Children's parties can swiftly get out of control, much like an Irish wedding

When it comes to birthday party bags, it's like a mini version of Wall Street—everyone’s vying for the best deal and will step over their mothers (literally and figuratively) to get it.

For all my fretting about procuring the perfect gift, his birthday reminded me that little things capture their imagination. Picture: iStock

It feels like we are only just over JJ’s first birthday, and here we are celebrating his big brother Ted’s. Honestly, at the risk of sounding conspiratorial, it’s almost like this keeps happening every single year, and it defies rational explanation. In an attempt to stir something sentimental in our now four-year-old, my husband took him on a tour down memory lane on his birthday eve.

“Four years ago, the nurse rang and asked me to come in to see mammy in the hospital,” Fred said as he tucked Ted into his Paw Patrol bed.