An Idea For Celebrating Family Birthdays

I think that birthday parties are a lot of fun. Sometimes, however, these carefully planned celebrations leave parents stressed out and kids overwhelmed. Often, the party takes place on a day that fits into busy schedules -- in the case of my daughter, a day that works around the season opener of SEC football -- instead of the person’s actual birthday.

This is where today’s inspiration board comes in. It’s for a special birthday dinner, which is a tradition I’m itching to start, and it ensures everyone in the family gets to celebrate on his or her birthday. I’m not saying no to big parties; those will definitely still happen. I mean simply celebrating the big day with decorations used only for birthday dinners along with a customized menu of favorite foods.

While I created this board for families with children in mind, you can easily make it work for couples, roommates or groups of friends. Just choose a color scheme that's a bit more sophisticated.

• Birthday Banner Make a birthday banner using instructions from Paper Source. Keep this decoration neutral so you can use for every birthday. Celebrations Banner from Paper Source
  
• Paper Pom-Poms Hanging paper pom poms are popular decorations for any party, but they're festive and easy to make yourself. So easy, in fact, you can make them in everyone's favorite color for their birthday dinner. Paper Pom-Poms from Martha Stewart
  
• Gift Wrap Since you're going to wrap gifts anyway, have the paper and tags coordinate with the other decorations. Place them in the center of the dinner table as a centerpiece. Carrot Dot Gift Wrap from Broadway Paper; Flora & Fauna Gift Wrap from Paper Source; Posey Garden Embellishments from Paper Pumpkin
  
• Personalized Plate Dedicate one plate as The Birthday Plate and only use it when someone is celebrating. Madras Pink Dinner Plate from Fine Stationery
  
• Birthday Cake Opt for a homemade or simple store-bought cake for your family dinners, and let the birthday boy or girl choose the flavor. Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting from 3liz4; recipe at Notes from My Food Diary
  

I’ll see about doing this in my family this year. Since my birthday is first up, it might seem suspicious to start the tradition and then immediately pull it all together for myself. What do you think?