Simply Cheerful Life

A colleague was sharing pictures of his son’s birthday party and lamenting at the same time that a decent birthday party costs as much as $500. I get it. Birthdays are special for every kid. And as a parent, we want to make it the most memorable for our child. However, there are cheaper ways to celebrate your child’s birthday without dolling out tons of money and be stressed about it. Also Read: 3 f’s for stress free birthday parties for kids If you follow my 3 f’s – Food, Fun, and Favor – You can plan awesome birthday parties for just about $100 and without feeling stressed. [expand title=”Read More”] Fun: You may choose to hand over birthday prep to YMCA or some Gym or Kids Salon but that comes with a huge price tag. For kids to have fun, you do not need to go that far. Your home or if you have good size backyard that will suffice to host the birthday party. If you prefer not to have party at your own space, you can rent a little pavi...

I get it. It is a challenge trying to learn about your child’s day at school. It is even more troublesome when it feels like you are interrogating your child and not having enjoyable conversation. Wouldn’t it be great if your child approached you to talk about their day at school instead of you grilling them ? I understand the feeling. I had tried countless approaches as well. Until I made these adjustments in my style, my conversation with my twins was a one way street. Let me share my secrets with you: [expand title=”Read More”] Allow idle time so that conversation flow naturally: Allow for distraction free idle time with your child on regular bases, even if it is only 10 minutes at a time. This habit starts building bond and trust for the child that you are open for anything that they wish to talk. Taking a walk around the block on most evenings after dinner has done the magic for us. This is the time when both my kids start talking about their day at schoo...

When you are planning a birthday for your child, is your intention to get the best pictures of the event to upload on Facebook and get tons of Wows, or your intention is to see your child and her friend having gala time. Do you enjoy stressing out about every little detail of the party from decoration to return gifts or would you rather enjoy the event with your child? If your objective is for your child and you to enjoy the event, then keep on reading! Also Read: Birthday Party under $100 Apparently, number of mothers having anxiety over DIY birthday planning are increasing steadily . In time of Facebook and Pinterest birthdays, it is indeed stressful to meet those high expectations set by perfectly coordinated birthdays. To bring fun back into birthday planning, here are my 3 f’s that ensure your child has a memorable birthday while ensuring you are not driving yourself insane trying to plan a themed party where invitations to favors everything needs to be coordinated. What a...

Think of a time when you were working for goal along with your friends. All your friends achieved the goal but you could not. Will you be disappointed? I know I would be. Well this is story about a 8 year old girl in my son’s class, we will call her Bella. She was running to be class representative and she lost. 4 of her friends became class representative. On a cold afternoon, as I entered my son’s 3rd grade classroom, he jumped up and down and squealed , “I knew my mom was mystery reader”. His teacher had just read the clues I had emailed previous night and he was successful in figuring out I was going to visit his class to read a book. “Which was the clue when you figured out it was going to be me?” I asked. “Mommy you said ‘My mom makes me create plan for my assignments'”. That was the clue I knew it was you. “Oh I hate creating plans. It is so annoying.” he continued as he guided me towards the front of the clas...