Birthday Prep

[Kusala]

My oldest just turned 4. In the midst of his birthday party it dawned on me that our family has no birthday cards, or special birthday things prepped. Birthdays should always be special days for children, regardless of the circumstance they are celebrated in. A normalizing and familiar event like a birthday party (of some sort) could prove to be profoundly psychologically beneficial to a child.

Do any of you have birthday preps, or plans about how to celebrate in a disaster of some sort?

I'm lucky in that my son loves, what he calls "stick-outs" (skewering hot dogs, marshmallows, fish etc... and cooking it over an open fire). We let the kids all have a stick-out for his birthday, which was a big hit....though it may lose its special feeling if we were doing it every night. The moment definitely made me start thinking about how I would celebrate special days with my family if all, or most, of what we did wasn't really an option any more.

Cards using pencil shavings as flowers: http://increations.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post_30.html

Homemade zombie pop-up birthday card: http://www.paperexploits.com/2011/01/27/custom-pop-up-zombie-themed-birthday-card/

Obviously I don't think it would be overly appropriate to give your young, possibly terrified kid the zombie b-day card; but I think it's really neat. And it's a good example of how to make a pop-up card.

[Prepared American]

Never thought of that, but it is a great idea. Thanks for sharing.

[duodecima]

Actually, I have a shiny "Happy Birthday" letters-hanging-from-string thing and a couple sets of birthday candles tucked in a drawer. Also some streamers. This predates my zombie disaster preparedness - this is "O snot it's almost somebody's bday" preparedness. Because when you work nutty hours, live 10 miles from a store, and are Very Bad with calendars, you prepare to almost forget these things.

By coincidence, I have an extra set of bday candles tucked in a BOB, because they were extra-extra and I thought they might be useful for fire starting. Since I have in the past stuck b-day candles in everything from cupcakes to brownies to large home made cookies, I could probably get away with sticking them in a pop-tart, as long as the candles and the singing of the song were observed. If we're bugging in I can do better than that. But you're absolutely right, this would be one of those key "normal" touchstones for children.

[Kusala]

this is "O snot it's almost somebody's bday" preparedness.

Ha! Too true, there are definitely multiple layers of preparedness. Great point about the birthday/emergency candles; you can start a fire with it, then stick it in a cupcake. It's definitely the ritual behind the action; the singing and the candles that really create the comfort of tradition. I wonder how long singing and candles have been a part of our birthday celebrations? (I'm sure if I took a moment to google it I could find out...but I'm not going to ) Of course if you ask any kid (definitely mine) what's the most important thing about a birthday, they will most likely tell you presents. I can't really see adding 5 years worth of Lightening McQueens and Bob the Builders to a BOB though.

[duodecima]

Of course if you ask any kid (definitely mine) what's the most important thing about a birthday, they will most likely tell you presents. I can't really see adding 5 years worth of Lightening McQueens and Bob the Builders to a BOB though.

They'll hate whatever they're into now in under 24 months anyway, so you can't win there. Perhaps my kids are just sneaky and deceptive, but they place great emphasis on cake with candles and singing for the grown up family members too, and while they might just be angling for extra dessert, I think they're attatched to the ritual. Which is good, the ritual packs light & tight. Our recent ancestors created stability and security for their kids with a lot less stuff than we do, the more I think about it, the more planning I do to provide as much of that kind of security "on the move" as I can. BOB/INCH Xmas/holiday preps, anyone?

[HackHack]

Great advice
Thanks

[Kathy in FL]

I've got a tub for each of the holidays that the family celebrates ... even the dorky ones we have fun with like Ground Hog Day. After the holidays I stock up on plates, napkins, and whatever else is on deep clearance. For birthdays I have one box for general decorations and another that I store small clearance type items for gifts. Things get rotated in and out all year long because if we don't use them the gifts get used as the kids go to parties for their friends. It actually has proven to be a real money saver.