Mindy Kaling Admits She Feels a 'Little Guilty’ for Having ‘Cheap’ Birthday Parties for Her Young Kids: 'Not Proud of This'

Mar. 15, 2025

Mindy Kaling on Jimmy Kimmel Live.Photo:Jimmy Kimmel Live/Youtube

Jimmy Kimmel Live/Youtube

Mindy Kalingis giving a glimpse into how she celebrates her kids' birthdays.

During the Wednesday, Feb. 26 episode ofJimmy Kimmel Live, theSex Lives of College Girlscreator, 45, talked about how she feels “a little guilty” when it comes to her children’s birthday parties before they turn 4. The mom of three, who recently celebratedher daughter Anne’s first birthday, told hostJimmy Kimmel, 57, that she likes to keep things " very lowkey" in the beginning.

“I’m not proud of this, but for the first four years of birthday parties for my kids, I am so cheap,” she told Kimmel. “I don’t invite the hundred people over. It’s just me and my kids and we do something at my dad and stepmom’s house.”

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TheRunning Pointcreator, who is also a mom to son Spencer, 4, and daughter Katherine, 7, also shared the one tradition that she does with all of her children for their birthdays.

“The one tradition we have is that … we go to my dad and stepmom’s house. They throw a little dinner, and I like pretend I have to go to the bathroom,” she said. “Then, I walk outside and put on an Elmo costume.”

Although it’s an annual birthday tradition, Kaling admitted to Kimmel that she doesn’t really know if her youngest daughter is into the infamous character.

Mindy Kaling in an Elmo suit holding her daughter Anne.Mindy Kaling/Instagram

Mindy Kaling/Instagram

While her daughter Anne doesn’t know she’s Elmo and her son Spencer is “clearly indifferent or doesn’t care,” Kaling said that her older daughter Katherine had a “chilling moment” with hergodfather B.J. Novak, 45.

“She turned to B.J. and said, ‘Wait, is mom Elmo?’ " she recalled, adding that in the moment, Novak thought he should tell the truth. “He’s like, ‘Yeah, kid. She’s Elmo.’ And, it was like a little heartbreaking for her, I think.”

Novak, whom Kaling noted is an “important and integral part of my family,” recently talked about Kaling’s parenting as she officially received her star on theHollywood Walk of Fame.He spoke on her behalf at the ceremony, calling her an “incredible mother of three.”

“Mindy respects and understands [fame] in a very intuitive way because in addition to being a brilliant and wildly successful showrunner, an incredible mother of three, a deep and caring daughter and friend and mentor to so many,” he shared.

“You’d be on the walk of talent if they had one,” he added. “You’d be on the walk of friendship. You’d be on the walk of compassionate parenthood, but let’s face it all of these would be terrible field trips, so here you are instead, very deservedly, a person who means so much to so many on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”

source: people.com