Jesus' Birthday Party 2014
We hosted our 4th annual Birthday Party for Jesus this week. I've been doing this since Lucy was 18 months old, but this year for the first time, she seems to be getting it. She said, "So Christmas is Jesus' birthday? Why didn't you ever tell me that before!?" Lol.
We sent out birthday invitations a couple weeks ago and got together Thursday morning. We have a couple friends who are allergic to milk, so I consulted Pinterest and made a breakfast of dairy free cinnamon rolls (with an icing made from almond milk and powdered sugar), mini-quiches (some with cheese, some without), grapes, and cinnamon bread.
After breakfast, we started on our game. I always try to do some kind of craft/activity that drives home the story of Jesus' birth, but it's difficult with the age ranges. Lucy, Presley, and Abby all turned four this spring, so they're the oldest. But then we've got a couple 3 year olds, a couple nearly-2 year olds, and some 18 month olds. I catered to the older kids this year since they seem to enjoy games the most, but tried to make it do-able for the littles, too.
A month or so ago, I ordered this package of stickers from orientaltrading.com. I drew a ridiculously rough stable and arranged the stickers in it, then made 10 black and white copies:
I had each kid write their name on their sheet, then told them we were going to go on a treasure hunt to find stickers to fill in our Nativity scene. I explained that once they got all their stickers filled in, they'd get a prize.
The night before the party, I had written up the clues and hidden them along with an envelope of stickers at each spot.
Here's an example of the clues:
The kids had a blast running all around the house finding clues and filling their papers. Well, at least the older ones did. The youngers lost interest pretty quickly. Haha.
Finished product:
When everyone was done, I gave them their prize (goody bags Lucy and I had filled the night before) then had them sit on the rug while I read The Story of Christmas by Patricia Pingry. I told them to point to the character on their paper anytime I said his/her name. So when I talked about Mary, they pointed to Mary, etc. The last page of the book says, "We give presents to show Jesus' love." The way we live this out every year is by donating toys to Toys for Tots. It's hard for some of the younger kids to understand, but Lucy is finally starting to catch on that some kids don't get toys and we can help.
Finally, we broke out the cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.
Thanks, everyone, for coming and celebrating with us!
We sent out birthday invitations a couple weeks ago and got together Thursday morning. We have a couple friends who are allergic to milk, so I consulted Pinterest and made a breakfast of dairy free cinnamon rolls (with an icing made from almond milk and powdered sugar), mini-quiches (some with cheese, some without), grapes, and cinnamon bread.
After breakfast, we started on our game. I always try to do some kind of craft/activity that drives home the story of Jesus' birth, but it's difficult with the age ranges. Lucy, Presley, and Abby all turned four this spring, so they're the oldest. But then we've got a couple 3 year olds, a couple nearly-2 year olds, and some 18 month olds. I catered to the older kids this year since they seem to enjoy games the most, but tried to make it do-able for the littles, too.
 |
| Most of the group listening to my instructions about the game. |
The night before the party, I had written up the clues and hidden them along with an envelope of stickers at each spot.
 |
| This envelope was full of Baby Jesus stickers. The yellow paper is the clue. |
The kids had a blast running all around the house finding clues and filling their papers. Well, at least the older ones did. The youngers lost interest pretty quickly. Haha.
When everyone was done, I gave them their prize (goody bags Lucy and I had filled the night before) then had them sit on the rug while I read The Story of Christmas by Patricia Pingry. I told them to point to the character on their paper anytime I said his/her name. So when I talked about Mary, they pointed to Mary, etc. The last page of the book says, "We give presents to show Jesus' love." The way we live this out every year is by donating toys to Toys for Tots. It's hard for some of the younger kids to understand, but Lucy is finally starting to catch on that some kids don't get toys and we can help.
Finally, we broke out the cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.
Thanks, everyone, for coming and celebrating with us!
It was so much fun! You always do such a fabulous job. The scavenger/sticker hunt was an awesome idea, and so simple too. I'm thinking of doing something similar with the girls again. And I need to get that book -- we have the Story of Easter, which is told in a really similar, easy style and the little ones understand it well. Thanks again for inviting us!
ReplyDelete