I want to Do some special things every year for Each of my children on their Birthdays .

Besides Making them their Favorite Dinner ( Which I always have Done) - What are some other Inexpensive Ideas I can do to make them Feel Special on their day?

There is always the "You Are Special Today" red plate tradition. The birthday person gets to use a special red plate (sold at Hallmark stores and other places) on their day. They get to use the plate on other special occasions, too: a big award in sports, a promotion, etc.

Be sure to take a picture of the birthday person. Yes, I know you will have lots of pictures at the party but also make sure you take a picture of JUST the birthday person - maybe the same type of picture every year so when you line them up year after year you'll really see the changes taking place.

We used to do this on New Years but you can do it on birthdays, too - make a family journal entry listing big events that happened the year before, what you hope will happen in the future, and other little things like current interests and activities, etc.

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"Poor people work for their money. Rich people make their money work for them."

Following up on the plate idea, I've seen some families go to a ceramic shop and make their own birthday plate. Cute idea that I've been meaning to do one of these days!

we have decorated the room of the birthday girl!! with streamers and balloons!! also I made a plate at a paint your plate place for each of hte girls they it was hand made and has there name and birhtdate on it!!

we also have a birthday girl Tiara the birthdy girl gets to wear for pics and when the want!!

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Kelly mom to 2 gymmonkeys!!!

I let my kids pick the cake they want and I make it...this year baby ds wanted Spongebob and older ds asked for Popeye.....Then the usual presents and then we go mini-golf or bowling (my kids are 2&5, so those things are still fun!) Then for dinner we usually have Mcdonalds.

Out of the "Ya-ya Sisterhood" books ... let the birthday child eat cake for breakfast. Since DD likes carrot cake, that's one tradition I can do without feeling too guilty.

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"Poor people work for their money. Rich people make their money work for them."

Do a scavenger hunt for the birthday present(s). List a clue on the table and hide the presents a new clue with each gift until they are all found. Or if you only have 1 gift then hide several clues leading up to the gift.

I just did this for the first time for my 7 yo 2 days ago for her birthday. She thought it was hilarious. Since her gifts consisted of some clearance items from Claires and other small items I seperated them into 4 gifts. (total for all 4 gifts was around $20 WooHoo!)

It went

Clue #1 Where do you make popcorn? (Microwave)
Clue #2 Where do you get clean? (Bathtub)
Clue #3 Where do dishes get clean? Hint- 2 places (One present in the sink and one present in the dishwasher)

If you have other children they love to tag along to see if they can find it too and what's the next clue.

A friend of mine just told me about this tradition they had for all 8 kids. They looked forward to it every year.

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We just do the birthday person choses what is for supper(either homecooked or ordered) and they get to choose what kind of cake they want.

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~Happiness is a large family~

I always make the kids cake. They get to pick the flavor and the frosting and the theme ( within reason) I've made ocean themes, cats, dogs, fashion, ect. I can't make super fancy cakes and I don't have wilton pans or anything, but I can usually do something closely to what the child likes.

I always put streamers up for the kidsin the house. These are cheap, like 50 cents a package, and a run them along the stairs, put them on thier door. I like to blow up a few baloons and tape them on the stiars or whatever. For about 2.00 I can make it look festive just for them.

They get to pick a meal. I don't care if it's breakfast, lunch or dinner, but it's thier pick . This year dd picked dinner at a restaurant, but last year she wanted pizza. I'm not the best cook so it's usually someone else's cooking they want. .

They can have a friend party every OTHER year. We usually don't end up having one that often though- they have summer birthdays and it's nearly impossible to find all the friends that time of year- they are all on vacation or camp or whatever.