Making Your Child's Birthday a Special Day!

Birthdays are a huge deal in our family. And by huge deal, I mean HUGE. Growing up, my parents made birthdays a big celebration for me and my siblings. We had family and friends over, fun food, games, activities, cake and lots of presents. As adults, my sister and I have continued that tradition with our own kids. We remember feeling so special on those days and we wanted to carry on this birthday tradition.

Since my nieces recently celebrated their birthdays, I wanted to share some tips to make your child's birthday a special one! No matter how big or small you celebrate, you can make your child feel special, important and celebrated. You'll not only be a mom (or dad) boss, but you'll help create a confident and well-rounded child with a healthy self-esteem.

Here are some ideas to make your child feel special on her birthday.

Picking a Theme

My nieces love to choose their birthday theme each year. One chose Snow White and the other chose Lego. We create games, treats, goody bags and activities centered about this theme. Allowing your child to pick a theme fosters their creativity! Usually, they will help create food label titles, goody bag decor and treats, table treats and games. 

Think of Surprises

Incorporate surprises! Creating surprises requires thoughtfulness and preparation. When you show your child you thought in advance about her, this makes her feel special. Think about your own life and when someone surprised you with your favorite meal, coffee, flower, outfit or anything! A surprise can be a game you're going to play, the cake you make or buy, the present you give- anything! In fact, my niece didn't want to plan some of her birthday details because she asked to be surprised! 

Getting to See Their Social Interactions

Pre-pandemic, they invited all of their friends and one day we will get back to that. But no matter the guest list, it is fun to watch your child interact in a social way. You get to observe how they interact with others, the manners they use, and the excitement they share - things that usually might only happen at school around their peers. During the pandemic, we had family only and still were able to observe these behaviors. 

Presents - Bought, Homemade or Experiences!

Whether you have a big or small budget, presents add more attention to the birthday child. And guess what? The best presents are the experiential ones - the kind that require time spent together. We got free passes to a local amusement park and gave them as a birthday present to our nieces. It was such a fun time that didn't even require any money. We've made presents in the form of scavenger hunts. Sometimes, when the girls would give a present, they would re-wrap something around the house - no cost! As they say, it's the thought that counts!

Birthday Kid Chooses the Food

My nieces get to choose the meals of the day - breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sometimes it's a place to order from and sometime's it is a home-cooked meal. What makes it fun is that they are choosing! Giving your child the ability to make choices develops their leadership skills and decision making. Who would have thought such a small gesture could do this. Think to your own life. How many times have you or someone you're eating with had a hard time deciding on where to eat?! 

Play Games and Laugh Together

In an earlier bullet I mentioned games. Our family makes up the silliest games and we love playing them! When you can laugh together it shows your child you enjoy their company and want to have fun with them. No matter your budget, you can buy pre-made games or create them yourselves. My niece recently learned about a game and figured out how to create a version of it herself! No cost involved whatsoever. For our Lego party, my sister froze lego figures into ice cube trays and we had to melt it the fastest. On the other hand, my sister and her husband are very creative and built a gem mining station for my niece's Snow White party. So, it depends on your resources. The important thing is to have fun together.

These are some of they ways we celebrate birthdays. Of course there are tons of other ways to make your child feel special. You do what you can and your child will appreciate it! That's what it is all about: showing your child the magic you felt the day she was born, the miracle of her birth or reliving the first birthday you spent together - remembering those beautiful memories and creating new ones each year.

Fine Motor Skills Toddler Toys: Dimpl Digits by Fat Brain

 Have you heard of the Fat Brain Toys brand? I have several of their toys and each one has a valuable play while learning concept to it. In this blog post, I'll focus on the Dimpl Digits toy. There are a few ideas I will share that can help you help your toddler be the smartest toddler on the block!

