10 Ways to Help Your Kids Feel Special on Their Birthdays

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We have been busy with birthdays these last couple of months.  Three in March, one in May and one in June.  My daughter is the last for the year in Auguast and then we have a good break until January.  As much as I hate my kids growing older, and I even cry on their birthdays every year, I LOVE helping my kids feel special on their birthdays and making it a special day for them! My kids are so special to me and I hope that I show them that every day, but I love to help them feel extra special on their birthday!! Here are some simple ways that I thought of to help  your kids feel special on their birthdays!

10 Ways to Help Your Kids Feel Special on Their Birthdays

Make a Countdown– My little ones ask every day leading up to their birthday, “When’s my birthday?”. It’s cute, but can sometimes it gets a bit irritating.  I have found that making a chain countdown helps them stop asking the question and gets them excited for their birthday to come.  

Declare it Screen Free Day as Parents– When it’s my child’s birthday I like to make sure all of the stuff I need to do online is done the day before. I don’t carry my phone with me all day and I really try to focus just on them and their day! I don’t declare it openly so that if I answer my phone my kids don’t say “Mom, you’re not supposed to be on your phone”, or if I have an emergency. I like not having any work or answering of emails on their birthdays.  

Decorate the House the Night Before– This has been our favorite tradition, we even do it when we are out of town. This last month was my husbands birthday and we were at a cabin for a family reunion, but we didn’t’ forget. We decorate the main room, their birthday chair and their bedroom door with balloons and streamers!  My kids love it, but they hate it when we take it down.  They wish their birthday could last longer!

Have Siblings Do Birthday Child’s Chores– We like the birthday child to feel really special. We talk to the other kids about serving them.  One of the things we do is do all of the child’s chores on their birthday. The kids love to just be able to play and not think about doing all their jobs before they can play.

Have a Special Birthday Plate–  We haven’t done this one, but I found this adorable Happy Birthday Plate on Amazon and think it would be so fun to pull it out for each birthday!

Let Them Pick Their Meals –  One of my kids favorite things to do is pick all of their meals for their birthday. We usually have a special breakfast at home.  Sometimes we do waffles or pancakes, but one thing the kids love to do is buy their favorite cereal! 

Cereal is even better if it comes with a toy inside the box!  My kids always fight over the toy, so when it’s their birthday they get the box with a toy inside and the toy is theirs!   We are excited to see the new Minion movie coming to theaters soon! When we saw this cereal at Walmart showing the 7th Minion with toy Minions in it we just had to get it!  I was excited that it was in Honey Nut Cheerios, one of my favorite cereals!  

For lunch they usually choose pizza or macaroni.  For dinner they most likely pick to go out to eat, but sometimes they choose to stay home and have me make their favorite meal! Either way it’s a fun way for them to feel special on their special day!

Throw A Party or Let them Pick Something Fun to Do – My kids love parties.  I thought a lot about throwing them and how often I would.  I thought every other year at first, but soon realized it really isn’t that terrible to invite friends over every year.  The thing is it doesn’t have to be a big party. Invite some friends or family over, play some games and eat cake.  I love making a special cake, but as far a big extravagant parties, I just don’t have it in me.  Make it simple is my motto. Kids don’t care about fancy.  They usually pick some sort of theme, I make a cake that goes with the theme and they are happy. My son just had the most simple ninja party ever, and it hardly cost me anything….although I did make a piñata…which I am not sure I will ever do again! 🙂

If you don’t want to throw a party, let the child pick, within reason, something they would love to do as a family.  

Tell them the Story About When They Were Born – I have a journal with each of my kids birth stories.  It’s fun to read it to them on their birthdays, and sit read through some of the entries that I wrote when they were babies!

Show Them Pictures of Them As They Have Grown – I also have scrapbooks that we love to look through of their baby pictures and as they have grown. It’s fun to look at them and talk about some of the pictures!   

Tell them What You Love About Them – Every night before we say our family prayers and the kids go to bed we usually say something we are grateful for that day, but on birthdays we say something we love about the birthday child.  I usually, always, cry my way through a long sentimental statement about how much I love being their mom.  My husband gets teary and my kids all roll their eyes and say, “Mom always cries on birthdays.”. Oh well, I know they love it!

So there you have it, 10 simple and easy ways to help your kids feel special on their birthdays!