We always want to keep celebrating our family and friends. Keep planning those events in your family’s lives to celebrate the landmark years and transitions. Let’s talk about how to do this successfully and why to celebrate. Keep celebrating family.
Why Celebrations?
You may think this is just over the top. We don’t need to celebrate Grandma’s birthday or your kid’s birthday. But yes, you do. Keep celebrating family.
- Celebrating shows you remember Grandma, your spouse, siblings, kids, or friends. They are special, and they are loved.
- The Event brings the family or friends together. Taking time to spend together.
- Party planning can be fun and allows relationships to grow through communication.
- Words can be expressed to the person being celebrated.
- Long after the event is over, the memories and photos are there to remind the person of the special day, and they are loved.
What to Celebrate
Celebrate the big birthday with bigger celebrations, at ages 5, 10, 13, 16, 18, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80. You write the story, and you decide as a family when you celebrate birthdays. My family emphasized 5, 13, 16, 40, 50, 60, and 70 or 80.
Maybe as a family or with friends, you celebrate special recognitions, retirements, Anniversaries, graduations, new babies, and weddings. All of these events bring families together, and we continue to make memories.
We had a “you are special” red plate in our cupboard. When one of our kids did something worthy of “the red plate”, they got to use “the red plate” for their meal. A birthday, an award, you name it, a driver’s license, they used “the red plate”.
One time, we had a potty party. The last kid was out of diapers. We used this as a motivator to use the potty. It worked, and he was in undies in no time. Our neighbors/friends came over for lemonade and cupcakes, and they brought him undies. Now that is crazy, but fun to celebrate, no more diapers ever!
How to Celebrate
Celebrate with a plan. Is it an afternoon, weekend, or a week-long event? Divide the work if it is a large family. Someone does the decorating, food, set up, and invites. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just work together.
Be creative and pick a theme and color, and it will be easier. For example, my mother-in-law turned 80 in August. We planned it for the 4th of July, when the whole family could come to an afternoon party. We had ice cream since ice cream and family are her two favorite things. Everyone made it simple, and it was fun celebrating and hanging out with family at the lake for 24 hours.
Graduation parties were the big event in our immediate family. Each kid had a large party with family, friends, and church friends invited. They were held in our garage, and they each picked the foods they wanted to serve. They were open houses, and people came and went. If you want celebration party ideas, check out these blogs. Graduation Party Tips. Tea party plans and recipes.
Be Creative
Be creative with your theme, decorations, food, and personal touches. Have people bring things that match your theme. When my aunt turned 50, everyone was supposed to bring 50 things. I made a basket of 50 teas and called it 50 hot flashes.
At the 80th Party mentioned above, the Sisters wrote a song and sang it to my mother-in-law. That memory lives on beyond the 5 minutes of singing. Maybe everyone brings a photo memory and shares it with everyone. Brainstorm, and you can do this. Make it fun and memorable.
When my sisters turned 50, we had a party for them. My kids and I authored and illustrated a picture book about a librarian as a gift for them. They are twins and were both Librarians at the time. We printed it at a copy store. The whole project was fun for us all.
As a gift to the person we are celebrating, I try to make a photo album of the party to highlight who came and all the fun we had. I make them on Snapfish or Shutterfly.
When the party is over, the photos remain, the memories are in your mind, and you created a moment to celebrate the special person in your life. Not just a regular day, but a special day, celebrating them.
Keep Celebrating Family. The Celebrations are always worth the time you put into them.
Any fun celebrations you have planned over the years?
We celebrate my late husband’s birthday with his most requested birthday meal and dessert. It is important to me that we remember how much we loved him by celebrating his memory through food, family, laughter and tears.