What's happened to kiddies birthday parties?

Do you remember musical chairs, pass the parcel, pin the tail on the donkey and all those silly games that we used to play? Perhaps I should keep quiet here as I'm giving my age away (oops forgot my age is on my profile anyway...oh ok then). I know that we live in a different world and we have to embrace it, but part of me asks can we in some respects of our lives just go back to basics, especially where our children are concerned? For me, birthdays are about enjoying the special day with your child, relaxing, laughing, chilling and yes of course, having a lot of fun. But somehow for me it seems like that doesn't really happen anymore. Perhaps it does, and it is just me, but it always seems that moms are so fraught with tension and ensuring that the birthday party runs smoothly and that everything is ok, we almost somehow forget what the day is all about. I'm not right or wrong as there is no right and wrong, as everybody celebrates in different ways, but in many ways kiddies parties seem complicated. I am on a mission to go back to basics and have some good old fashioned fun at parties - I am going to play games, I am going to make a fool out of myself, I'll probably even dress up, but hopefully the birthday boy feels special and appreciates the interaction - it's his day after all, not other kids, not their parents but it all belongs to him!

I took a stand this year that I wouldn't invite his whole class, as it gets really out of hand. The school gave me a list of his special friends and all of those kiddies were invited. Its hard to do it this way, as there have been so many parties that we've been invited to, and I'm not reciprocating but maybe just maybe we'll all think about who our child wants at their birthday party, not who we feel we should invite to their party.

Party Packs - what up with that? It seems to have become a norm that there are party packs on the day of the birthday at school and at the party - why? I'm not sure I quite get it, but again you know I could be missing something! Kids needs are actually so simple, its what we teach them that becomes the norm to them. For my little ones birthday, they will get a little novelty toy at the party and then on his actual day, there will be cake at school. Surely that's enough? I don't know, we'll have to wait and see!

These are just my thoughts and experiences regarding birthdays and I was hit by a wave of nostalgia, but as said its not to say that anybody is right or wrong, its just that I can't keep up with all of it and I hope to teach my child something along the way.