Celebrate Good Times

excuse the blurry iPhone pic - I never have my camera with me

I don't do birthday parties.  Weird, I know.  I love hosting get-togethers with my friends, monthly book groups and lunch, or having a family over for Sunday dinners, but ask me to plan a birthday party and I want to run away screaming.  Inviting a bunch of kids over who I hardly know, meeting their parents who I don't know and won't remember their names, and plan something fun enough to compete with the huge parties parents spend hundreds of dollars on is just not my thing.  It stresses me out and to do it for every kid is too much for me to handle.  Yes, I know you can throw smaller, simpler parties but I feel bad it will never be as cool as what my kids usually get invited to.
I learned if my boys feel extra special on their birthday they don't care if they get a huge party with every kid from their class in attendance.  It's all about how they feel on that special day and I really want to spend that memorable day together as a family doing a "family party".  We have a few birthday traditions {I love traditions!} to make the day special.  The night before I hang up pictures and posters of the birthday boy so when they walk into the kitchen they see a whole wall of pictures of themselves.  I also hang a birthday sign on their bedroom door decorated with balloons.  The birthday boy gets to pick what he wants to do for his birthday and sometimes he gets to bring a friend, but not usually.
That night we eat the birthday dinner of their choice and while we eat every person gets to say something they love about the birthday boy.  I think it's so good to hear what people love/like/admire about you so you can keep doing those things you might think go unnoticed.
After dinner we open presents.  Sometimes I'm nice and let them open one present in the morning which is usually a new shirt they can wear to school.  Before opening a present we say a little rhyme from my childhood {does everyone do this?} that goes,

"Heavy, heavy hang over thy poor head,

What do you wish this person with a {gift giver bonks person on head} BONK on the head?!"

Then the birthday boy has to wish that person something like, "I wish Mom a robot who could wash all the dishes!"  They get pretty creative in their birthday wishes.
After opening presents we blow out the candles on the cake of their choice.  I'm so glad Marcus and Ethan have already come to appreciate the finer things in life like double layer chocolate cake with ganache, or creamy cheesecake, rather than some cake shaped like a race car with a really bad frosting job done by me.
So that's it.  It's fun, it's low-key, and it works for us.  I would love to hear some of your birthday traditions in the comment section.  I know I've always got room for improvement.

Marcus chose to go to Launch, an indoor trampoline park for his birthday activity

Blurry Landon loved it too and Parker cried hysterically when it was time to go.

The boys had their first All-You-Can-Eat buffet experience.  They were in heaven at the sushi bar.