Birthdays...

I just love birthdays! What a special time to enjoy looking back, looking forward, and savoring today. We have a few traditions that have developed over the years. 

1. We give the kids 

a choice on their birthday to either A: have a big blowout birthday party with all their friends, B: take a weekend trip with on their own with one parent, or C: take a weekend trip with the entire family.  This

 starts around age 4, but is

 really enjoyed at age 5+. The kids talk about it all year and usually change there minds often and dream big. Our youngest daughter invites and disinvites other family members to her birthday

 celebration (including her twin)throughout the year depending if she likes their behavior or not. 

2. Each of the kids enjoy

 making something for the birthday kiddo. Gifts range from drawings to sock puppets, but each one is filled with love and thoughtfulness. The exchanging of these gifts is

 usually a very special and often touching time.

3. The birthday fairies come to decorate. Either the day before or while they sleep the other kiddos (with help) decorate the room of the birthday kiddo. We

 keep a decoration box that the kiddos usually pick from, but when parents are unprepared a roll of toliet paper and construction paper chains work well. 

4. Birthday Princesses/Prince wear their crowns. The girls have special birthday tiaras that they wear on their special day.

 Since one of the girls has a twin brother we have a special crown for him as well. :) 

5. Leave the icing off. When serving birthday cake we leave the icing off and serve each slice with a scoop of icing and a dash of sprinkles.

 That way each kiddos has the fun of decorating their slice and no arguments over who gets what piece.  Everyone wins, not to mention one less job for mommy on the special day.

6. Sleep where you want. The birthday kiddo gets to choose where they sleep after the big day. They are usually accompanied by at least one sibling and talking is usually not kept to a minimum. We made the mistake of doing this the night before the birthday but after one grumpy birthday boy we decided this was a better way to end a special day.

We just celebrated our 30th kiddo birthday last week. I can't wait to see what the birthdays look like after 30 more, according to my calculation that should be in about 4.5 years.