Making kids feel special on their birthday...on a budget

As a grown up it seems that kids birthday parties have gone from celebrating that special day and turned into seeing how much money you can spend to look better than everyone else. Well, I refuse to let that determine how we celebrate in my home, so I am always looking for ways to make my kids feel extra special on their birthday even without a big party. Here are just a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing....

• Serve them breakfast in bed
• Have each person in the family MAKE them a card and put it on their plate before their birthday meal.
• Allow them to pick the entree for that night
• Cover their door with ballons so when they open it in the morning they all fall on them.
• Bake their favorite flavor cake instead of buying one. Let them pick the theme, and buy a small toy or figure from the toy isle to put on top of the cake. That way they have something they can keep as a memory that they can actually enjoy playing with after the celebration.
• Use your regular tableware but pick up a fun pack of charcter napkins to use that day.
• Hang streamers all over their doorway or even over the dining room table. Most packs run ~$1 so this is a cheap way to decorate.
• Think outside of the pan....if your child doesn't like cake, choose something your child enjoys eating and make it desert for the night...with a twist. For example, if they prefer cookies, why not get a can of frosting in their favorite color and fun stuff to put on them. Allow each persn to decorate their own..and put a candle on a marshmallow for the birthday child. You can do the same idea only with ice cream sundaes.
• Rent $1 movies and allow them to pick the main feature for the night.
• If your normally take a vacation that time of year, take it over their birthday. Make sure to tell your hotel/resort that you have a birthday and they will often do something special as well. Last year our resort gave my son a logo mug, packet of hot cocoa, a logo chocolate bar in a gift bag with balloons on top. We never would have expected someting so nice, but he was THRILLED with it.
• If you opt to eat out, enroll in their email list ahead of time. Many chains will email you a cert for a FREE meal on your birthday. You normally can not combine coupos with specials, so keep this in mind when looking at your budget.
• Most eating establishments offer a free desert for the birthday person...you just need to let them know that you have one.

Pic pulled from Pintrist