Sometimes birthday’s come quick, before you have time to plan. You wake up and your child is bright eyed waiting for the birthday surprises… you haven’t even had your coffee yet and you feel like you have already failed as a mom.
There can be many reasons why this KNOWN event, the birthday of one of your children, slips your mind… or maybe it didn’t. Maybe it was something else. I knew this day was coming and felt a little helpless because of finances, schedule, feelings and emotions, anxiety, a wrecked house and chores… the list goes on.
Here are a few ways to Make your 11 year old feel special on the her birthday…. the day of her birthday to not feel like a bad mom!
See a week ago we came home from vacation. A vacation we had to cut short for various reasons, but cut short none the less. Our upcoming birthday girl wanted to spend her birthday early celebrating with cousins on the lake, but we had to leave before she could.
Disappointment.
When we got home and had a couple things pop up and money was tight, we didn’t really have the funds to throw her a huge party. She isn’t the type to want that HUGE party like her sister, but does want to feel special and celebrated.
Another Disappointment.
An invite to a Pool Party she knew about sounded like it could be a prefect time to celebrate with her other cousins but our schedule and then the weather didn’t permit.
Disappointment yet again.
Disappointment shouldn’t be something we live in. It’s not healthy, it’s not wanted, but unfortunately sometimes we have to live in it.
Here are a few ways to make your 11 year old feel special on their birthday without breaking the bank or hosting a huge party.
Monday July 8th: Livy turns 11
Ideas for the mom who wants to make her 11 year old feel special on her birthday, from an 11 year old.
Make her favorite breakfast.
If your daughter has a favorite breakfast then enjoy the morning making it together. Livy loves creating smoothies, and we could have done this together IF she would have woke up around breakfast time, but we are on summer vacation so it was closer to lunch time. If brings me to #2
No chores for the day.
In this house everyone has a job but on your birthday you don’t have to do anything around the house. We all deserve a little break and your birthday is like the only chance to get one, lol! Livy has enjoyed telling her siblings she doesn’t have to do that today because “It’s my birthday!”.
Take her to her favorite Lunch spot.
Livy loves Chickfila and requested it for lunch. While this can be a bit pricey to head to Chickfila with the whole family (in our case 7 people) maybe as a treat you just take her and you. Also with some planning ahead and the Chickfila app you could save points and redeem to pay for this birthday lunch.
Look at old Baby Pictures of Her.
Kids love looking at photos of them! Pull out the old scrapbooks, photos on your phone (cause I know we tend to not print those photos anymore) or baby books. Sit down together a go through all the pics and tell them stories about when they were little and how much you love them. They can never hear it enough!
Take her to sample makeup.
As an 11 yearly who loves makeup, this girl says she can’t live without mascara, we decided to go to the makeup store and look and browse and test out colors. A trip to Ulta made our afternoon a fun girly trip.
Go browse the bookstore.
There is something about 11 that feels a little grownup and not just quite. The bookstore has a feel of cool and mature but still fun and exciting. Grab a cookie while you are there. Check out the B&N Kids Club.
Cook her favorite dinner and cake/cupcake/cookie/treat.
A great way for her to feel like it is HER day is to let her pic the dinner for the evening. You could even let her help with dinner and bake her favorite flavor of cake.
Pray for her.
What better way to end the day than to say prayers and blessings over her. Does she have a favorite verse? Maybe throw that one into your prayer.
Also these 30 Words of Affirmation Every Child Needs To Hear by The Character Corner are also a perfect way to make your birthday girl feel special too! Check out her blog here.
Try not to get stuck in the mom guilt.
It’s super easy to feel defeated the moment the day starts because we aren’t living up to the “mom expectations” we have in our heads. Make sure you are doing the best you can… sometimes we aren’t.
Sometimes we have to make direct choices to push aside the guilt and do things even when we don’t feel like it. Doing things even though we think we have ruined the day already.
Our kids just need to know we love them.
Lay down the guilt and do your best to show them that love!
Also don’t think I did all of these things today.
I didn’t but I did a few and I pray she feels loved today!
Happy Birthday Beautiful Livy, thanks for helping me write this post.
Mommie loves you.
Be mom strong!
– Love Ashley
Leave a Reply