In a few short weeks my baby will turn six. I have to admit I haven’t even started planning anything resembling a birthday party. With all the frenzy of our impending move back to New Orleans I haven’t really had the time. Not to mention his birthday falls not only on a Sunday but the Sunday after Thanksgiving. If we have a party it will have to take place on either Friday or Saturday. The other problem is having to decide if I should invite all the kids from his class or just his “best friends”. I know I need to get moving, year before last I couldn’t even order a cake from Winn-Dixie because of the holiday turkey orders. Last year I was fortunate enough to be able to get one from Sam’s and probably this year we’ll do the same. So the cake is taken care of, what about the actual party? Personally, I would like to simply do something on a small scale with our immediate family and maybe a few friends from his class. Maybe a trip to Chuck E. Cheese or Blu Rabbit’s Paradise, which is where he really wants to go. But this blog is not about my plans for Tyler’s birthday celebration, it’s actually about making birthday’s special.
In the April 2006 issue of Better Homes and Gardens ideas for making birthday celebrations are given. Two that I particularly like are: give them the day and give a privilege as a gift.
The first idea is to take the day off from work if your child’s birthday falls during the week and spend the day doing something fun together. If you can’t manage that, then set aside the weekend and make it really special. If you decide to celebrate during the week this also means keeping your child home from school but perhaps they can manage to miss that one day to play hooky with mom (and dad too). With Tyler’s birthday falling close to Thanksgiving, I believe he will always have his birthday off. And hopefully I can continue to support myself with my writing and not have to get a real job so we should be able to spend his birthday together no matter what day it falls on. But for you working parents out there consider taking a vacation or personal day to spend with your kids.
The second idea is to give a privilege as a gift. Each year you can give your child a new privilege according to their age. For the little ones it could be staying up 15 minutes later. Older kids might get their own set of house or car keys or some other privilege.
Whatever you decide to do to celebrate your child’s birthday make it special– remember birthdays come just once a year.
What special things have you done to make your kids birthday special?
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