Episode 41: Making Half-Birthdays Special with Kids

Hi Everyone!

This is the show notes for Episode 41 of the Elevate Motherhood Podcast! 

Here's the link to listen to the episode:

Listen on Apple Podcasts Here

Listen on Spotify Here

You should be able to find it anywhere else you like to listen to podcasts, and if not, let me know and I'll make it happen! 

First, I'm including some fun links discussed on the show, and the full transcript is available if you keep scrolling down.

Thanks for being here, friends!

Number Candles

Rainbow Numer Candles

Half Birthday Candle

Rainbow Half Candle

Black & White Half Birthday Candle

HALF Candle - This one would be cute all by itself, too! 

Our favorite brand of dye-free sprinkles! We have MANY of the Supernatural sprinkles and love them all! They have so many fun options. 

Supernatural Frosting Mix

Same brand, melting mix for dipping or drizzling! Fun! 

Our favorite "clean" icing! I buy single packs at Sprouts. 

Our favorite cake mix.

(Anyone else miss the Annie's Funfetti Cake Mix? RIP) 

Traditional "You Are Special Today" Plate (I grew up with this one!)

This is the plate we have now!

If you are local to the OKC area, one of my besties makes the most beautiful hand-painted special plates for kids! Find her here on Instagram @lettersbyjayme 

Half-Birthday Cake from Celebrating Sweets

Half Birthday Banner 

Transcript: 

Hi and welcome back to the Elevate Motherhood Podcast! I’m so glad to be here and thankful you are listening!! If you were wondering if it’s been a while since I’ve released an episode, yes it has! But here we are! This episode is a fun one and feels like the perfect one for jumping back in.

The topic of today’s episode is celebrating half birthdays with kids!

Sometimes when I talk about half-birthdays I feel like people don’t know what that is. SO let me tell you in case you haven’t been around a preschooler or grade school kid in a while. Half-birthdays are a big deal! And maybe my kids’ half-birthdays have become a bigger deal because they both have summer birthdays so don’t get to celebrate them at school. Both of their schools celebrate “half-birthdays” for the kids who have summer birthdays. So maybe if your kids birthday is October 4^th, you don’t really ever notice their half birthday on April 4^th because the October birthday is when your family would celebrate it, but also that’s when their school would celebrate it too. But for those of you with littles with summer birthdays, you get it! ALSO even if your kid does have a spring or fall or winter birthday, it’s so fun to celebrate half birthdays!

My kids like if they are past their half birthday will literally never say, I’m six. They say I’m six and a half. Or I’m not 3 I’m 3 and a half. It’s a serious thing around here! And rightfully so. They have only been alive a few years so each half year is a big percentage of their lives! And I love celebrating their little lives of course!

And ultimately, I love thinking of ways to make childhood more magical for kids. I just want to fill up their storehouse of happy memories, strengthen family bonds with traditions, and just make every day life more fun. And half birthdays are a great chance to do so!

1. 
   Here are some ideas for half birthdays!

I have one bin in the garage called “party supplies” and I do not save everything. I do not find it necessary to have a billion paper plates. But I do save the leftover paper plates and napkins, candle, and banner from my kids birthdays in this bin literally just until their half birthday. Usually we have at least enough leftover plates and napkins for our family and usually my in-laws who come over for half birthday celebrations. So its fun to pull out the themed plates and napkins and the sign or banner if I got one that year that matched the theme. And I hang the banner on the wall, set out the napkins & plates, and blow up some balloons to throw on the ground. Somehow this feels like such a mom hack. For birthdays, half birthdays, or any other very special occasions, I’ll blow up maybe like 10 balloons and just scatter them over the living room or kitchen area. It just feels special and costs like $1 and 30 seconds of time. And you know those candles that feel like they are a few dollars too expensive that are like a big “4”.. if I use one for their birthday party, it’s usually still in great condition (or acceptable condition!) after I wipe it off, so I save it for the half birthday. And I have a birthday candle I’ll link it in the show notes but it’s literally a “half” and it’s so cute. I just got the black and white one and use it for both my kids. I probably used it for about 4-5 half birthdays and this year am ordering another one because it got a little too melted. But I did get several uses out of it! So I’ll use the 4 candle and the “half” candle. Or you could just use like 4 little single candles plus the half candle.

Another fun thing we do is make “half” a birthday cake. It’s really so easy and fun. Basically you make a 8” or 9” circle cake, cut it in half, put icing on top of one half, and flip the other side on top of the side with icing. So it’s the same amount of cake but it’s double-high and it looks like half a circle. I’ll put pictures in the show notes if you’re having a hard time tracking with me on that visual. It’s so cute and fun!!! And then we put their half birthday candles on it, and sing happy half birthday to the same tune as happy birthday! We do just family like I said just my husband and I, both our kids, and my in-laws since they live down the road.

I do have some favorite cake mixes and icing and sprinkles. I’m definitely not the perfect example of health but I do try to use real whole ingredients, minimally processed, and free from high fructose corn syrup and artificial dyes. I have some we love- Mrs. Jones cake mix and icing is our favorite! I buy it at sprouts. And we love Supernatural sprinkles and frosting color mix. I usually buy these on Amazon but I have seen some at Sprouts too. The “Softies” version of their sprinkles are the yummiest! I’ll link these in the show notes too.

Another fun thing we do is use our “you are special today” plate. I’ll link a couple of options in the show notes. There’s a very traditional red one that is the same one we used in my family growing up. And it always felt so special! I remember using it for birthdays, half birthdays, winning something special, getting a special reward, things like that. I found a more colorful version that we use now and I’ll link it in the show notes. So we pull this out for even breakfast or every meal on the day of the half birthday!

I’ll do a birthday episode someday because we do a lot of the same stuff but a few different things that include presents from siblings and intentional prayers from each family member and stuff like that, but for half birthdays we don’t do presents, but we still do a special prayer and blessing over their year. Just like before we sing happy half birthday. And let the siblings pray for each other on their half birthays too. I hope they remember the special prayers with family members hands on their backs and prayers over their lives and their year to come. I want my kids to hear as much as possible that they are a blessing to our family, we are thankful for their lives, we pray for and believe for God’s best over their lives and that they will grow to fulfill the calling God has on their lives.

Doesn’t all this sound fun! And it’s really actually easy and doesn’t take much time or money. My kids half birthdays are in January and February so I’m right between their half birthdays and it’s just a fun time of year for us! I hope it can be for your family too!

Each podcast episode has a blog post/ transcript that matches it so you can go back and find all the things I’m talking about so look for that!

One fun update – If you’ve been here for a while, you’ve heard me talk about the home organization master class. I love home organization and I love homemaking, and really see a value in setting up our homes to serve our families, make our day to day lives easier, and support our kids as important members of the family and empower them as they become more independent and can do things for themselves. But the format of the course was a little tricky, so I’m re-recording and formatting it as a private podcast and PDF. It’ll be less expensive and easier to access! It should be done here in the next couple of weeks! So stay tuned!

At the end of every episode, I like to close with a prayer and blessing for you.

Dear God, thank you for these listeners. Thank you that they just took time out of their day to learn some fun ideas to include in their kids childhoods. Thank you that they are intentional moms, make their kids feel valued, and reflect your love for all of us to their kids as they raise them with patience, Godliness, and intention. Please give all of them a real supportive community of like-minded friends, and thank you for this virtual community as well. Let all we do honor you. In your son Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Thanks for being here, friends! Until next time, let's Elevate Motherhood!

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