Braxton had been looking forward to his birthday for months. He told us how excited he was to have a Spider-Man themed party, and have all his friends come over. When we realized that a party wouldn’t happen due to Covid-19, we decided to try to still find ways to make this one special! (The best part is, we were able to order everything we needed online, to go or from Target Drive Up!)
- Special Breakfast: Our go-to is Cinnamon Rolls or Donuts! We made sure to get donuts with red icing to go along with the Spider-Man colors.
2. Decorate the House: Streamers, Happy Birthday balloons, etc. Make the whole house fun!
3. Have the Whole Family Dress in Theme: We all wore Spider-man shirts, including baby sister!
4. Go Overboard on Gifts: This might sound materialistic, but in reality we spent way less overall even with buying more gifts then usual. (Normal birthday parties can be expensive when you calculate all the decorations, food, party favors and venue costs.) Plus we got toys and outdoor activities (like a playhouse and bike) that would keep him busy while stuck at home.
5. Birthday Parade: I’ve seen so many cute birthday parades! We opted not to do one ourselves for 2 reasons though. First of all, almost everyone we know lives at least 30 minutes away which didn’t seem fair to us to ask them to drive that far for just a drive-by in front of our house. And that brings us to the second reason, we were worried how Braxton would react to seeing his friends in person, but them not stopping to come inside. We didn’t want to deal with any meltdowns on his birthday. We wanted everything to be fun for him.
6. Birthday “Card/Picture” from Friends: This was what we decided to do instead of a birthday parade. We had all his friends hold up a sign to make a complete “message” for him and had it framed for him to see when he woke up. He was so happy to see his friends took the time to make this for him and made him feel really special.
7. Ordering favorite food for Lunch/Dinner: We let him pick where he wanted to pick up food from.
8. Make and Decorate a Cake Together: It wasn’t a Pinterest worthy cake, but it was special because we got to do it together. He was so happy he got to decorate his own cake this year!
9. FaceTime with Friends & Family Throughout the Day: We planned time to FaceTime with family all throughout the day. He also had his friends FaceTime him throughout the day. This made the whole day special! (We also waited to open some gifts that were sent from friends and family until we FaceTimed with them.)
10. Have a Special “Visitor”: We bought a Spider-Man costume on Amazon and Blair dressed up to surprise Braxton. We tried to pretend like he was the “real” Spider-Man, and I think Braxton played along with us. But when he “left” and dad came back, he told us he knew all along. It was still so fun and Braxton loved it!
Even though Braxton was still a little sad because he missed his friends, he still had a great day and we’ll make sure to have a fun pool party/bounce house with everyone when this is all over! Stay safe and find ways to make everyday at home fun!