Birthday Traditions — Kate's Take

In the midst of December, six days before Christmas to be exact is our eldest child's birthday. I despise the fact that her birthday is right before Christmas. Like, REALLY despise it. It's such a busy time that the added component of celebrating her birthday almost puts me over the edge. I try to remind myself that I should be thankful her birthday isn't on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and I'm trying, REALLY trying to be better about voicing my negative opinion on this matter. I would feel terrible if my daughter ever felt bad or disappointed about her December birthday and don't ever want to feel that wer'e diminishing the day.

As a means to help keep my sanity I've developed a birthday template of sorts that makes both planning easy and the day (albeit in the midst of December) extra special for our daughter. As an added bonus most of our traditions are really cost friendly which is helpful during December (actually, this is helpful all the time). Read on for my TAKE on birthday traditions.

Kate's Take Birthday Checklist

Streamers - We hang streamers from our children's bedroom doors the night before their birthday so they wake up to a fun surprise. This takes no more than 20 minutes and literally, entertains all the kids for a week until I get sick of them and tear them all down. We started this when my daughter turned 3 and have done it for our son as well.

Balloons - We started this tradition for all of our kids on their first birthday. There is nothing better than a large foil number balloon for a photo op. Just think...you'll never forget how old they were when you look back at photos with a number balloon in the background. I opt for gold or silver depending on the year.

Birthday Crown - This tradition also started on our eldest daughters first birthday and all of the kids wear this crown on their birthday. We got our crown from Oeuf and it's beautifully made and holding up quite nicely. There are a few other color options if a gold crown isn't your thing.

Donut Cake - I don't have anything against a real cake, I promise. However, I typically reserve a real cake for celebrating with extended family and/or friends. On the kids' actual birthday there is nothing better than a tower of donuts aka a donut cake for breakfast. We started this tradition for my daughters 3rd birthday and we've done a few different variations (mini donuts from Stan's in Chicago, a tower of glazed etc..) but the Hostess Donettes are at the top of Lucy's list. I love to add a number candle to the top (of course, we make her blow out a candle on the donut cake) and this year added some unicorn decorations for fun!

Birthday Cereal - This is a new tradition that I adapted from my sister-in-law who has done this for years. At the start of the week (Sunday) my husband took our daughter to the grocery store and let her pick out any cereal she wanted. This was a big deal as we typically stick to the non-sugary cereals. Our daughter was thrilled to pick out Lucky Charms which she then can eat for breakfast all week long. When it runs out, that's it. No more sugary cereal until her next birthday. I have to admit that she may be sharing a few marshmallow morsels with her younger brother so maybe just maybe he will reciprocate when his birthday rolls around.

Scavenger Hunt - This is probably my favorite tradition. Again adapted from my sister-in-law (she has really good ideas) and is best suited for kids 4 and older. Eric Carle has this book called The Secret Birthday Message which is essentially about a message this boy receives that takes him on a hunt using shapes to find his birthday present. I love Eric Carle and children's books so naturally when I learned of this tradition I knew I wanted to start it in our family. We typically read the book the night before their birthday and in our case, give our daughter her "Secret Birthday Message" after school on her special day. It's so much fun to watch her run around the house in search of her most special gift. The night before my husband or I craft the message by using a mixture of words and drawings. Don't forget to keep the old messages as it helps in terms of coming up with different clues etc... This year our daughter discovered her gift behind her shower curtain.

Birthday Dinner - As the number of kids in our family has grown to three we like to take advantage of some one-on-one time when we can. One of those times is on their birthdays when we take them (starting at age 4) to a special dinner with Mom + Dad. Our daughter loves to go to Crosby's Kitchen in Chicago so she can finish her meal with a skillet cookie. And if your wondering...of course, I bring along that candle from the donut cake in the morning so we can sing Happy Birthday one last time.