Simple Birthday Parties- The Kids will Thank you for it!
I’ve always enjoyed throwing great birthday parties for my children. We’ve done some pretty cool and creative things.
This year my son wanted a swimming party. I thought that sounded fun. The only problem is that my son’s birthday is in February and even though we live in the south, it’s too cold for a swimming party.
Fortunately, we have some great friends who happen to have an indoor, heated pool.
They were so kind to allow us to use the pool so my son got his SpongeBob swimming party after all. It was very fun and very simple.
In fact, one of my family members said to me, “You really have mellowed on your birthday parties.” I smiled and said “Yes, I have.”
See, I’m that mom that has always thought that I had to make the cake myself and come up with lots of games to play and party favors that had to be unique and creative.
The parties have always been great, however I have always ended up exhausted and stressed.
This year, rather than staying up the entire night before (Literally, I do this) baking and decorating the perfect theme cake, it was a beautiful store bought SpongeBob cake—AND THEY LOVED IT.
Rather than planning games and prizes, they went swimming and played together—AND THEY LOVED IT. Rather than spending money on exceptional party favors trinkets (that will be thrown in the trash within days), I simply put together candy bags—AND THEY LOVED IT.
So, it took 8 birthday parties to get here, but I have decided that simple is good. I get sleep, but more importantly, my son and his friends have a great time and that’s all that really matters.
Posted in Family Time, Healthy Kids by charli
Giving
I am a conscious (and sometimes unconscious) mom of two wonderful children who, like most kids, love the holiday season.
In an effort to help my little guys focus on giving, not just receiving, we usually try to do a family project. This year we chose to donate to worldvision.org. World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization that demonstrates God’s love to children and their families all over the world.
This wonderful organization helps with basic needs such as food, water and clothing or bigger projects like community development and disaster relief. For a 6 and 7 year old, seeing the pictures of less fortunate children in other parts of the world made a big impact on their little hearts.
We decided to give a unique gift that could really benefit a family in need. Through World Vision’s gift catalog we found that giving an animal to a family is a lasting gift that will be a benefit for months to come. Based on our budget, we narrowed our choices down to: chickens, fish, share of a cow, sheep, share of a goat, or five ducks.
We discussed each animal and the benefits they would bring to the receiving family. We prayed about it and decided on five ducks. With five ducks, a family will have plenty of protein-rich eggs to eat plus the extra eggs and hatched ducklings can be sold at the market to buy medicine and help pay for children’s school tuition. It was an exciting time for my children to learn about and experience the blessing of giving.
I was a very (consciously) proud mom when they both ran to their rooms to gather change from their piggy banks because they now want to save enough to buy a whole pig for a family next. After all, as my daughter pointed out, giving doesn’t have to only be at Christmas!
Posted in Family Time, Giving, Green Living Tips by charli
