March is a birthday month in our family. When the month blows in, it always catches me off guard as I typically scramble to make last-minute plans for my daughter's birthday, which arrives on the third. But thank goodness for traditions. Even if we're behind schedule on the party details, we have some predictable ways to celebrate, no matter what. Here are some fun ways to make the birthday person feel special from year to year:
- Serve the person breakfast in bed featuring a favorite cereal, muffin, fruit and juice. Sing a birthday song as you enter the bedroom and present a special gift to start the day.- Hang a birthday pennant by your front door for friends and neighbors to see. To make the pennant, cut out a piece of brightly colored felt material (use a sports pennant for a pattern, if you wish). Write the name of the birthday person on the felt with fabric paint and decorate it with glitter and ribbons. With scissors, make four 3/4-inch slits on the wide side of the pennant, a half-inch from the edge. Weave a half-inch wooden dowel (about 36 inches long) through the slits. Glue the felt to the dowel to hold it in place.
- At dinner time, burn a special birthday candle. To make the candle, glue lengths of metallic cording around the circumference of a purchased white pillar candle, leaving a half-inch space between each length. At the top space on the candle, paint the age of the person with acrylic paints. For example, for a first birthday, you would paint a "1." Continue down the spaces and paint numbers in ascending order: 2, 3, 4, etc. Decorate the candle with glitter, shiny stars, etc.
Burn the candle a half-inch down each year. Remove the cording as necessary. (Note: Never leave children unsupervised around burning candles.)
Donna Erickson's new book, "More Prime Time Activities With Kids," is now available in bookstores. If you would like to order by mail, please send a check for $12.95 plus $2 shipping and handling (total $14.95) to Donna Erickson, P.O. Box 16188, Minneapolis, MN 55416.
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