Since a birthday celebration has been a part of our week, I decided to make my August contest about birthday traditions.
Every family has different birthday traditions. And many times we pick up ideas for our family from other families. So this week is dedicated to sharing those traditions so we can encourage and learn from each other.
We have alot of birthday traditions in our family. I’ll share one tradition that we do each day of the contest.
Tradition #1: On the day of someone’s birthday we all get up at the same time and have cake and ice cream for breakfast! The night before Mark and I set the table with birthday plates, cups, and napkins. We also decorate the birthday person’s chair with streamers. This tradition doesn’t score nutritional points, but it’s off the chart in fun!
You can enter the contest and the fun by commenting on this post with your family birthday tradition through Monday, September 1. The randomly selected winner will be posted on Tuesday, Sept 2 and will win a Hearts at Home book of their choice! Tell your friends about the contest so we can gather a lot of ideas! And don’t forget to include your email address in your post so I can contact you if you win!
We eat off a special birthday plate at supper time. It is a colorful plate we bought a Target. The birthday girl/boy gets to choose what they want for supper and eat it off the plate.
We also have birthday cake for breakfast. Then my girls get to make a “build-a-bear’ (incase you’ve never heard of it, it’s exactly what it sounds like) That way they have a non breakable, washable memento of each birthday. My oldest daughter even made one for her sister’s ‘original’ birth day.
We have a special plate my daughter and I painted at a pottery shop that the birthday guy/gal eats from, they get to pick what I make for dinner, and we go to our local swimming pool (both kids’ birthdays are int the summer). They actually call it the “birthday pool” the rest of the year.
My son is two so we are just starting to make Birthday traditions. We let him pick out an entire menu for his birthday to eat…so if it’s cake in the morning then cake it will be!! I also take the whole day off from work to be with him and we usually go somewhere in the afternoon to play, such as the library or our local kids museum.
When I was child it was always a tradition to go to a Chucky Cheese Pizza restuarant and wear a crown on our heads and sit at the head of the table. The last time I went I believe I was 10 then….but I’ll never forget it.
Stacy ([email protected])
We also use a special “red” plate that I made at a pottery shop. It says on the bottom “You’re Special”. That allows me to pull it for more than birthdays. But the birthday person gets to use the plate for every meal that day. They get to pick their special supper. We also have an extended family supper and invite our parents and siblings (or the kids Aunt/Uncles) with us. the birthday person chooses the restaurant. The oldest always picks Red Lobster and the youngest always picks McDonalds. So what we save at Mcd’s we spend at Red Lobster! Birthdays are another excuse to celebrate family. We are so busy that sometimes we need that excuse.
This is soo neat that I read this today! For my daughter is now a 7 year old today! She woke up and just looked older.
Our family tradtions are that she opens the presents sent from people out of state before she goes to school. Then she opens the rest of the presents (from us) after school. It makes the presents last longer. If it’s on a weekend then we put our present from each person under their pillow and she goes room to room to open that person’s present.
This year we added me coming to her school and taking her out to lunch during her lunch period. Plus….tonite she will get to have her fav. dinner. chicken and “smushed” potoatoes from Basha’s on the “you are a star” blue plate and have the dinner recored in the booklete it came with.
We blow up balloons with helium and put them above the birtday persons head so they wake up to colorful balloons on their special day
My daughter is having her first birthday on Monday. Right now we don’t have any family traditions like cake for breakfast or a special plate. However, it is our families tradition to have a family party. So that is what we are starting this year. Most of her aunts, uncles, and grandparents as well as other relatives and friends will be here to watch her open presents, eat cake and sing happy birthday.
I think as she gets older we will also do something special at breakfast (when she won’t break the plate).
Tawnda
[email protected]
When the kids were still in nap mode, we’d blow up about 30 balloons with helium and put them right outside their bedroom door so when they got up they walked into a forest of balloon streamers. Now we take the birthday child to the party store to pick out their special theme plates, napkins and hats. They get to pick out a huge mylar balloon just for them. I also ask them what kind of cake they want and try to decorate it with their theme. They get to pick their favorite dinner. Depending on the $$ we may try a family outing to the zoo or a free museum/aquarium day.
