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Journal of Family Issues
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Children's Birthday Celebrations From the Lived Experiences of Low-Income Rural Mothers

Jaerim Lee

University of Minnesota, St. Paul, jalee{at}umn.edu

Mary Jo Katras

University of Minnesota, St. Paul

Jean W. Bauer

University of Minnesota, St. Paul

This exploratory study investigates how low-income rural families celebrate children's birthdays, using interview data from 128 mothers residing in five states. Findings from a qualitative content analysis show that the mothers make special efforts to have birthday celebrations as other families do despite their financial constraints. Making the birthday child feel happy and "normal" is the central goal of the birthday celebrations. Many of the mothers desire big parties and expensive gifts, which are socially expected characteristics of birthday celebrations. These mothers adopt various strategies to acquire, create, and allocate resources they need, including reducing expenditures, planning, changing priorities, pooling resources, and receiving assistance from their social networks. However, some mothers cannot celebrate birthdays the way they want because of financial constraints and may feel unsatisfied with their celebrations.

Key Words: birthday celebrations • birthday gifts • birthday parties • family ritual • low-income • resource management strategies

This version was published on April 1, 2009

Journal of Family Issues, Vol. 30, No. 4, 532-553 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0192513X08327861
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