1. This toy requires some finger strength from your toddler. This will help with fine motor and gross motor skills, while strengthening your toddler's fingers. I love this because I will eventually teach my daughter how to play the piano and she will have strong fingers to rock out like Billy Joel!
2. As you pop one circle, you have to flip over the toy to pop it back. It is a never-ending cycle. This introduces the idea of cause and effect. Cause: you pop the circle; effect: the circle caves in.
3. As your toddler becomes more familiar with the toy, she will learn to flip the circle over and start again. This helps with critical thinking skills. "How can I pop the circles again?" Even though it is so simple for us to realize this, simply tasks like these are critical to develop your child's thinking skills. Let her explore the toy and its features. Model how to play the toy, but be sure not to flip it over for her each time. 
4. This toys makes for a great travel toy! No batteries, no little parts and no mess.
5. I've mentioned in previous posts how much I love multi-level developmental toys and this is one of them! This particular toy is numbered 1-10, in English and Spanish. Sometimes I will sit with my toddler to pop together and I'll count the numbers out loud in both languages. It also has raised dots representing each number. Once my daughter is ready to learn counting, I will have her trace her finger over the dots and count with her. On the "one" spot, there is one dot and so on until ten. So not only is she popping circles, but there's a math element to it.
6. Lastly, you can help your toddler identify colors. At first, you can pop one and say, "I'm pressing on the yellow circle." Eventually, you can ask your toddler to pop a certain color, "Where is the orange circle? Press the orange circle." As your toddler starts to talk, you can point to a color and ask what color that is.

And there you have it! A simple toy by Fat Brain that helps develop your own toddler's brain! As always with my posts and suggestions, try one idea out and see what works for you. Your toddler will love playing together with you.

Build A Bear Workshop - Teaching real world budgeting

Our family recently discovered Build-A-Bear Workshop and we love it! We have been there long ago and have seen it many times walking through the mall, but to go with young ones is a whole new adventure. 

In this blog, I'll share how we turned our second trip to Build-A-Bear Workshop into a budgeting lesson for our young ones. I want to help you be a mom (or dad) boss so you can help your child be the smartest kid on the block with plenty of real world applicable learning.

We first went to Build-A-Bear a few months ago and found out about the "pay your age" special. This means that your child can choose a birthday bear and pay $1 for each year old she is. For example, we got one for my daughter and it was only $1 because she turned one! This is something we will do every year!

Now that my daughter and two nieces had their birthday bears, we planned a second trip and I gave them each $10 to spend. (My nieces got some more money from their parents.) But knowing the amount before going to the store help them be in a mindset of picking and choosing what they would want. My eight-year-old niece did really well with this concept!

If you're going to Build-A-Bear Workshop, here are some tips to make it an enjoyable experience! Check out our videos and watch our experiences from our first trip and from our second trip!

Before

• Watch our video on YouTube to have an idea of what to expect in the store! Here's a video of our second trip there.
• Check out their website. If you're budget conscientious, you can go at a time with certain promotions and during your child's birthday month.
• Set a budget and help your child understand how many items it might buy. If they are too familiar with monetary concepts yet, let them know how many items they get to choose (for example, one outfit and one other item).

During

• Take a tour of the store and show your child all that there is available to buy. There are several stations in the store and LOTS of up-sell options. You can add outfits, accessories, voice boxes and scents just to name a few.
• Have a piece of paper with the total budget on it and subtract the items as your child picks them out. If you have a child in at least first grade, they will have a better idea of this concept and might grasp it easier. For preschoolers, you may have to say they get to pick one outfit and one toy for the bear.
• The first time we went, my eight-year-old niece got a voice box and this second trip, my five-year-old niece wanted the voice box with her budget. This company is great for allowing stuff to be added to the bear after the fact, like new stuffing, voice boxes and of course the clothes and accessories. Having already bought our bears last trip helped us save money this second trip.
• Be present and help your child make choices. It can be such a fun experience to enjoy together.

After

• Play pretend together with the new Bear your child has picked out.
• I love watching my one year old pretend to feed dolls. After this last trip, she was pretending to feed with a baby spoon, blew on the teacup to cool it down and actually folded her hands to pray like we do when we sit down to eat! My one year old learns a lot from her two cousins. Your baby will benefit from pretend play with you too!
• Letting your child have a Bear or any dolly for that matter is teaching your child responsibility and taking care of something. This is also teaching life skills, how to care for others, being aware of others and using her imagination.

What you thought would be a simple shopping experience to Build-A-Bear can actually be quite a fun learning experience with lots of real world lessons!

What other ideas do you have? Be sure to comment on my Instagram @Michelle_Holly_Recommends.

Learning colors, sorting and counting with your toddler and preschoolers