To Party or Not to Party, That is the Question!

A friend of mine who will remain nameless, although if she ever reads this she will know I'm talking TO her LOL, has three kids that seem to be on a constant merry go round of birthday parties! Last week her oldest son (11) attended a birthday party on Friday night- which she made him attend instead of going to a high school football game (so he says anyway) Saturday her daughters who are six and eight attended two separate parties. 


It seems every week they are attending someones party. It got me thinking as to whether parents are now inviting as many kids to parties as they can in order to get as much loot as they can. Also, why do parents feel obligated to actually go to ever party their kids are invited to? We have a rule in our house. We only go to our family and closest friends. We also have three kids, and if we let them attend every party they were invited to, we would be more broke than we already are. Not to mention it is a huge time suck! 


I also think at some point kids have to learn that they cant just go to every event they want to go to. There has to be some sort of limits set. Also, they need to learn that they cant always just do what all the other kids are doing. Another point is the value of a dollar. If you are always buying gifts and going to parties etc, your kids are going to start believing they have an expendable amount of cash flowing at all times. My own children have never questioned why we have this rule, they dont seem to mind it. Maybe because it has been written in stone since they were small. 


At this point Im going to make some people mad- m own sister-in-law possibly. I say this truthfully and mean no harm...gift bags. Stop with the gift bags. Seriously, it is not everyone that attends the party's birthday, but your own child's birthday!  Why do parents feel obligated to send some sort of loot bag home with these kids? I have even had kids ask, "do we get goody bags" really? how rude is that? What are we teaching them? Most of the time you are spending your money on junk that kids will play with for a few days and toss in the trash..so, they just threw your money away! Granted, some parents pack awesome goody bags, but are they necessary is my point! 


So, how many parties do you let your children attend? An unlimited amount, because they are only kids once, or do you set some sort of boundaries?