It’s a new year and, in our family, that means we start thinking about birthdays for our kids! We usually have friend birthday parties every other year for our people, but I have been decluttering my house a lot the last couple of months. My basement has had so many toys, most of which are only occasionally touched. So, as I’ve been giving our excess away I realized that I didn’t want to just replace those toys with new toys. This year we are opting for experiences instead of birthday gifts. Now, hear me out.
Do you remember what you got for your 9th birthday? What about your 11th? 14th? I don’t. In fact, I can remember getting a pink bike with a banana seat one year, but my parents took a few pictures of it, so I remember it really well. While I’m sure the gifts I received were great, the things I remember most are the memories we made while experiencing new, or out of the ordinary things. And as much as I do not want to fully admit it, eventually my house will not be full of children’s laughter (or screaming) once they’ve all grown. My oldest kid starts high school next year and I clearly remember when he laughed for the first time and feeling such joy from it!! Time is a thief and I just want to make sure that I steal back some good memories from it while I can!!
My second oldest son has his birthday in January. I began to tell him my idea. I said, “This year we aren’t going to do gifts for birthdays, we’re going to…” he immediately interrupted me with, “Find someone in need and give them our gifts instead.” Oh. Dang it. Way to make my idea sound selfish! HA!! I actually replied with, “what I was going to say is have experiences and make fun memories instead!” Although now I think next year we can do the other idea, because really, that one is pretty fantastic as well!!
So as a family we decided that the birthday kid gets to choose the food, including the treat for the day. And if there is something that they need like clothes or shoes or the like they could ask for that. Then we discussed some fun outings the kids might choose to do for their birthday experience. The more we spoke about it, the more excited they became at all the possibilities there are!! Here is our list:
- 2 hours at a trampoline park as a family followed by pizza!
- Play hookie from school and head to the zoo!
- Plan a weekend getaway in the mountains, or beach if that’s what’s close to you!!
- Go to the local amusement park as a family (or fly if that’s in your budget!)
- Indoor skydiving
- Wake boarding
- Surfing
- Paddle boarding
- Snowboarding
- Spend the day at the water park if it’s a summer birthday
- Go to an anticipated play!
Now, this list is obviously not exhaustive, and my oldest daughter did ask to see if Hawaii was an option. Cute. That’s really cute. 🙂 She did bring up a good point, though. Experiences with my entire family for 6 birthdays will not be cheap. So I have made plans to save money accordingly in anticipation for the fun we will have. This will all require a little more planning on my part, but it will all be worth it!!
This month we will take our family snowboarding. They’ll miss school and we will go make some memories as a family!! I hope that he remembers what he did for his 10th birthday, but I know if I take some pictures, that he’ll remember it a lot more!! This is our time to fill their childhood with love and fun!
In the past we’ve used things to help them celebrate and feel loved, and while that’s not wrong, I am hoping to help them see the value in doing fun things together! Here’s to a year of experiences and intentionally making memories be our focus!! May your celebrations be just as meaningful this year!!!
Kayleen
