I love making birthdays meaningful in our family. Kids don’t need a big over the top party. But we can do little things to help them feel special and important to our family. Now you may have noticed that I love planning fun themed birthday parties for my kids. But I do that because it brings me joy. I’ve been throwing fun parties before Pinterest was even around. It’s one of the ways I personally love to show love. With a little creativity and time I can create a fun memory. But kids don’t need big parties. All they really need is loves ones and some yummy treats.
But there are other ways to make your kids birthdays extra special. And most of them don’t require a lot of money. I’m excited to share these ideas with you. I love these family traditions and I hope they help your family feel more connected too.
Special Breakfast
Most mornings my kids eat healthy cereal. And they love cereal. But on birthdays I make pancakes (sometimes with chocolate chips or sprinkles), waffles, or crepes. Waking up to a special breakfast makes the day start out special. It takes more effort on my part to get up earlier but it’s always worth it.
Candles and Singing
Another fun tradition we have is putting a candle in their food for EVERY meal. Blowing out a candle and making a wish is seriously fun. Why wait for the cake? Sometimes it can be tricky. And sometimes we have to sing really fast. But my kids love it!
Waking up to Decorations
I’ve seen parents online decorate their kids door frame or fill their rooms with balloons. Such a fun idea. With three of my boys sharing a room I don’t usually do this. But I have when they’ve had their own rooms. I remember my friend had this awesome felt birthday banner. It was hung up for every birthday. It’s just a little thing that makes the day special. And how I wish I had signed up for that church class to make a banner! Luckily I found one at Target in the $3 dollar section and I’m excited to start doing this for my family. I found a cute one here on amazon. Your decorations don’t have to be expensive. Just a little dollar store crepe paper makes kids feel special. We like to hang them in our kitchen and dinning room area.
Favorite Dinner
Our family can’t always afford to take out our kids to a restaurant for their birthday. Especially when I have three birthdays in April. But I can let them choose their favorite dinner. It’s fun to see what dinners they pick. As a kid it feels awesome to get to choose what everyone gets to eat for dinner. Dinners that are most requested are pizza, enchiladas, calzones, and baked potatoes.
Special Plate
When I first got married I received a red plate with a poem saying why it was so special. Getting to use a “special” plate is such an easy tradition. Sadly our plate went missing. But I found a fun blue one I was able to get from my Grandma that says “Cherish the moment”. When my son was eating his birthday dinner he told me he was totally cherishing the moment. You can also use this plate when someone gets a promotion or something special happens, like a rank advancement in scouts.
Favorite Dessert
I love making a special treat for their birthday. When we lived near family we would invite over the family to have cake on their actual birthday. Grandparents weren’t always able to make it to their parties. Sometimes the treats we have at parties are on theme for the party. But for their actual birthday treat I ask them to choose the dessert they want. Sometimes it’s ice cream or a special cake. I love seeing what my kids favorite treat is that year. This also makes birthdays fun for everyone in our family. Who isn’t excited to have dessert on a weekday?
Share Your Favorite Thing
This is a newer tradition that I didn’t mean to create. While eating our birthday dinner I invited all my kids to share their favorite thing about the birthday child. I always love listening to the sweet things my kids love about each other. Later it was Draco’s birthday dinner and he asked if everyone was going to share their favorite things about him. I realized this was important it was to them to get verbal affirmations. So now I make sure we list and share our favorite things about the birthday child. This doesn’t cost anything but brings a lot of love into the home.
Write a Letter
This is a tradition I started with my oldest when he turned one. I wish I could say that I have been been faithful. But I’m trying my best. I thought it would be special to write a letter to my child on their birthday. You can share why you love them and the amazing things they are doing at that time. I seal these letters and place them in an evelope for a later time. They have not idea I’m doing this. I’m still deciding when it would be a good time to give these to them. Maybe when they graduate college or become a parent themselves. There are some years that I space and forget. But I give myself grace. Let’s say my kid only gets 10 letters from me. That is still 10 letters of love from a parent that adores them. And maybe when they see years when it didn’t happen they will remember I’m a mom of four who is trying her best to make birthdays special and it’s okay to fall short sometimes.
These are simple ideas to show our children that they are important to our family. And most of these ideas don’t take a lot of money. For years our family didn’t have a lot of money. In fact we often didn’t even buy our kids gifts on their birthday. And honestly they never said anything about it. If I couldn’t give them presents I could give them fun memories. And an assurance that they were very important and valued.
It helped that I knew they would get a gift from their grandparents. In fact the first birthday we had after moving to Arizona by son Yoda said, “I can’t wait to open my presents!”. I made sure to call my hubby and ask him to pick up a gift on the way home. He was more than happy to buy him a lego set. I had forgotten all about buying him something.
I do love to throw fun parties for my kids. But I do most of party myself to save money. I was able to throw my son a fun party last weekend for about $40. And $10 of that went to cute buckets that I can use again. I always make my own cake and treats. And I even do my own decor. I love throwing parties for my kids. (and hubby and friends) But no mother should ever feel pressured or guilty if they don’t have birthday parties. Each family can decide what’s best for their family.
I hope these ideas can show you that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to make a kid feel special on their birthday. Feeling valued and loved helps kids feel better about themselves. And it teaches kids how to celebrate others and support them when it’s their special day.
Do you have any family traditions to add? I would love to hear about them! Share in the comments below.
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