My take on Birthdays

Help Me Henry....it seems as though the upcoming weekend is a birthday party frenzy. I will admit that one of the parties, occuring this weekend, is for my 2 youngest princesses. In addition to theirs, we have 3 other parties. I actually really enjoy birthday parties, and my childrens' birthdays are some of my favorite celebrations or holidays. After all heir lives are worth celebrating. The party we are hosting is a royal garden party (honoring my 2 youngest) which will be held at our church in the gym and on the playground. We have invited a lot of family and friends, and it will be a very fun time. We have a few activities planned, that my Addi princess will be overseeing (she loves that sort of thing), and then just a lot of running around and playing going on. There will be a host of sweet treats served....after all it is a birthday party, so what's a little sugar overdose. I am not normally a fan of party favors. In fact I really don't like them, and I rarely give guests a party favor. I personally think it's a waste of money. One of my friends gives me a hard time, because I have been known to "regift" party favors in the past. Yes it's true, and I am proudly guilty of doing that. We have a drawer full of party favor stuff that we have received, and I will often get it out and offer it to the guests who have come to our party. You may say cheap, I say frugal and not wasteful. After all, we aren't playing with all those little balls, yo-yos, trinkets, etc.; so we might as well let someone else enjoy them.
We have what is called The Payne Family Tradition which was started when our 11 year old turned 6. The tradition starts at each child's 6th birthday, and it is as follows: the child may still enjoy a birthday celebration with family and friends, but there will be no presents given. The birthday child may choose if they would like to have guests bring a monetary donation, a toy donation or whatever sort of donation; and then they get to choose where the donations end up. It has been a great opportunity for the kids to serve and give back. It was my husband's idea originally, because I just couldn't stand the thought of another toy coming into our house. The kids have plenty of toys, etc.; and I already knew by the time my eldest princess was 5 that she was part of the "Messy Team" (see previous posts) which would mean I would constantly be picking up after her or nagging her to pick up even more STUFF. N Payne, my husband, suggested that we ask guests to bring donations; and she could determine where the money went. It has worked out so very well and as the buttercups have gotten older, they really look forward to planning on what and where the donations will go. In fact this past year, my eldest spent part of her birthday volunteering at GRACE which is our local Good Will. I want my children to have a serving heart and know that one of our purposes in life is to serve others in the name of Jesus! A serving attitude and heart is an important attribute to have! My 2 princesses (B-Nut and Elli-Ooo) that are celebrating Saturday haven't officially made it to The Payne Family Tradition as one is turning 5 and one is turning 2. If you know me, you know I am sort of neurotic about keeping things the same for all 5 buttercups, so we must wait until their 6th birthdays; because that's how we have done it for the 3 siblings before them. I also thought 6 would be a more appropriate age for them to grasp on to the fact that there will be NO presents this year or that YES YOU WILL BE GIVING THOSE GIFTS AWAY. My eldest princess, Addi Jo, has always had a serving heart; and she in turn had no problem when we implemented this tradition at the ripe old age of 6. My now 7 year old princess (Drewby) was another story....when Addi Jo informed her (right before her 6th birthday) that she would not be receiving presents; she said very loudly and in an extremely surprised and irritated tone "WHAT?". We then explained the tradition to her, and although she was very disgruntled and thought she was going to be really disappointed about the NO present aspect; she quickly realized how good it felt to give her donations away. Her heart was softened immediately. She has since realized how important it is to serve others. I do want you to know, because I've had several people ask me .... you mean they don't get ANY presents for their birthday? Yes they receive presents from their grandmothers and cousins and each other if they so choose to spend their own money on a gift. I think it's very sweet when they want to buy each other a gift, so I don't discourage it. However they don't receive gifts from their guests, and if a grand party is the plan; then they don't receive a gift from their parents. We just figure the party is gift enough. The best part of The Payne Family Tradition to the children is that they get to eat whatever they want for breakfast on their actual birthday, and they get to choose what's for dinner that same evening. While they are eating breakfast, we break out the birthday table runner; and the little plate that actually sings Happy Birthday. I love looking at those sleepy little grinning faces as we are all singing and eating some sort of very unhealthy breakfast at wee hours in the morning, those are some of my favorite pictures as well. There is also a part of the tradition that the children don't even know about as of yet. As a matter of fact, I don't know if their daddy knows about it either. It's one of my favorite parts of the tradition...I started a birthday journal for each buttercup, and on their birthday; I write them a letter explaining what a gift they were to me on the day of their birth and why I love to celebrate the day they came into my life and made me a Queen. I could never ever thank God enough for making me a Queen 5 times over!