Celebrating Birthdays as Parents

When you are a little kid, birthday parties are pretty standard. Lots of kids, cake, presents. My mom always threw the best parties, great games and even prizes :) When you get a bit older, maybe you go to an amusement park, the beach...or maybe you took your significant other out for dinner or drinks. We still usually work in a nice breakfast!

Celebrating Before Becoming a Parent!

Now, as a parent, I'm having a hard time figuring out how to celebrate birthdays. Mine is just a few weeks after A's - so it ends of being an after thought. I also want to do something to celebrate my husband's, but all of the sudden a dinner and a movie becomes very expensive once you include the babysitter :)

Occasionally I can ask the grandparents to stay with the little guy...so maybe a weekend away might be good too. On the one hand, I like to celebrate important occasions with the whole family, on the other hand, adult time is important too. At this age, it's not like A will remember that we ditched him, right?

So for planning for my husband's birthday (dear husband, stop reading now!), what should I do? Take him to a sporting event? A nice dinner out? Go away for the weekend? Wine country, the beach, the city?

Taking any and all suggestions!