My son will be two next week and after a the catastrophe of his first birthday party, I vowed to go minimal this year. No party. Then, just cupcakes at school. Then maybe a goodie bag, balloons? music? And as time grew near I started feeling guilty for not doing a "party". Am I bad mom because I'm not renting out a jumpy place or music class in his honor? And then I was saved from my guilt.
My saving grace was the director of my son's school. She's accredited in Early Education, wise and an expert for many, many years in making young children feel special.
Here were her suggestions:
- Set the stage to let the little ones know that something special is happening with decorations like a banner, fun plates and a tablecloth.
- She encouraged bringing fruit for a snack. And asked that I not bring anything sugary, like cake or cupcakes. However, if I wanted something cakey to bring mini muffins.
- Read your child's favorite book to their classmates and/or bring in your child's photo album or photo book to share their story with his friends.
- She reminded me that the most important thing would be to make the birthday boy feel special and celebrated and she's found having the parent(s) at school for snack time, setting the stage with decorations and reading a story in their honor makes them feel really special.
- I asked about goodie bags and she discourage that. There's no need.
A final piece of advice she gave me: The rule of thumb for the number of children to be invited to your child's birthday parties is equal to their age. Mentally that's what they can best handle and enjoy. So, for the first birthday, no friends. Just them. For their second birthday, your child + one friend =2. And so on. I love that rule. It makes things much easier.
So, for all you working moms with children in day care, I hope this helps. If you have any additional ideas, please share. I plan on taking some photos and sharing them with the other parents. And then I'm going to call it a day. A very special day ;)
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1 comments:
Great advise! I did not have "official" kids parties until they were 3 or 4. Not only am I a working Mom, but I was "lucky" enough to have my children in Oct, Nov, and Dec (oops). So, when Will turned 4 in Dec we had a very fancy, very special Birthday party the week before Christmas. So I agree with you, not every year needs to be a big party.
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