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Summer Un-Birthday Party
Rated by 2 members
"Mama, does Kate have a birthday?" Grace, 7, asked me the other day.
"Honey, everyone who was ever born has a birthday," I replied.
"Then why don't I ever get to go to her parties?" she asked.
After a moment I realized that her friend's birthday falls in the summer -- smack in the middle, where birthday parties are often trumped by family vacations, summer travels, and countless other distractions. I explained to Grace that for the past two years Kate's had a birthday party, but we'd been out of town.
"I'm glad my birthday's during school," she added. "No one can forget when you're student of the week."
Like Kate, I have a July birthday and I remember being disappointed when some of my friends were busy or just out of touch over the summer. Like Alice down the rabbit hole, the summer birthday celebrations seem to disappear during the school break.
Grace got out her class list and began counting how many other friends have birthdays in the summer. And like a party-girl super hero, she decided that we needed to right this wrong. So this year, instead of our usual "school's out for summer" playdate, we'll host an "Un-birthday Party" à la Alice in Wonderland for all our friends with summer birthdays.
We'll invite our guests to wear their "maddest hats" and enjoy snacks inspired by Alice -- scones, cookies, and, of course, tea. I'll dress up lemonade and rootbeer bottles with "Drink Me" labels. I've been scouring garage sales and discount stores for inexpensive teapots, and Grace and I are coming up with a trivia game of matching up quotes with characters.
We'll play a game of croquet in the backyard and make friendship bracelets. When complete, we'll put them all in a hat and draw bracelets so everyone will have something made by a friend to take home.
"Mama, what if it really is someone's birthday that day?" Grace asked.
"Then I guess we'll just have to ask them to leave," I reply. "Just joking!" I add with my best Cheshire Cat grin.
Member Comments On…
Summer Un-Birthday Party
These are adorable ideas! My son has a memorial day weekend birthday and I used to think it was hard, but we've learned that because it's a holiday weekend we can invite as many kids as he wants and not worry about having too many because about half of them will be out of town. However, there are usually enough kids sticking around that it ends up being a great time and a manageable size. I'm all for doing a small fun special activity (trip to Build a Bear or a Waterpark) to celebrate a child's birthday with just a few special friends instead of a huge party with 20 kids.
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My daughters birthday is at the end of August, final week of the school summer holidays here in the UK, and usually over a bank holiday weekend too (when even more people go away). When she was in primary school (Elementary school) we used to give out party invites before they finished school for the summer (6 weeks previously - but you had to be organised). Now she's older she's more in touch with friends during the holidays, so we arrange the party for the weekend before they all go back to school - it's a great end to the summer. I think having a summer birthday is great (mine is in July too) - best of all, no school on your birthday and you can just play all day!!!
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Man they think they have it rough? Try having a Christmas birthday. I've heard people complain about having a birthday around Christmas, but at least they have a day to themselves. My birthday falls right smack dab on Christmas Day, you can't get a worse birthday than that!!
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My birthday is on Jul 3.
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There is a great book called The Disney Party Handbook by Alison Boteler that has great ideas for an Unbirthday Tea Party from invitations to games to a menu. I've done the Little Mermaid Party and the Aladdin party out of the same book and the kids loved those parties.
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Oh, to have a summer birthday!!! I am having a difficult time feeling sorry for you summer babies. Try having my birthday....Christmas day. Now, THAT stinks!!!!! Have a great weekend all! : )
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My son is 4 and has an August B-day. All his pre-k school friends had B-days during the school year. We decided to have a B-day party in the beginning of June and call it his Summer b-day Celebration. In August we will still have our usual family party.
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My 6 year old son also has a July birthday. Instead of him being dissapointed with guest not showing up to a party we take him out of town to his favorite theme park... Disney World!!!
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I love the idea of the "Alice in Wonderland" theme. I will use this idea for my little girls next birthday party.
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I too had a summer birthday. The teachers at the school I attended would celebrate our "half" birthday. If your birthday was July 10, then you would celebrate on January 10. That way those who had summer birthdays would be able to have their own special day during the school year.
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