Birthday Traditions

As I mentioned yesterday, we haven't yet gotten to the point where we throw cool kid parties for the birthday girl.  But it's a big goal of mine to make sure the birthday kid is blessed on their special day.  I definitely want it to stand out as a celebration.  Party or no party.

Some things I want to do will have to wait... like the cool video interview idea.  I can't wait till I can sit them down and question them on tape.  (On tape?  90's kid regression.)  I also can't wait until they have a favorite food and can ask for a special birthday dinner.  That's something Mom always used to do for us.  It was always so cool to be "queen for the day" and get to plan the night's menu.

This year I finally got to start the "Balloon Fairy" tradition.  I snuck into their room while they were sleeping the night before Lily's birthday and splattered about 10-15 balloons around the floor.  It would obviously be more impressive with more balloons but the truth of the matter is, Jesse had fallen asleep early and I was actually going to hit the hay early, too.  It had been a long day at the aquarium and I was ready for bed.

So I got all snuggled into bed with my man, which hardly ever happens when he's working mids, and started day dreaming about all the fun birthday happenings the next day.  When I remembered THE BALLOONS!  Two 25 packs of blue balloons that I let Lily pick out herself... just waiting to be blown up.  *insert Mommy battle over leaving the snuggly bed to get up and inflate 50 balloons on her own*

I almost rolled back over and fell asleep thinking "oh I can just blow them up in the morning" but then I remembered how I'd read this whole balloon fairy idea in a magazine but couldn't do it till now.  Because now I can finally trust both kids not to eat balloons.  So out of bed I got.  

I left most of them on the living room floor.  But the ones that were in the bedroom when they woke up were a HUGE HIT.  As soon as I came upstairs singing Happy Birthday I heard Lily screaming "YOOK MOM, YOOK!"

Another great idea I read in a magazine is this special sprinkle-bread.  It's apparently an Australian birthday tradition. They call it "fairy bread" but I'm not sure what we'll call it.  Birthday Bread seems about right.  Just a fun way to make breakfast festive without adding too much sugar to an already sugary day ;o)  

Alone time with the birthday girl.  We thought it would be nice to allow Lily to open her presents without her little sis getting all tasmanian devil on her.  So we did presents while Sammy was napping. (Insert my slight concern that Lily is about done with naps all together.  Trying not to have a panic attack over the disappearance of my two hour kid-free-break each day.)

Anyways, it was really nice for her to get to open gifts by herself, eat a cupcake or two, and play with her new toys a little before Sam got up.  And it was nice for us to spend some time with just Lily-bear.  I forget sometimes that I need to connect with both of the girls one on one.  I doesn't happen often... I might need to remedy that.  Both of them need to have some time each week where Mommy is focused on them 100%.

Making a sweet birthday treat is obviously an important tradition.  She's been talking about her "blue birfday cupcakes" for weeks now.  It's a little hard for me to let go of my hippie-aversion to sugar this time of year.  I feel like between holidays and birthdays my kids get way too much of that stuff.  And I know that I have to let go and live a little... but I can't help but thinking of all the reasons sugar is bad for them... or the worry/guilt that the reason they're both sick right now is because sugar compromises your immune system.  It could just be a coincidence.  Maybe not.

But by george she had her blue birfday cupcakes.  And she licked the batter from the mixer.  And she licked the spoon from the icing.  And she loved every minute of it!  It was worth it.  Even if I now feel like I have to pump her full of yogurt, chicken stock, and lacto-fermented veggies to detox her and get good bacteria back into her tummy.  "ohmygosh Jessica chill out."  I know.  You don't have to say it.

And in keeping with my resolution to stay more in the picture with the girls, I had Jesse document our little tea party.  I think I want to make it a tradition to do a Mommy-Me birthday pic with each of them.  But I love this one so much because it shows how chaotic the house was that day.  It was a lovely day of birthday fun.

Anyone else have any rockin' birthday traditions I'm missing out on?  I don't want my kids to be deprived!