Help! Am I One of THOSE Moms??

I read, all the time, about the competi-mom's. I hear about the extreme birthday parties and the extreme cost of those parties. I realized today... I may be one of those mommies.

Shecky turns 7 on July 4th. We are going to have his birthday party at my parents place at the lake. We're going to invite all the kids that are there for the summer and basically everyone ELSE as well. There will be cake, hot dogs, chili and chips. Sack races in the sand, a treasure hunt and frog flinging will be the games for the kids. There will be prizes for the winners. The kids will have a chance to beat the stuffing out of a pinata filled with candy and gum. I'm supplying water guns for all the kids and the "goodie bags" will be toys to play in the sand (a plastic pail, rake, scoop and shovel).

So far this party is costing me $130.00. That may not sound like much but that's just for the games, pinata, pinata guts, treasure chest and toys. That's not the food, decorations, prizes or the gift for my child.

Mom keeps telling me to keep it low key and not worry so much about it. She tells this to her daughter that planned a YOOGE BBQ for the child's FIRST birthday. He's had parties over the years at Putt-Putt, Parks, a gymnastics club... One year, I had specially wrapped Hershey Bars made. They had Spiderman on them with Happy 4th Birthday on it. The bar code was his dob. I mean... COME ON! That was WAY cool.

The thing is, I don't do these things to compete with anyone else's party or even to out do the party thrown the year before. Its actually a much simpler reason. I want my son to look back on his birthday parties and remember what a great time it was. I want him to think back on them and know just how much he was/is loved and that his birthday was/is an event to be CELEBRATED and a day to make noise because its the day we were first blessed with his presence. Our journey to get him here was rocky at best. These parties are just my way of celebrating him and the joy he brings me. Is that wrong?