“It's way too expensive and silly, but it makes everybody happy.”
HGTV stars Ben and Erin Napier are sharing their “unpopular opinion” about kids’ birthday parties.
The beloved couple, who star on HGTV’s “Home Town,” opened up about their life away from the camera in an interview with “Today,” published Sept. 9, where they revealed that they’re “anti-giant birthdays.”
“Our rule is, until they’re old enough to plan it themselves, it’s supper at grandparents,” Ben Napier said of their kids’ birthday parties.
The couple, who signed a 32-episode extension with HGTV in January, per a release by Warner Bros. Discovery, share two daughters — Helen, 7, and Mae, 4 — together.
“If your 4-year-old’s birthday party looks like a wedding, what do they have to look forward to?” Erin Napier added of their birthday tradition.
“Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I think there’s a lot of moms out there who feel the same way I do,” she added.
Their opinion stems from their own experiences growing up — as well as their observations at parties thrown by other parents, which often had “100 kids running around, losing their minds,” per the couple.
“It’s stressful and loud,” Ben Napier said in the interview. “I was like, ‘We’re not doing this.”
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According to a 2023 survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Kinder Joy, many parents would agree with the Napiers.
The survey found that 80% of respondents “said kids’ birthday parties are a lot different now than when they were growing up,” per the New York Post.
Another 61% of parents “think the celebrations and decor have gotten more over-the-top,” while other parents were stressed over the planning process, expenses, food, guest list and picking a theme.
More recently, a 2024 survey by Milano found that 69% of parents find planning a kid’s birthday party more stressful than their day job, per Aiken PR.
Ben and Erin Napier share their idea of the perfect birthday party
While talking to “Today,” Ben Napier recalled what a birthday party used to look like for him growing up.
Instead of being surrounded by dozens of his school friends and over-the-top decorations, his birthday parties consisted of pizza and homemade cake at a park with his three brothers.
He described those memories as “awesome” and “amazing,” according to “Today.”
Fast-forward a few decades and his kids’ birthday parties are a little more elaborate — but not to the point of exhaustion.
When their younger daughter turned four years old in May, they threw her a Christmas-themed party with the cousins, complete with strawberry cake and holiday music — and it was all Mae’s idea, per “Today.”
Speaking of Christmas, new episodes of “Home Town” are expected to air after the holiday season.
Season 9 premiered in late 2024 and went on a hiatus at the beginning of June. According to Parade, the show will return sometime “after Christmas.”
“I love that yall think this means we are getting a break, but it mostly just means it takes a whole year to renovate all the houses you watch in 6 months,” Erin Napier wrote on Instagram June 1.
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“So the work never stops, the viewing just does,” she added.
