A 50th Birthday Day of Adventures

Yesterday was my fiftieth birthday, so my family dedicated the day to yet another Birthday Day of Adventures. We started this tradition a few years ago, as it replaces the giving of gifts with the sharing of experiences. Neither my husband nor I want for anything in particular, and when our younger adult sons need something we don’t wait until their birthdays to buy it. This supports both my minimalist and zero waste goals.

Experiences > Things

Although the routine is normally for me to choose the activities and then surprise the family, I actually plan my own birthday adventures. I enjoy the process of researching fun activities and delicious treats that are A) within our budget, and B) fall under the category of stuff we love to do. No surprise for me, but that’s okay.

Usually I’ll start with an anchor activity and then figure out what kind of restaurants and fun things exist in that neighborhood. However, yesterday was a bit spread out. (For example, I recently took my mother to the Goodwill pay-by-the-pound Outlet store in Hillsboro for her 75th birthday, which prompted nearby chocolate malteds at a old-timey soda fountain and delicious Vietnamese food.)

I desperately wanted to take the family to see the Laika exhibit at the Portland Art Museum. However, with tickets at $20 a pop, ($17 with a student discount) this splurge would have blown the budget. My friend Dezsea mentioned that her family has a annual membership which includes guest passes, and she generously printed out two tickets. (Thank you, Dezsea!) However, this still left us with $34 in admission fees. I Googled around a bit and saw that the Chinook Book had 2-for-1 coupons, so I asked in my Buy Nothing Group if anyone had one they wouldn’t be using. This brought $74 down to $20. Whew . . . .

The exhibit was amazing, and I could easily have spent three to four hours poring through all the insane detail that goes into their stop motion animation. We also took a short stroll through their temporary Wyeth exhibit, which also dazzled and would have been worth a visit on its own.

I chose a low cost Belizean restaurant with great Yelp reviews near the museum. It ended up being just okay, but it was still nice for the four of us to enjoy a meal together. The cost was $35.

After the museum my plan had been to drive across town to Pip’s Donuts, as they give you a free dozen for your birthday, Unfortunately I’d forgotten that they close early in the afternoon. Luckily I experiences this ah-hah moment before getting there, so we were able to detour to a different donut/coffee joint for our sweet treat. I didn’t choose a hipster joint with $3 donuts, as we just paid over $8000 for the kids’ winter term tuition and fees, which doesn’t even include room and board. So yeah . . . cheap was key. Luckily Tonalli’s Donuts offers the perfect no frills, minimally Instagram-y experience. Plus, their donuts are delicious. I chose a maple buttermilk bar. Mmm . . . .

My plan had been for us to choose a restaurant for dinner, but we were all a bit pooped. So when I proposed picking up an American Dream Pizza and eating it at home, the “yays” were unanimous. Although they’re on the pricier spectrum for pizza, this option was still much more frugal than any dine-in restaurant would have been. I chose a single topping (sausage) as this is my trick to keep any pizza on budget. Choosing one of their specialty pizzas with pre-selected toppings will set you back over $31. Our pizza was $23 with a tip.

We gobbled the pizza and quickly spread out to our own corners of the house. My older son and started watching Coraline on Netflix and promptly fell asleep. I blame the carbs.

Luckily, there was no time restraint as our last activity wasn’t due to start until 9:15 P.M. A local theater was screening My Neighbor Totoro in Japanese with English subtitles, perfect for my Japanese speaking kids. I’d also reached out and received two 2-for-1 coupons through my Buy Nothing Group, which brought the price down to $2 per ticket!

Not to brag, but I think the day was a total hit. We did fun stuff, ate tremendous amounts of delicious food which didn’t put us over budget.

In the end we spent $99.45, which is certainly on the higher end of things, but considering that this was for an entire day of meals, tips, activities and treats is not actually too shabby.

Lunch: $35
Parking $4
Museum admission $20
Donuts and coffees $9.05
Pizza dinner: $23.40
Movie theater: $8

Now, onto my second 50 years! Plus maybe a vegetable to two.

Katy Wolk-Stanley    

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”