Pulling off birthdays during COVID-19

I think all parents would agree, especially the moms, that planning celebrations during this past year and a…  has been a challenge to say the very least. When this all started, my youngest two were only turning 5 and 6 years old and I had been looking forward to themed parties with 10 to 15 of their friends running around playing games and wearing costumes while we over-served them sweets. COVID-19 restrictions designed to flatten the curve also flattened those types of celebrations. It was time to channel my inner Sharon, Loise, and Bram and try to be as creative as possible in the hopes of keeping the birthday magic for these age groups and the rest of the family.

I would love the tell you that I am a bake-it-yourself kinda mom. My mom was and my mom’s mom was.  All from scratch.  I hope to get there one day, but during COVID I have been swimming in kids and barely keeping my head above water. This led us to finding a local bakery who could make all our frosted dreams come true. Enter Whimsical Cake Studio. Knowing the big parties were off the table meant I was going to put their cake fantasies into reality. Whimsical was amazing. We would ask the kids what they wanted, call in the order and then just drive by and pick it up the day of. Each cake was exactly what the child requested, gorgeous and delicious.

Look how happy this cake made this guy

Now for the most challenging part of our single household birthdays, what do we do for the fun?  I thought about setting up birthday convoys but I watched my kids deal with frustration and, at times sadness, on our drives returning home after we took part in more than one.  So instead, I decided Ryan and I had to cater to the birthday boy or girl’s personal interests. We needed to go deeper than a theme. Our little girl was the first kick at the can in 2020. Living in a house full of dudes often means her movie preferences are rejected by her brothers and rarely any of the other children want to play with makeup or barbies. So, the theme was princess everything and her brothers were more than game. The day started with pancake breakfast where she was waited on, hand and foot. Followed by the boys whisking her upstairs to her room where they had decided her homemade gift from them all would be a princess fashion show. What is that? Well all three of our boys allowed their sister to pick out what princess she felt they looked like, dress them in costume gowns, jewelry, hair (wigs) and makeup.

 (I can’t show you pictures because I made a vow that they would remain in the family vault till “The End of Time”.)

Ryan and I had no idea what all the giggles were about coming from upstairs till we were asked to take our seats for the show to begin. This all-day glitter everything included a movie night, PJ party and a silly string fight. That night, while tucking her into bed, she told me she had the best brothers and it had been the best day ever, cementing the importance of making memories such as these as best we could during these times.

2 weeks and 15 days later, our little guy was turning 5. The formula was in place to celebrate him. We had the cupcakes with hulk green icing ordered, a few small presents wrapped thanks to Amazon, but we struggled to think of a theme. What are 5-year-old boys all about? Ours was always covered in something and ready to run and wrestle so the theme became “Silly, Messy, Fun!” The theme meant outdoor games that included relay races and a game where the kids got to wrap Mom and Dad (Stacey and Ryan) in toilet paper and shoot shaving cream at us in a field by our house where the neighbors came out to enjoy the spectacle.

I didn’t think we could top these birthdays. All the kids had a blast and each night ended with us all snuggled up in the Livingroom watching the birthday kids’ movie pick until carrying the exhausted cuties off to bed. And I was right, because there is no need to top them. The kids loved this and soon, 2020 birthdays became 2021 birthdays and they were telling us what they wanted to do. All my daughter wanted was a girl’s day where she could spend time with mom, buy a pretty dress and get her hair done at her Auntie’s salon.  Then she wanted to have a family dinner with her brothers, her mom and step-dad and her dad and his girlfriend. COVID-19 restricted the dinner, but we pulled off most of her wishes and that night she told me it had been “the best birthday ever”.  Two weeks later the messy 5-year-old was turning six and he just turned to me one day and said “can I do science on my birthday”. Yes, we can!  The day of his birthday, with his Bio-Dad on facetime, there was a volcano built in our bathtub.  We dissected gelatine frogs I found and he made his very own bubble gum. I couldn’t be prouder of what developed and how they grew together and handled what might have been hard for kids. Or maybe that is what I have been trained to think by the trampoline parks and the play places marketing teams. I know this for sure: There must be cake, there has to be silly and every kid deserves to feel special and surrounded by love. Now if you will excuse me, I believe there is still some “lava” to clean off the ceiling.