Quote:
Originally Posted by scfr
Birth & Death ... Those are the only ones I can think of that are guaranteed to happen only once.
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Actually, there are plenty of things that will only happen once, but that alone doesn't make them all special and worth of a big celebration or excessive spending. Yes, my daughter only had one 1st birthday, and yes, we did have a party, but it was just inviting family over and having a buffet lunch (all homemade). Nothing outrageous. On the other hand, friends of ours had a neighbor who, for their child's 1st birthday, threw a huge party including pony rides, a moon bounce, music, barbecue and other entertainment. Obviously, the kid doesn't remember a moment of it.
As I've posted/blogged recently, we're in the process of planning our daughter's Bat Mitzvah. That is a once-in-a-lifetime event. She's our only child and she only gets one Bat Mitzvah. We are planning a very nice celebration and are spending quite a bit to do so. But we can afford it. We've saved for it for many years. And we expect it will be something that she and we will remember always.
I think there is some logic to this mindset, especially when it comes to something like a home remodeling job. You don't want to take the cheap way out and be stuck living with it for the next 20 or 30 years. It makes more sense to do it right, spend a little more for good quality and features that you really want, and be happy with the outcome. We would love to redo our kitchen but aren't financially ready to do it the way we really want to, so we are making do with what we have. We don't want to have to do it twice. When we do it, we want to get it right.