Go Shawty its your BIRTHDAY!

I am a mom to an EIGHT YEAR OLD! When?! How???? Why!? No but seriously when did this happen? Zoey was born on March 14th and she is seriously something special. I think it was because she was born at 4:44 which is like good luck right? To have all the same numbers. Zoey has seriously always had such a calm demeanor she is sweet, smart, helpful, funny, and just so unique hands down one of the easiest kids and I have always gotten compliments on just her personality in general. Which I will take big props for because in all this craziness that is our household she can definitely join in on the crazy but is not the starter of it. She is also the start of “14” being our family number since she was born on March 14th.

Ok so the point of this blog post is to tell you how we do birthdays in our household. This has not always been true but more and more we are trying to turn it into this being the norm. That norm would be little to no presents. (GASP SHOCK) You mean you don’t have to buy your kids a million presents for them to feel special???? NOPE. So since Zo is the first kid she did have several birthday parties but it was her 2nd birthday when I asked people to not bring gifts but to instead donate to her college tuition. Some people probably thought I was INSANE or wanted the money for myself but trust me all of it went into her own account. It was Minnie themed birthday (back when my girl was a girly girl) and I wrote a cute little rhyming note asking for a donation to her college fund. If I remember correctly a few people actually listened but I get it it is a weird thing to ask for money from people. But the money that would be spent on a gift that would be forgotten about in a day was all I was asking to replace that with a check in Zoey’s name. For the twins first birthday they too also had two big birthdays one in Pittsburgh and one in Maryland. For both of those birthdays I asked for no gifts! Instead if people wanted to give something I asked for giftcards or even diapers. Again not everyone I think likes the idea and if you choose to do this not everyone will AND THAT IS OK! But stand your ground I had plenty of people ask me well what do they need, my answer? As of right now nothing but a giftcard if you would really like to get them something for future needs. A lot of people did abide by this and again I used those giftcards ALL for the kids! The twins birthday is in July so I bought things like sunscreen, bathing suits, swim diapers, and summer activities ( again I am a stay at home mom). People who got us giftcards for the twins I used for whatever the next season was.

We are now trying to focus birthdays on being an “experience” instead of presents. The twins had their first real “party” this summer in Pittsburgh for their fourth birthday and they were AMAZED by getting presents from people they seriously didn’t even know what to do with themselves, they kept asking me “is this one for me too?” it was so funny. But before then since their birthday is in the summer and they weren’t in school to have friends there birthday has always been an “experience.” Their 2nd birthday we went to Sesame Place (which is located in Philly and if you have small children it is so worth it even up to Zoey’s age), their 3rd birthday we went to Point Defiance Zoo, this past year they had their party which was just all mainly family but the day of their birthday we went to a local amusement park Kennywood and it was so great because they were old enough to go on most of the rides and small coasters. Even for the twins they usually always get one gift from me and Q then maybe some small things. Plus they always get stuff from grandparents.

This year for Zoey’s birthday she got to decide what she wanted to do as a family and that was her “gift” so she picked going to Din Tai Fung because she loves dumplings, went to the Lego Store and picked out 2 Legos she wanted, and then we went to Lucky Strike and played arcade games! (That morning she did get a couple presents because I am a sucker for gifts and birthdays but it was a lot of books!! and 2 stuffed animals plus stuff from grandparents). Also instead of a birthday party she picked out 5 friends and I am gonna take them to Flying Circus and then for frozen yogurt afterwards. Part of the party is that she is super excited to have her friends ride in our car. This literally has saved me from stressing out about parties and having the cake, pizza, utensils, and whatever else goes into a crazy party (also I again am not a super social person so making lots of small talk with parents stresses me out).

The whole point of this is that birthdays do not have to be all about gifts and if you were looking for a way to make a birthday special but a little more simplified these are great options! Next up for birthdays is Q and then the twins turn 5! And I know when I have done good is when Zoey said to her friends they didn’t have to get her any presents! What are some of your birthday traditions.

Also this was Zoey’s cake this year! We have gotten them at Safeway across the street from our house since we have lived here! They will make whatever picture you bring them (at least so far any pic I have brought them they have made). Zo wanted a Minecraft cake this year and we all the pictures we saw online were like super super detailed, fondant, and had character pieces. Whelp unless Minecraft has licensed Safeway to make it they did not have those things. So what we did was literally order a brown and green cake and then found these Minecraft toy pieces at Target so we could put them on the cake! Zoey loved it. The cake was vanilla with strawberry filling and then she wanted red velvet cupcakes.

The cupcakes were from a box but because of a fellow mommy blogger I follow back home from Maryland changed the way she made a cake for her son I decided to follow the recipe she did and they tasted AMAZING! It goes as following: Swapped out the water for whole milk (used goat milk because that was closest we had), says 3 eggs on the box but I added one more totaling it to 4 eggs, and instead of oil I used double the butter! Instead of a half a cup of vegetable oil, I used 1 cup of butter. Again tasted GREAT! Enjoy!