Tales of Birthdays Past...

Ever since I was pregnant with Ace I've dreamed of throwing super fun birthday parties. I wanted them to be colorful, fun and homemade. I planned from months ahead of time and did not miss a single detail...literally, we're talking decoration charts here...This was Ace's 1st Birthday party which was a Crayola theme. The cake was a giant box of crayons. I made pretzel rod "crayons" dipped in candy melts, my sister Geri made an awesome "Pin the party hat on the crayon" game, we gave out coloring books, crayons and other theme-related goodies to all the kids and they even got to make their own crayons with the Crayola crayon maker. It was a hit.For his 2nd Birthday we did a Home Depot workshop theme. His cake was a "work zone", the kids wore hardhats and Home Depot aprons and got to build Home Depot project kits (I found on Ebay). We had dumpsters on the dessert table overflowing with "dirt" dessert and brownies. It was a smash... I'm not sure who I'm talking to in this picture but I meant business, lol.His 3rd Birthday, and perhaps my favorite one of all, was his Cowboy birthday. It was the first one we were able to throw on our little farm. He wore a cowboy costume, I made this cake to look like a barn. The kids took home cowboy hats, bandanas, glow sticks, kazoos, and lots of other goodies. They bobbed for apples, had potato sack races, hayrides and made s'mores by the campfire...Birthday number 4 was a Christmas themed party and was held on the same day as Lucky's baptism. The kids decorated sugar cookies, the cake was made up of cupcakes designed as a Christmas tree.Then there was Lucky's 1st Birthday--the Beach Blast...The kids took home pails and shovels, painted their own seashells, splashed in the ocean and feasted on Octo-dogs & Seaweed, Conch Pasta, Sand dessert and of course, Bakerella's amazing cupcake pool pops...And lets not forget that I miraculously managed to get this, in one piece, to the beach...Then we had Ace's 5th Birthday party, which by this point we began feeling the affects of the recession and money was a big issue. I had grown to realize that I was wasting too much money on decorations and party prizes for just one day. It was close to Christmas and in the middle of the Nativity Fast so I had all lenten food and desserts and I made him a gingerbread house cake. The kids painted ornaments, and since everyone always loved the campfire and hayrides we did that as well. And it was terrific...Though in the middle of all this birthday fun I couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. I had always said that I wanted to make a bigger deal out of their namedays than their birthdays. Now don't misunderstand me, I do not think there is anything wrong with birthday parties (I obviously love them) or with their being a bigger celebration than a nameday. This is simply a personal thought of mine and something that I wanted to do with my own children.I am very blessed to have my children born days away from their namedays and so I think it would work out very nicely. I would still have cake and ice cream for their birthday and DH and I decided we would spend (a small portion) of the money we spend on the parties and take them somewhere for the weekend (camping, Sea World, etc).I also feel really bad because most of the people (there are usually about 60 or so in attendance) we invite live about 2 hours away. They don't mind driving here but I feel terrible when I can't make it to their children's parties. If I didn't have birthday parties I wouldn't feel as bad missing theirs.I am now at the crossroad of making this decision again. Lucky's birthday is right around the corner (2 days after his nameday) and I am again hearing the little voice in my head, which is hopefully my conscience. :)Some of the things I was thinking about doing for a Nameday party are:

• Having each saint's icon enlarged, cropped and laminated to fit on a half-sheet cake or making this dragon cake for Ace to slay since he celebrates his nameday with the Synaxis of Archangels (Archangel Michael slays the dragon) This way the icon can be the center of attention on the cake table and can be removed before cutting the cake.
• Reading the story or miracles of their patron saint.
• Having everyone sing the saint's troparion instead of Happy Birthday.
• Making up little notebooks for the kids to write about different Bible stories or miracles, etc.
• Maybe getting the kids foam swords for Archangel Michael's feast and Doctor kits for St. Panteleimon's (Lucky's nameday)...

What do you guys think? Should I downsize the birthday parties and supersize the nameday ones?? I'd love your opinions on this!