Welcome to the birthday edition of How Do they Do It! Between July and September, we will celebrate ten of our 14 children’s birthdays. Yup. 10. Ten sweet and treasured individuals to celebrate and a whole lotta cake! 
Honestly there have been some years when the birthday slide came around and I failed miserably. So, in the spirit of birthday season around here and all the questions we get about how we do it, here is how the birthday train rolls around Grin and Barrus.
- The birthday boy or girl gets to pick out what we have for dinner on their birthday. So far this month we have had shrimp fettuccine, fried chicken, and freshly grilled fish. And no one gets to complain because on their birthday they get to pick. It’s perhaps the one night a week that I get a reprieve from someone not liking something and telling me about it.
- Birthday treats are not always cake and ice cream. There are only so many times you can have cake in a 6 week period (unless you really love cake), so we mix it up with treats like s’mores, cheesecake, and root beer floats.
- Birthday gifts are not extravagant or expensive partly out of necessity and partly out of the desire to keep the focus on the person and not how many gifts they receive.
- We have built-in traditions that help us celebrate throughout the day including decorating bedrooms (balloons, confetti, and streamers), ice cream sundaes for breakfast for the birthday boy or girl, singing obnoxiously and as loudly as we can before they blow out their candles, and the family favorite – birthday spankings.
So what about birthday parties with friends? The short answer is yes we have them. The long answer is they get complicated and expensive and I don’t like complicated and expensive. That isn’t a criticism towards those that do them every
year and who go all out. I have friends who host the most amazing parties that I would love to do. However, as the mom of many children, I have to set realistic boundaries for both my time and my wallet. Rather than disappointing a child (or two or six), I have learned that if I have a plan and am consistent across the board with all of our children, they will know how much they are cherished on their special day regardless of how big or small their party is.
How do you celebrate birthdays? Comment below and share your ideas. We would love to see how your birthday train rolls!
Much love from the land of chaos,
~ Bridget
Welcome to Grin & Barrus 
It’s fun to watch how the kids with the next upcoming birthdays change the effort they put into the birthday spanks in an effort to get a return favor from the birthday kid when their birthday rolls around. When they had given good ones before suddenly they just give a tap. 😜
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When our kids were very young, we set a birthday-party-with-friends schedule. They get to invite friends when they turn 5, 8, 10, 13, 16, & 18 (of course, some of them are or will be off at college for their 18th birthday, but when the oldest is four, one doesn’t think that far ahead). Friend parties aren’t always huge and elaborate, but so far 8 and 16 have wound up being pretty elaborate (they have somehow become the traditional Harry Potter themed years, and I go a little nuts with that). We only have six kids though, so that makes it easier. We also do the dinner thing where the birthday boy or girl gets to pick. I can’t imagine 10 birthdays in three months! We have five in four months (that’s including us parents), and that feels like a lot.
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I love the idea of having a schedule of friend birthdays! Now I’m going to put my thinking cap on 🙂 Thanks for commenting!
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