Happy Birthday Jesus!

When I was a kid, we had a family friend who always hosted a birthday party for Jesus, and I decided I want to carry on the tradition with Lucy and her friends. I decided to start small this year and just invite a group of my friends who know each other - and all have kids Lucy's age (plus Kris and R.J. who's 6 months old :-)). 

I sent out regular birthday invitations a couple weeks ago. On the line that said, "for:" I wrote "Jesus!" Haha. I asked everyone to bring a gift for Toys for Tots. As the kids get older, I'll explain how the wise men brought gifts to Jesus. Or maybe how we get gifts at our birthday, so we're bringing gifts for Jesus . . . who is giving them to kids who don't get presents.

I decorated the night before with streamers and balloons, then woke up early on Saturday morning to get cooking.

I wanted everything to be toddler sized, so I borrowed some muffin tins from my friends and looked up some recipes on Pinterest. The party was at 9:00 am, so I served breakfast: banana muffins, cinnamon rolls, grapes, and Idaho Sunrise eggs. They were so yummy - hashbrowns on the bottom, an egg cracked over top, then sprinkled with cheese and bacon. I also made plain egg and cheese cups for the kids. 

Picture from thevillagecook.com

After breakfast, we did our activity. I purposely didn't plan much because these kids are 18 months old and don't have much of an attention span. But I did want to incorporate the Christmas story somehow. So I went to Family Christian and browsed their Sunday School section until I found a nativity sticker scene. I put the nativity on the wall and let the kids go at it with stickers while I told the story. Here's what we ended up with:

Haha - I love it!

Of course, it wouldn't be a birthday party without cupcakes!

The girls eating their cupcakes. Lucy, Presley, Hayley, Abby.

It was a great time! Thanks to Lucy's friends for coming over!