lot less money.

Whatever the decision, it needs to be made soon. If we're doing a party, invitations need to be ordered, guest lists need to be made and plans need to be set in motion. Even thought you always hear that they won't remember, it's still important to me that we do something special to acknowledge his big day.

Question: What would you do? If you didn't do a party, did you regret it? If you did a party, was it worth it? Can you think of any other option?