Sometimes the best birthday celebrations are the ones that don’t require much planning at all.
For our birthdays, we decided to keep things simple: good food, our backyard, family and friends, and plenty of time to just enjoy being together.
We didn’t need a venue. We didn’t need a complicated schedule. We didn’t need a house full of decorations.
We just needed a place to gather.
Why We Kept It at Home
There’s something about celebrating at home that makes things feel a little more relaxed.
People can come and go, kids can be themselves, nobody is watching the clock, and there’s no pressure to make the day feel like an “event.”
For us, the backyard was exactly what we wanted. It gave everyone room to spread out, eat, talk and enjoy the day without turning the celebration into a production.
We Started With French Toast
The celebration actually started with just the three of us.
We made French toast and enjoyed a slow birthday morning together before the backyard celebration began later in the day.
Even on the quiet mornings when it’s just the three of us, we try to make the smallest occasions feel special. It doesn’t take much—sometimes it’s just making a favorite breakfast, sitting together a little longer and treating an ordinary morning like it’s worth celebrating.
I think that’s part of what we love about celebrating at home. The special moments don’t have to be big to matter.
Then We Fired Up the Grill
Later, the backyard became the center of everything.
We kept the main food simple and cooked outside on the grill. Burgers and other meats gave everyone plenty of choices without requiring us to spend the day preparing a complicated menu.
That was one of the things that made this celebration work so well.
We weren’t trying to impress people with a menu. We were trying to feed the people we love, with food choices they love.
And because we were doing the cooking ourselves, we could spend our money on the things that actually mattered to us: good food and being surrounded by our favorite people.
And Yes, There Was Jell-O Cake
Of course there was Jell-O cake.
Brian’s favorite cake is Jell-O cake, so there wasn’t really a reason to choose anything else.
It cost about $3 to make.
We could have bought a more elaborate cake. We could have spent considerably more money on dessert.
But why?
When someone’s favorite cake costs a few dollars to make and makes them happy, that’s a pretty easy decision.
Sometimes worth it isn’t about finding something better.
Sometimes it’s about knowing when what you already love is good enough.
We shared the full breakdown of that birthday celebration—including what we served and what we spent—in How We Fed 24 People for Around $200.
What We Actually Spent
We weren’t trying to hit an exact number, but we did want to keep the celebration reasonable.
Here’s approximately what we spent:
| Category | Approximate Cost |
|---|---|
| Meat | $120 |
| Sides | $40 |
| Drinks | $20 |
| Dessert | $3 |
| Plates & napkins | $30 |
| Total | ~$213 |
So our birthday celebration came in at about $213.
That’s a little more than the $200 mark, but still a pretty reasonable amount for feeding a group of people and celebrating two birthdays at home.
And more importantly, we knew where the money went.
What We Skipped
We didn’t spend money just because we thought a birthday party was supposed to have certain things.
We didn’t need a venue.
We didn’t need elaborate decorations.
We didn’t need expensive entertainment.
We didn’t need a complicated menu.
We didn’t need to make the celebration bigger just to make it feel special.
Instead, we used what we already had, cooked at home and focused our spending on food and the things we actually needed.
That’s becoming one of our favorite questions around here:
Does this actually make the experience better?
If the answer is no, why spend the money?
What Made It Worth It
The answer wasn’t the food.
It wasn’t the cake.
It wasn’t even the backyard.
It was the people.
We got to spend the day together, eat good food, laugh, talk and celebrate without rushing from one place to another.
There was no pressure to make the day perfect.
It was just a good day with people we love.
And that’s really what we’re learning with Worth the Making.
A good experience doesn’t necessarily require a big budget.
Sometimes it requires a little planning, a little effort and a willingness to enjoy what you already have.
The Worth It Test
★★★★★ Absolutely worth it
Two birthdays, a backyard and about $213?
Absolutely.
Would we do it again? Yes.
Would we spend more money just to make it bigger or fancier? Probably not.
Because when you can feed people you love, celebrate together and create a day you’ll actually remember without spending a fortune, that’s exactly what worth it looks like to us.
Sometimes the best celebrations aren’t the ones you spend the most on. They’re the ones you actually remember.