Fone's birthdays
Mario-themed party (10th birthday)
Star Wars (11th birthday)
12th birthday and bowling fun (12th birthday)
13 things we love about you and a "surprise double birthday celebration trip" (13th birthday)
14 things we love about you (14th birthday)
Mario's birthdays
Captain America party (9th birthday)
10th birthday
11 things we love about you (11th birthday)
12 things we love about you (12th birthday)
A birthday party during Lent (12th birthday)
Melody's birthdays
Picnic birthday party (7th birthday)
Brave party (8th birthday)
9th birthday
10 things we love about you and a "surprise double birthday celebration trip" (10th birthday)
Little House on the Prairie themed birthday celebration (10th birthday)
11 wonderful years (11th birthday)
Ariel's birthdays
A Circus birthday party / A birthday at the Big Top - (6th birthday)
7th birthday
8 things we love about you and a Frozen party (8th birthday)
9 things we love about you (9th birthday)
Cinderella birthday party (9th birthday)
Max's birthdays
Super Hero party (4th birthday)
Lego Ninjago party (5th birthday)
Star Wars party (6th birthday)
6 things we love about you (6th birthday)
7 things we love about you (7th birthday)
Celebrations for our new 7 year old (7th birthday)
Pookey's birthdays
2nd birthday
Snowman pancakes, cake and outdoor SNOW fun (3rd birthday)
4th birthday
5 things we love about you (5th birthday)
6 things we love about you (6th birthday)
Minion birthday party (6th birthday)
Rose's birthday
Introducing.... (Rose's *birth* day)
Guess who's 1-derful??? (1st birthday)
2nd birthday
3 and cute as can be (3rd birthday)
Yoda's birthday
Introducing... (Yoda's *birth* day)
Little Old 1-derful YOU (1st birthday)
Celebrating your 2nd birthday
What to do with all those birthday cards??
We always hang them up (on a door or wall) for at least a month and then I take them down, and tie them all together to be kept away in their "memories" tub. Very simple!!
How we celebrate birthdays
We have gone back and forth and switched things up from year to year, as we started celebrating birthdays early on.... from having all our extended family over for a big bash to just celebrating with our own immediate family. Finally after trying all sorts of things, we came to a very happy decision of how we celebrate birthdays and that comes down to one main reason - the actual birthday person themself. How can we celebrate them? Their life and how special they are to us? By having all our extended family over, it seemed as if we were more focused on caring for and feeding and entertaining everyone else and not focusing on that special someone. It just didn't seem *right* to go through all the time and energy (and money!!) to entertain such a large crew when the focus was not even on that birthday boy/girl. So, where we are today and have been for the last few years is this....
1 - If a birthday lands during the week, my wonderful husband takes the day off work (a vacation day!) and we also take the day off school. We go out to eat (either lunch or dinner) - which is special in itself since as a large family, it is very rare and expensive to actually go *out* to eat. We also do a special activity, as a family celebrating their day and let them choose... go to the zoo, a museum, bowling, movie, park, etc... (what the birthday boy or girl chooses , of course!!)
2 - If the birthday lands on a weekend, then we still do something special (like the above ideas from #1) to celebrate that day as a family.
3 - Once our kids turn 7 years old, they can have a friend party with a theme of their choice. We have found that having 8-12 kids over for the birthday party (versus 40 adults and children from the extended parties we have had in the past) is much more manageable PLUS (more importantly!) it gives me the opportunity to *go all out* and spoil the birthday boy or girl with fun foods, games, and activities related to their special theme. This has allowed for so many great memories and helps our family focus on what birthdays are all about! Before they turn 7, we do let them have cousins over their age and do a little theme party as well.
4 - As far as extended family goes, we are blessed that both sets of grandparents make time to come visit and/or take the birthday boy/girl out and this is all about them, which is perfect!! With aunts, uncles and cousins.... cousins around their age come to the party and enjoy that special time with them! So, it has worked out perfectly all the way around and has made everyone remember and celebrate what the day is all about!!
++Thank you, God, for these opportunities to celebrate the lives you have given and blessed us with.++
