Chasing the Fionist Dream

Mazal tov to us! Our son recently turned 5. 🎉 Hard to believe our COVID baby is so big! It was important to us to (a) make him feel special, (b) invite his whole kindergarten class, and (c) keep costs reasonable, of course.

As we weren’t thrilled by the idea of hosting 20 five-year-olds in our tiny apartment, we opted to host this party at our local playground on a Friday immediately after gan (preschool). Any other day of the week, the sun is already setting by the time they head home.

Thankfully, the weather was beautiful. We got to the park first and played on the playground equipment ourselves while we waited for our guests to arrive.

Once the kids showed up, we served lunch – hotdogs, pitot, potato chips, assorted veggies, and drinks.

After our guests finished eating, we handed out bubbles and chalk. The kids drew pictures and played tic-tac-toe and hopscotch. They ran around blowing bubbles, chasing them, and popping them.

We then called them back for a game of חבילה עוברת or Pass the Parcel. The kids passed around a ball of newspaper while our daughter played a birthday song. Each time she stopped the music, the kid holding the parcel tore off a layer. Finally, they made their way down to the center, which was full of candy that they all shared.

As the kids enjoyed their candy, we realized that we were approaching the end of our 90-minute birthday party, so we called them back to enjoy the cookie cake our son had requested and decorated himself. 🎂

After the cake, we cleaned up, and the kids played some more until it was time to go home. Each child was handed a small pack of multicolored playdough as a parting gift. A great time was had by all, and we got many compliments and words of thanks from parents that weekend.

Since this is a personal finance blog, we can’t post about a kid’s birthday party without telling you how much it cost. 😉

Food and drink: 50 hot dogs for 50 shekels, two bottles of flavored drinks and two bottles of water for 18 shekels, two big bags of potato chips for 22 shekels, 40 half pitot (originally 20 pitot) for 32 shekels, sliced veggies for 15 shekels, a cookie cake with an entire jar of chocolate spread plus 6 tubes of assorted fancy sprinkles artfully poured by the birthday boy himself for 55 shekels.

Activities and party favors: 20 bubble wand + solution sets for 30 shekels, 20 small packs of multicolored playdough for 30 shekels, candy for inside the parcel was 20 shekels, and chalk was 15 shekels. Newspaper was free.

Our son also wanted special excavator-themed plates, cups, and napkins, which we ordered online for 66 shekels.

All in all, we had a great time feeding, entertaining, and sugaring up a bunch of five-year-olds (and their parents and couple of siblings and Fiona’s parents) for 353 shekels total. No magician or rented space needed. 🎉

How do you celebrate your kids’ birthdays?

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