How We Celebrate Birthdays with A Big Family // Minimal Birthday Traditions 2023

[@katiacleroux7376]

I've found it difficult to navigate this as the kids grow older. My 7 years old has started wondering why her neighbourhood friends have extravagant parties while we keep it simple. It's been tricky to navigate

[@daniellamk2859]

The last two minutes were solid gold parenting wisdom that can be used in everything from birthdays to what types of activities or vacations each family has… thank you for sharing this wisdom in a world that sometimes forgets about gratitude. In our family, we create a special “birthday book” of that child’s photos and highlights that year. We also like to look back at their baby and younger photos and tell funny things they said and did over the years. We are starting a new tradition of each person sharing something that they love about the person wok is having their birthday. I loved hearing about how your family celebrates, thank you for sharing 💝

[@mollytuininga6056]

i suggest you do gifts earlier in the day so they have time to play with it,and they have time to slow down in the evening

[@deborahifillbrito7894]

We also have some pretty solid but „making the kids feel special“ things. *They wake up to Ballons and Flowers in the living room (just around 5-10 Ballons bouncing around), with presents at the table and a fruit pouch for each sibling (they never get them, just for birthdays, so they think it’s very special) *They get to go to the bakery with us and choose what they would like from the bakery for everyone to have. * We turn on some birthday music and sometimes dance around *They get a birthday party with peers, but around 5-6 kids and we don’t do crazy stuff, usually water play because all three of them have their birthday in summer That’s mainly it. They usually don’t get any toys or stuff between birthday and Christmas, so this is their time to enjoy.

[@antoniaizuebe7228]

Lovely take hone points from the video. Stay blessed 🙏🏾

[@nandinaibach5419]

I knew a foster mom who always did the same “birthday breakfasts” for her young foster kids: waffles with vanilla ice cream and sliced strawberries. Keeps the kids full and they love it. Also, it’s not that much worse in sugar than waffles covered in maple syrup, plus the kids think it’s so fun to have ice cream as a part of breakfast.

[@christinat.7264]

We always had just family for birthdays (cake, sing happy birthday, some cards from relatives, some gifts). I think it's about making the person feel special on their special day.🎉🎉🎉

[@neahughes1579]

For birthdays, we are very similar to you! We do get gifts from grandparents and some aunts and uncles, so we tend to let them open one gift per day for about a week (usually very small things). We also do birthday praises for the birthday person- we go around the table and tell the birthday person something we love about their character. I keep one small shoebox of reusable decorations. I sewed a felt pennant banner a few years ago and we pull it out for any birthdays. I also usually blow up a few balloons and put them on the floor in their room. I am a baker as well, so I stay up the night before their birthday and make a surprise birthday cake with something they enjoy that year as the cake theme.

[@laurens8623]

I think you've said Elisha is oldest in other episodes too

[@janedoe-to2yc]

cinnamon toast crunch is oh so good!

[@bethany3914]

Burst out laughing at Elisha's "birthday gift."

[@BrytniJade]

My husband and I are opposite… lol 😂 He grew up getting the special treatment etc and LOVES celebrating birthdays…. I grew up with family acknowledging it was your birthday, but not really doing anything for it, so it just didn’t matter to me. It has been really fun to learn how to celebrate and meet part way, where we aren’t teaching self-centered expectations, but are showing each child that they are special gifts from God to us, worth celebrating 🥳 I’m really thankful for a “crown of the road” kind of solution- I’m not so intimidated 😅 Thank you LORD for each year of life you’ve given- they are a gift! And we celebrate these little lives you’ve allowed us to be the parents of… they really are a blessing! 💙

[@laurao8099]

I love simple birthdays like this kids tend to appreciate everything so much more with simple celebrations❤🎉 I have seen Jessa Seawald from the Duggar family give her kids one gift per day for the week of their birthday to help them truly appreciate each gift that they receiv! I love that idea as well!

[@gabriellapavlov3308]

Love it. I’m an only child and my love language is quality time so I never wanted birthday parties.. just a special day with my parents. My husband is one of 10 and they did pizza and cake and a few meaningful gifts with his siblings and maybe a few cousins. With our 3 little kids we keep it simple too. I love to see how my husband’s closest friends are his siblings. I want to also cultivate that in our home like you guys have!

