How we celebrate birthdays

I recently posted about our 5th Annual Birthday Bash.  It is a celebration that we have each year to combine all of our birthdays into one humongous shin-dig. It is something that our family anticipates all year long.  It is an amazing event, but there is one question we get asked over and over again.  "What about their individual birthdays?  Don't they get to celebrate their day?"  The answer is, "Of course they do!"

Today was Lillian's 7th birthday.  Here is a peek at what a birthday celebration in the Kraft house looks like.

When the birthday kid wakes up, there is a sign over her door.  I don't know where I stole this idea from, but it has really caught on in our house.  They love having this silly sign on their door.  I let it stay up for a whole week, so it kind of prolongs the celebration.

All the children love running through the birthday door!

Of course I forgot to take a photo, but we started the morning off with monkey bread.  The birthday girl eats all of her meals on the "You are special" plate all day long.

After breakfast, we had family prayer time where we said a rosary.  This is special because the only intention was for the birthday girl - that she grow in holiness and learn to love and serve the Lord more in this upcoming year.

Present time comes next in our day.  The birthday child receives as many presents as they are old that year.  There is usually one present that is a little more "spendy" than the others.  We did, however, cap this at ten. So our 12 year old only got ten presents this year (she was totally okay with that!).   One of their presents is in the birthday box.  This is a special present that Dad chooses special for the birthday child.  The birthday box is the last present opened...maybe I'll have to post more about that later.  It's a neat thing.

She's been asking for this silly thing for over a year.  She was SUPER excited to get it...they tried 3 different slushies this afternoon!

The children always give each other gifts as well.  They know each other really well and get creative about finding gifts.  Sometimes it is something homemade.  Other times, they pool some money to buy something.  Joseph earned a free book from the library reading program.  There weren't any books that he was interested in for himself, but there were many that Lillian would enjoy.  So he got her a book and gave it to her for her birthday.

We simplified the cake baking process a few years back.  I make a jumbo sized chocolate chip cookie and the birthday child gets to decorate it.

That's a smiley face, 7, and balloon made out of chocolate chips...and a whole lot of sprinkles!

And it wouldn't be a complete birthday without candles and singing.

Looks like Eleanor and Haley are trying to give her a little help!

The birthday child also chooses what we have for meals and has the spotlight on them for the day.  They also receive cards in the mail from relatives and phone calls from grandparents. Who doesn't love getting mail and phone calls?!

That's what a Kraft kid birthday celebration looks like.

God Bless!

Heather :-)