Scaled-back festivities were easier on parents, but kids felt robbed
Written By:
Lauren Zumbach / Chicago Tribune | 8:00 am, Mar. 8, 2021 ×
Eight-year-old Frederick Jozwiak plays basketball with friends during his birthday party at Ultimate Ninjas on Feb. 19, 2021, in Glenview. John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune/TNS
Last year, Parker Boyes invited his entire class to the movies for his ninth birthday.
His 10th birthday party earlier this month was decidedly more intimate: a virtual hangout, then indoor go-kart racing with two close friends.
He fared better than his older sister, Ellie, who was “heartbroken” when a long-planned 11th birthday sleepover turned into a drive-by party last April amid tighter pandemic restrictions, said their father Adam Boyes, 43, of Glencoe, Illinois.
With some kids approaching their second pandemic birthdays, Chicago-area families are easing their way out of quarantine and into in-person celebrations.