Birthday Traditions

My daughter's favorite birthday cake!

Birthdays mean different things to different people.  For kids it's their own personal holiday.  For parents it's a yet another year flying by.  Whatever it means to you, it's still a special day to celebrate.

What are your family birthday traditions?   Ours are both quirky and traditional.  Let me see if I can get most of them...

-The birthday child got to choose what to have for dinner.  Usually, that meant macaroni and cheese.  Sometimes, we'd take him or her out to dinner...again their choice.
-He or she got to choose the birthday dessert, which was not necessarily cake.  Sometimes we've had pie or fruit cobbler or doughnuts or cake.  One daughter always requested that her cake be a wild rainbow of colors (see the picture above).  Whatever the dessert, before blowing out the candles, everyone always said, "Swallow!" so he or she didn't spit on the cake accidently  :)  Ewwwww....
-While eating cake, it was time for the birthday story to be told.  That was my time to relate the events surrounding the pregnancy and birth, with as much drama as possible, while leaving out the gory details. Now that my children are grown, maybe I should give the uncut version  :)
-Then it was movie time...again their choice.  To their credit, the older children rarely complained about sitting through Curious George or Scamper the Penguin. 

Any wonder that I lovingly referred to the birthday child as the birthday tyrant?  So much power in one day can make a child a little demanding!  But, so worth it!  Each birthday is a reminder of their anxiously awaited arrival into our family...truly a celebration!

What are YOUR birthday traditions?