Birthday ideas

Traditions and rituals

Every family has their own special birthday ideas for a birthday, maybe a little ritual like going out somewhere special for dinner together or the child chooses the things they like to eat for breakfast, or that mum takes them to school on that particular day. Whatever it is it will suit your family and make the day special for the birthday person.

If you have no family traditions then perhaps the birth of your children will be the spur you need to start your own, traditions are such fun and are the things that will be passed on and remembered when the presents are long gone. They need not cost a lot you can invent them according to your own finances, so it is up to you.

The table

Why not make a special place for the birthday person by putting a little bunch of flowers at their place or making a special table mat out of coloured and decorated paper, fabric or card. You may like to decorate their chair with streamers of coloured paper or swathes of a pretty fabric. A simple thing would be to paint their name on a piece of paper and decorate it with stick on gold stars.

Party balloons

Tie a few balloons on the chair for added colour and decoration. For the more natural look get some greenery from the garden some wild flowers from the fields or ditches and decorate the table with these. If you are near the sea then gather shells and pretty stones and scatter sequins among them for added sparkle.

Birthday crown

Make a simple crown for the birthday person, you can make this from a wreath of flowers or leaves twined together on a wire base or a cardboard crown painted with gold or coloured paint and decorated with buttons or sequins or stick on shapes. Maybe you might make a hat that will keep for everyone’s birthday. Whatever you decide to do keep it simple the best things are often the simplest.

The party

For the party why not spend a couple of nights beforehand making a piñata, everyone can join in making it, or it can be kept a secret until the big day. Make it out of a few layers of papier mache and let it dry between layers. The piñata can be made to any shape or design, a balloon is an easy shape but the more complex ones can be made to resemble animals and birds. When it is the party day fill the object with sweets and get the kids to take turns hitting it with the aim of releasing all the sweets to willing hands.

The cake

The cake is a very important part of the party, although it may not get eaten, but the blowing out of the candles (for adults and children) makes the party complete. Of course you may want to get the cake made by professional cake makers but you can also make it yourself with not too much trouble. Number cakes can be constructed from ordinary round and square cakes with some judicious cutting and frosting. You can also buy the tins for any number you require from a specialist kitchen shop. Trains, castles, volcanoes, dinosaurs can all be made from ordinary cake tins with some imagination a couple of pictures and a lot of frosting. Mini cakes are also a great idea as they can be decorated by the children at the party and taken home with them if they don’t want to eat them right away. Adult’s cakes are naturally a more specialised area, but they too can be made at home, the mini cakes idea can equally work for an adult’s birthday party with the cakes iced or decorated with care and imagination and arranged beautifully. Other cakes filled with cream and fresh fruit can be just as spectacular as a professionally made version.

Themes

Whether it is a child, teenager or adult the themed party works brilliantly. Get into the spirit of the theme and transform the venue if it is a pirate theme then make pirate flags from old sheets and paint the skull and cross bones on them, hang up home-made bunting, borrow ropes and string them from ceilings and stairs. Or hold the party outdoors and use whatever you have available. Make cardboard or wooden cutlasses and pistols, cardboard hats, brightly coloured neckerchiefs, face paint for moustaches and black patches. Make a raft and a treasure map, have a treasure hunt. Let your imagination take over.

The fairy party can have pastel colours, wings and crowns, a fairy castle can be made with sheets and streamers. Use fairy tales to get your imagination in full flow, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Peter Pan. The princes may have swords the fairies wands of different colours. If you hold it outside then pretty tablecloths on the grass and coloured cushions, lengths of pretty fabrics strung in the trees.

Birthdays are a celebration of the person’s birth so help them to have a very special day with very special birthday ideas.