Tuesday, March 2, 2010

It's time to Celebrate!


March is a big birthday month in my family. Within 3 days we have 7 birthdays. My son's, my paternal grandfather, and my littlest sister are all on the 28th, my brother and his wife share a birthday on the 26th, and my oldest sister and maternal grandmother share a birthday on the 27th. My brother-in-law's birthday is also in March on the 21st. None of this includes cousins, aunts, or uncles that also have birthdays in March. So, needless to say March seems to be a month long birthday celebration!

Birthdays were always a big deal in my house growing up. The birthday kid got to choose what we had for dinner and we had a birthday bear that sat on the edge of the plate. We also generally got to pick an activity to do with the family and usually we had a couple of friends over to celebrate as well. My parents always made a big deal about birthdays and I always remember feeling special on my big day.

My son will turn 2 on the 28th of this month. We plan on having a family party and eating cake and ice cream. Since Lucas is currently in love with the movie Cars, we are going to have a Mack cake (he recognizes Mack, but not Lightning McQueen), and having balloons, hats, and other decorations. We always try to make as big of deal about a birthday as possible!

Tell us how you celebrate birthdays in your house!

5 comments:

Delia said...

We have a special plate for the birthday person. I have seen some people make a chair cover for that person too so they have a special chair for them that day.

Laura said...

My mom always decorated the house the night before our birthday, so we would wake up to fun streamers and balloons. She also added a couple balloons to one of the chairs for the birthday person. That was always really fun.

We did the standard birthday person chooses the dinner menu that night, as well as choosing what kind of cake and ice cream we would have.

As for parties, we generally had a family "party" that basically consisted of dinner, cake, and presents. For friend parties, I choose now to stick with the rule of inviting the same number of guests as the child's age--my daughter turned two in January, so we had two friends over for her party. That seemed to work really well. We kept the party short and sweet, doing things that were age-appropriate for two-year-olds.

As a teacher, I have seen a few fun things that parents have done with their kids. You could give your child a special button to pin to their shirt to wear all day saying "It's My Birthday!". It can also be fun to have your child pass out presents to their friends--pencils, bouncy balls, etc. Then you have other people excited, too. :)

My birthday is coming up in two weeks, and my husband's is only two days later. While we're at it, any fun ideas for Mom and Dad's birthdays?

Megan said...

This year, since we have so many adult birthday's in March now, we are going to do a grown up only birthday dinner the night before our big family to celebrate everyone's birthdays. A couple years ago we did an adult only surprise birthday party for my husband. I found a sitter and so did the other two couples who had kids. It was fun to have an adult activity with no kids!

Heather said...

I love the idea of little presents to take to school in lieu of goodies. The bouncy balls would be a huge hit and super cheap! Don't get me wrong, goodies are always fun. But, when it's gone, it's gone. I think the ball or pencil would be fun because every time the little classmate uses it, he will remember why he had it.

Kelly A. said...

I love birthdays and always think it is fun to do a theme around the child's interests or hobbies. I am by no means a pro party planner and usually turn to the internet for inspiration. Some sites where I have gotten cute ideas are:

familyfun.com
holidash.com
parents.com
marthastewart.com
gourmetmomonthego.com

Happy planning! :)