2 Easy and Simple ways to make a Birthday Special, When you Don’t want to Throw a Party.

In this crazy world, where marketers and peers on social media, make us believe that we are not good parents unless we throw an elaborate party for each and every child on each and every birthday,

I am here to tell you, that simple and uncomplicated celebrations, can still be special and memorable for your children and a lot less of a stressful thing for not only you, but your child as well, when it comes to celebrating birthdays in your family.

It’s perfectly okay, to do less, while still focusing on your kiddo and making them feel special!

When I was growing up, I had very few birthday parties where I invited friends over.  And I didn’t mind that at all.

Me and my six siblings knew a lot of other families, but there were only a handful of birthdays that I actually had either a bunch of families over, or a handful of kids my age over. 

I specifically remember doing that on my fifth birthday, my eighth birthday, my 12^th birthday and then one other birthday that I just had one friend come over. 

Otherwise it was my grandparents and siblings and my parents that would celebrate my birthday, with the cake usually homemade, opening presents and just spending time enjoying being together.

And I loved it! It was special and I felt like I had extra attention that day.

I believe it was the same way for my husband and his family, where they rarely had birthdays that they had friends over for. 

I do remember going to their house once, for his sister’s birthday, in my teens, as she was one of my good friends.

We’ve continued to do the same for our kids and haven’t actually ever had a birthday party that we’ve invited anyone besides family over to celebrate. 

I’ve asked my kids, if they wished we did something more elaborate, and they’ve told me, no. They enjoy our birthdays as is. So…you have it from the kiddo’s mouth!

We’ve just enjoyed the tradition, of having the grandparents and aunts and uncles over and spending the day having a meal and playing games and then finishing in the evening with a homemade birthday cake, usually decorated by the birthday child including sticking the candles in it if they get the chance, singing and then opening presents.

So since we keep it as simple and minimal as this, we make a point of finding other ways to make the birthday child feel special and enjoy their day.

Following, are at least two of the ways that we’re most consistent in making their day special.  Ways that became traditions and are always talked about and looked forward to as the big day approaches!

And now the kids make sure that I continue them!

Our birthday traditions just accidentally happened.                                                                                    

As my children were growing up and wanting to become involved in helping me in the kitchen, it naturally turned into helping when their birthdays came around and I was making the birthday cake.

They wanted to dump the measured ingredients into the bowl, stir the batter, and clean and lick the bowl out after I scraped the batter into the pan.

And so it was just a natural transition right into wanting to decorate the cake as well!

Thus, a birthday tradition was born! 

Long before a birthday comes, the kids are discussing which cake they want to make and how to decorate it.

It actually changes several times before they settle on it, but they’re usually decided before their birthday. 

We’ve had cheesecakes, chocolate cakes, zucchini flour cakes, pies, Bundt cakes, and even Jell-O as birthday cakes.

All of my children love to help me in the kitchen, whether I am making cakes, pies, pizzas, bread or whatever, so it’s actually hard to narrow it down to just having the birthday kid help, without the others hovering and getting their fingers into the pie, so to speak!

I have to tell them that it’s the special birthday person’s turn to make it with Mama all on their own, and that they will get their turn when their birthday comes!

The secondary most consistent birthday tradition that we have, is using an unusual, different or special plate for breakfast, and if breakfast doesn’t work out, then it is used for lunch or dinner. 

We have a plate that I actually painted and had fire kilned at a DIY pottery place when I was in my teens.

So that’s been the special plate for the most part, but lately since we’re still unpacking from our previous move, on a very recent birthday, we ended up pulling out a square plate with bright red flowers on it and he enjoyed using that plate instead. 

Basically, just giving them something different to use than the usual every day dinnerware or plastic plates that the kids use for their meals, makes for setting them apart and creating a special feeling for that meal. 

It brings particular attention to the birthday person and the fact that we’re celebrating them and the blessing that they are to our family. 

Growing up, my mom had a set of red Cape Cod dishes. She always served breakfast on them for us, making either crepes or pancakes or special scrambled eggs for us. 

So I took a spinoff of that and don’t necessarily make a special breakfast, but just make sure that the birthday kid has a special dish to eat on.

You know your Grandma’s China? Yes, the set that you inherited, that sits in the cupboard and you don’t know what to do with it and you feel guilty letting it sit there and not doing anything with it?

Yep…I have one of those too, but I decided, that my Grandma’s China needed to actually be used. In all the time that I spent at my Grandparent’s house, I never saw my Grandma use her China set.

It had been passed down from her mother. I ended up with it and for years, didn’t use it.

Finally, I decided that it was meant to be used and what better way to remember my Grandma by, than by using something that had been hers.

So, I carefully got it out of my cupboard and washed it up and now we use the small plates and the saucers for dessert plates on birthdays.

Yes, I even let my toddlers use it. We haven’t broken any pieces yet, but I would rather risk one or two getting broken over time, then it being entirely useless by just sitting.

It might as well already be in the garbage if it’s going to just sit in the cupboard.

At least it will have served its purpose for many happy birthdays and for creating memories and being something special that my kids will remember about birthday desserts.

So, we’re happy with our accidental traditions and looking forward to them year after year.

I would love to know what small, but meaningful ways your family uses to make your birthdays special without all of the chaos and expense.

Please leave a comment below and share with us what those things are. I’d love to know!