A family tradition I grew up with and am passing on to my family is to have a big breakfast on your birthday. The thing that makes it special is we eat it on our good china. This always made me feel special since it was reserved for holidays and special occasions. We even drank orange juice from stemware. We usually eat leftover cake for breakfast the next day!
Growing up we had a special plate (which I had completely forgotten about until reading this!). We now do breakfast in bed for the birthday person and they get to pick out fun things for us to do during the days. So far we’ve done a party each year for both of the boys. They get to pick their “theme.” We don’t have family nearby so we invite all our friends. They both get so excited about it!
I’m the first Laura and I didn’t leave my email address. It is [email protected]
We homeschool so birthdays are a holiday. In addition the birthday girl/guy gets the entire day off. No chores, just a relaxin day. We concentrate more on giving gifts for birthdays so the birthday person gets a gift from EVERYONE. Because of the size of our family that’s a pretty big deal. They also get to pick out what meals are to be served for the day.
It is time to establish some birthday traditions for my own family. my kids are 5, 3, 2 and 7 mos.
but I remember from growing up, we always had a birthday box each year. Kinda like a christmas stocking, but bigger. It held necessities, like new underwear and other fun little stuff, just wrapped in tissue paper. it was the “grand finale” of present opening!!
julanne (dot) wilson (at) gmail (dot) com
ok so the b-day plate wins as the idea most used ! 🙂
we ALSO have a special plate, it is red. for the entire day that person gets to use the plate and eat their special foods that they pic for the day. along with using the plate i (mom) decorate the house night before birthday while the child is sleeping and when they come down for breakfast its party day !!!! birthdays are a big celebration at our home.
ok so the b-day plate wins as the idea most used ! 🙂
we ALSO have a special plate, it is red. for the entire day that person gets to use the plate and eat their special foods that they pic for the day. along with using the plate i (mom) decorate the house night before birthday while the child is sleeping and when they come down for breakfast its party day !!!! birthdays are a big celebration at our home.
In our family when it’s your birthday you get to pick the dinner or restaurant of your choice for that evenings meal. When our daughter was younger we ended up at McDonald’s which was quite comical for a “special” dinner but hey, it’s what she wanted and at her 3 year old age – it was the BEST restaurant she could think of. 🙂 Our birthday dinner tradition is always fun because we have a wonderful dinner together and end with cake and ice cream for dessert.
Thanks for these fun contests! 🙂
Dana K.
[email protected]
At dinner that night my favorite part is when we talk about the day the birthday person was born. I LOVE to retell the events leading up to my children’s births (my husband and I have our own ‘versions’ that we tell and laugh about with our kids) and how we felt when they were born and what our impressions were of them and how they’ve grown now. Our children also get to hear about our births on our birthdays as well.
Our birthday traditions are just beginning as our daughter turns 2 this year. I painted a Birthday plate at the pottery place for the birthday person to eat their meals. We also make this totally yummy birthday cake with chocolate chips, cream cheese and homemade vanilla frosting. It’s awesome. We also sing “Happy Birthday” every time that person walks into the room. My voice is usually quite hoarse by the end of the special day. We hope it will be the little things we do that day that will help our children feel special and cherished.
Staci
[email protected]
Our birthday traditions are that we make pancakes for breakfast and the birthday person gets their pancakes in the shape of their age. The birthday person also gets to pick what to have for dinner and what kind of cake and has no chores for the day. One tradidion that I just heard that I’d like to start is a birthday ribbon is tied to the birthday person’s bed and when they wake up, they follow the ribbon all the way around the house and every once is a while there is a small gift tied to the ribbon. That sounds really fun!
forgot my email sorry !!!!
[email protected]
forgot my email sorry !!!!
[email protected]
I always make and decorate a cake for my kids – something that is their favorite thing or character for that year. I’ve done shaped cakes of Minnie Mouse and Elmo. My kids’ birthdays are 10 days apart so it’s very important that we do something special individually for our kids and avoid the temptation to “lump” their birthdays together. Last year on my daughter’s 4th birthday I made her a “dog” cake out of donuts since she really didn’t like cake that much, but loved donuts. It was fashioned after the slinky dog on Toy Story. My son got a cell phone cake since at the time of his first birthday the only thing he was really interested in was the phone!!! As kids we always got to pick what we had for dinner, and I have continued that tradition too.
Oops!! Forgot to leave my e-mail – Farmer’s wife e-mail is [email protected]