Enough with elaborate kids' birthday parties, says Newfoundland mom

Heather Huybregts has a message for other parents: stop overdoing children's birthday parties.

"It's absolute nonsense," she said. "They won't remember it. You're going broke. Groceries are more important than fondant."

The mother of two is issuing the rallying cry after years of throwing elaborate, themed birthday parties for her kids. 

Even though she considers herself to be a sensible person, Huybregts says when it comes to her kids' birthday parties, she can't help going overboard to outdo other parents who are throwing similarly elaborate and expensive parties. 

"Social media is a big part of the pressure to do anything that we do nowadays, and maybe the competition is something that's just internal and we're manufacturing it ourselves," Huybregts said.

"Those other parents and moms ... they'll be accompanying their kids to my birthday parties, and I can't completely be the lame-o who's just ordering a pizza." 

Huybregts said she never realized that throwing a kid's birthday party could become a competition between parents until she went to a friend's daughter's first birthday party several years ago.

The theme was rainbows and donuts. There was a banquet table laden with towers of rainbow-coloured macarons and a homemade, four-tiered cake, Huybregts recalled. There was also a candy buffet and people serving hors d'oeuvres on trays.

Let's take a hint from the '80s ... hot dogs, Kraft Dinner, a couple of balloons, kids playing in the yard—that's all that matters.- Heather Huybregts

So when her older son, Marek, turned one later that year, Huybregts felt she had to throw a similar—if not better—birthday party for him.

"I was insistent that for the record, we have to do something in a big space that's meticulous and beautiful," she said.

So Huybregts threw a Baby Einstein-themed party. The following year, for Marek's second birthday, Huybregts "one-upped" herself by renting a venue and a bouncy castle, and making all the party food from scratch.  

And as the pressure—perceived or real—to impress other parents got higher, Huybregts found herself throwing a jungle-themed party for her younger son this summer, complete with a homemade jungle banner, grass skirts around the tables, a face painter, a bouncy castle, balloon animals and a mask-painting station.

Huybregts says "mom guilt" is often what drives her to try and keep up with other parents. But she doesn't actually enjoy throwing such elaborate birthday parties, and she says it's time for parents to step back from the competition and let the kids enjoy themselves.

"Let's take a hint from the '80s," she said. "Hot dogs, Kraft Dinner, a couple of balloons, kids playing in the yard—that's all that matters. They'll love it."