[@wellhavenco]

Neat insight and ideas. So far, we've decided for our kids to host one party with friends per year (so the kids rotate each year whose turn it is) and the other kids whose year is "off" get a special day with just our family on their actual birthdays. Our third is having his first birthday in a few weeks (I always love holding a special first birthday celebration). We generally invite the same families to each birthday celebration, we have lots of family friends, and I love it that way! The fun thing is that we still get to have one big family friends celebration each year, but aren't pressured or overwhelmed to throw a big party for each of our kids every year.

[@Caro_Rodriguez]

❤

[@mamatofive1]

Love this message! Thankfully most of our friends do birthdays simply, as we do. But if they see others’ extravagant parties on KZbin, that’s a whole other story! 😮🎉

[@WondaElizabeth]

Elisha’s words at the end were priceless. Well said.

[@mollytuininga6056]

i think gift opening in the late morning so they have the day to play

[@neahughes1579]

Perfect timing! It’s my oldest’s birthday today.

[@steffa648]

Love this video!! Could you do a video on how to travel long trips with little ones screen free? Maybe you have already done one in the past, but would love to hear your ideas for traveling all day and how to keep the kiddos occupied.

[@KellyLeAnne]

I love this. My son just turned five and I feel like we nailed the perfect birthday for the first time. We went to a renovated old train station that was pretty much empty. He had so much fun riding the escalators, looking at the old train stuff, and running around the big empty room making echo sounds. Bonus was that there was a sweet little cotton candy shop in the building, and he got to watch them make it and pick out his flavor. Later that day, he had a friend come over to play and that was it. It was so inexpensive, simple and stress free. I love the sugary cereal idea! That would be novel in our home too. I would have chose PB captain crunch as a kid!

[@Dom-jb3pi]

I love your love for the Lord and I love the laughs before bedtime. You both have an incredible sense of humour. Elisha always has me laughing - I will never forget the planet earth comment in another video you had .. my husband and I do the same and so it was just absolutely hilarious for me LOL. God bless you.

[@dorisdeal8729]

You guys crack me up 😂😅❤ love it! Thanks for sharing!

[@katiebatty27]

Love the ideas you share. ❤️

[@HomesteadHealing]

I always have a present and their breakfast choice treat, usually, a homemade donut or pancakes with sprinkles, and a present on the table when they wake up, but we do let them choose a cereal when we go camping, and we also don't have sugary cereal in our house but we do it for camping, my kids always pick lucky charms.. I wish they picked cinnamon toast crunch lol we only have 3 kids, but I love they way you make them feel special, we definitely try to do the same.

[@itsangelaagain]

How would you handle birthday gatherings if you did have most of your family living nearby? We live close to ALL of our family and so we’ve been trying to figure out how to handle birthday celebrations without necessarily having everyone our daughter is related to over!

[@bettinak.4]

Great question!

[@victoriamichele6336]

Hi Katie 🤗 would love to know more about how you prepare for labor/how you manage pain like how the labor/delivery process goes for you?? Your what I eat in a day while pregnant and your preparing for postpartum vids/meal prep have been so helpful. Thanks!!

[@rachelgustafson1207]

I really liked this video! Thanks for sharing these ideas. ❤

[@amotherslittleway]

Love this guys thank you❤

[@aletteanne1]

I was literally thinking last video I wish you would do a video on birthdays

[@amotherslittleway]

Love Elisha’s last sentence:)

[@Bonnieuxful]

Shalom ❣️Do you ever watch Marty Goetz or the Paul Wilber family Shabbat celebrations on Friday nights⁉️😀🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻❤️👍🏼

[@mollytuininga6056]

i made a heart cake for our kids for their birthday and they got to choose the icing color and the choice of candy ,like smarties on the edge,or gummie bears!

[@coleenbam6571]

Almost felt like you read my mind, was just wondering about it the other day. Do you do birthday cakes for each birthday, blowing out candles?

[@ozarkview928]

I’m a mom to seven and grandma to sixteen, we never did parties except for there 16th . They got cake and to pick there favorite foods for dinner . For my grandchildren most who live out of state I started giving bigger birthday gifts,well bigger for us , usually from Amazon for free shipping, and no more Christmas gifts .The parents as well as the grandkids are happy with the arrangement and I’m happiest of all !

[@bethany3914]

Do you allow your kiddos to go to other drop-off birthday parties, even though you don't host them?

[@patriciabellah9392]

Do you think that they don't have the I want this not only because of what you've taught them but because they don't have as many of the outside influences?

[@tammyrena1214]

Do you BLW or purees? Do you vaccinate?

[@nancyfarkas3592]

I don’t think you need a huge party to make your kid feel special. Most kids would be happy with a cake and presents. And they don’t need 400 people at their party either.