Parentune Celebration with Kids

Today is an age of Consumerism; every birthday party you go to or any
celebration for that matter, even a plain play date has become a show of
consumerism. Is good parenting the ability to get our kids Ipads and expensive
gizmos? Forget about the mere PSPs and Xboxs.

Birthday parties have become so monotonous for kids now a days, it is almost
always the same Ben10 or Princess Party where everything right from the invite
to the return gift are a show of consumerism. The invite looks the same, with the
same magician or puppeteer doing the same tricks. Is this because we as parents
have become too busy to plan and organize our kids parties or do we have too
much money to spend?

I have also done a Cars B’day party for my son, but we did everything at home!
We made our invites ourselves, my son did screen printing for the envelopes and
coloured McQueen that my husband drew. It was Fun!!! We had games we played
as kids like Pass the Parcel, Pin the Tail, etc but with a Cars twist and let me tell
you the kids had so much fun and the parents loved it too!

We can do so much with our kids without indulging in consumerism and I am
sure, no matter how busy we are we can all spend some time with our kids to
do things together. Many of you living in the cities would agree that family time
over the weekends mostly means going to the malls. Next time pack a picnic
basket, some Frisbees and balls and head to a park or you could be little more
adventurous and drive down to the closest forest near you, my experience says
your kids will totally enjoy it! We as a family have been doing it quite often:
venturing into the Aravalis in Gurgaon in our car in the evenings where we’ve
spotted jackals and porcupines or waking up at 4:00am in the morning every
Saturdays to join Let’s Walk Gurgaon in exploring the Aravalis around Gurgaon.
It is such a beautiful and enriching experience. This has helped my son in so
many ways; besides learning about nature in our backyards he has developed a
love for the wildlife and is concerned about protecting the environment.

I try to keep consumerism at bay I do not want it to become a part of my son’s
life already. If you feel the same try some new things and share your experiences
too!