Planning a birthday celebration for your children doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to throw them parties. We’ve opted to swap birthday parties for vacation getaways the last few years because it took the headache out of planning a big event, which usually only last a couple of hours.
We recently took a trip to Massachusetts to celebrate our son’s 4th birthday. He loves Thomas the tank engine, so the Edaville Family Theme Park was the perfect place to go. It wasn’t exactly ideal weather conditions. It was cloudy and colder than what we’re accustomed to this time of year.
But, the chilly conditions didn’t take away from our little guy’s special day. It gave us a good reason to buy him a Thomas the Train sweater.
We weren’t overwhelmed with a ton of rides and attractions, which can be problematic for our very picky 4-year-old. In fact, we were able to do it all in a day.
We arrived in Carver, Massachusetts a little after 11am and began our 5 and a half hour journey at the Edaville gift shop before hopping on the carousel and other fun rides.
We then made our way to Thomas Land, or as he likes to say, The Island of Sodor. This part of the trip was definitely the highlight of his day.
Thomas Land theme park covers 11.5 acres complete with destinations including Knapford Station and Tidmouth Sheds. There are 11 themed rides featuring characters like Toby and Harold the Helicopter.
The first thing the birthday boy wanted to do was take a 15 minute ride on the Thomas the Train Tank Engine. The kids got their train tickets stamped by the conductor while on board. They also met Sir Topham Hatt, Gordon, Percy, James, Emily, and the rest of the gang.
Our Edaville Family Theme Park experience ended with a trip to Dino Land where the kids got to take a walk through the misty forest and learn about the different dinosaurs that roamed the earth millions of years ago.
Even though we decided not to throw him a birthday party, the look on his face let us know we made the right decision.
For the record, the amusement park does offer birthday party packages. There are different options available to fit your child’s needs. In the meantime, here are a few reasons to consider having a birthday celebration getaway.
4 reasons to have a birthday celebration getaway
Summer birthdays
Birthday parties have become a thing of the past in our home for several different reasons. For starters, our children have summer birthdays. Only nine out of 20 kids showed up to our daughter’s 3rd birthday party. She didn’t notice the small turnout at the time, but that wouldn’t fly these days. It really doesn’t make sense planning a birthday celebration when so many families are away for the summer.
Your child doesn’t like birthday parties
Our kids have totally different personalities. Our daughter is extremely outgoing, however, our son is a bit more reserved. Parties are just not his style right now. He may change his tune in another year or two, but for now we liked to keep things simple for him.
Not cost effective and too much work
We usually set a budget for birthday parties, which include invited guests, food, entertainment, and cleanup. We’ve found ways to cut costs in the past by combining celebrations. It’s a great way to to cut costs by killing two birds with one stone.
However, the cost for having a 1.5 to 2 hour party didn’t make sense. We found ourselves going over budget when planning parties at venues.
On the flip side, there’s an advantage to having a birthday party at home.There’s no time limit, so it’s like getting more bang for your buck. But, it’s also a lot of work.
We figured that having our daughter’s first birthday party at home would be more cost effective. But that wasn’t necessarily the case. Between the food, decorations, decorations and party favors, we were probably better off going on vacation.
With one birthday celebration down, there’s only one more to go. Our daughter’s birthday is just around the corner and we have something very special planned for her. It’s a surprise. Stay tuned.
Disclaimer: This blog post is sponsored by Edaville Family Theme Park. All opinions are my own.
Looks like fun!