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5 Birthday Traditions to Begin for your Child

Posted on Aug 16, 2019

Each birthday is an important milestone in a child’s life. Yet, as we grow older and enter adulthood, we may start to see birthdays as “just another birthday.” It’s important to make these birthdays special and remember them while you have your little ones close. As you look back on your keepsakes and memories one day, you will be so glad you did! We compiled a list of 5 birthday traditions you can begin for your child.

1. Handprints

This is not a new idea, and it’s one that children have been doing for art projects and Mother’s Day for many years. What if instead of doing sporadic handprint art projects, you had the kiddos do one every year and collected them? This way you could compare the growth, and maybe make some sort of collage on their 18th year.

You could use paint, clay, or even just a pen or pencil for tracing if money is a concern. Save these, and on their 18th birthday take a picture of all 18 handprints laid out then frame it. If you want to take it a step further, have the child’s name engraved on the frame.

 

2. Letters

One very personal idea is writing a letter to your child every year for their birthday, keeping it in a box, then letting them read all of them on their 18th birthday. If you want to get even more invested, have other family members like aunts, uncles, grandparents, or siblings get involved. This is sort of like a time-capsule.

Ideas for the letter could be current events, habits the child may be doing, important milestones for the child, really anything you find “letter-worthy.” You really can’t go wrong with this tradition; it will mean so much regardless. This will be very special as well because it is like your child is able to see themselves grow up from your eyes!

 

3. Recreated picture

Taking a picture and then recreating the same one every year is such a special, fun way to remember a birthday. Using a similar pose, with a similar color outfit, and if you are living in the same place, the same location. There are so many examples of these on the internet to refer to, all of which are awesome!

 

4. Special birthday dinner

Whether it is a home-cooked meal, or a favorite restaurant, having a birthday dinner is a pretty simple, but no-less special tradition to begin. Encouraging your child to enjoy their favorite food with their entire family on their birthday is a tradition they’ll look forward to every year. This is one way to get everybody together for birthdays, even as your kiddos grow older and move out of the house.

 

5. Scrapbook

Similar to the letter, the scrapbook is used to highlight important events that have happened in the past year. Let your kiddo choose one important item or memory to put in the scrapbook from the past year. Either take a picture of the item, put a scrap of the item if possible, or put a picture from the memory. Write an entry of why it was chosen and look back on the memories made!

Birthdays are a special day, and while a cake and a song are a fun celebration, other traditions make this milestone even more memorable. Having keepsakes will hold more value than any material gift given or received over the years. Being able to look back at the memories and traditions created with family is something your kiddos will be so grateful for!

 

And when you’re done with these traditions, make a tradition to head into Monkey Joe’s!