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Living in an extremely small country town of approximately one hundred people, most of my children's friends live out of town. Being as two of my children have dead-of-winter birthdays, it's next to impossible for their friends to attend a birthday party because of the winter driving involved. At the very least, it is an enormous hassle for the parents, having to drive thirty or forty miles to drop their child off and then turning around to drive thirty or forty miles back to pick them up.

Because of this limitation, what we've realized is this: There are many ways to make a child's birthday both special and memorable without having an actual party!

These are the things we do to celebrate our children's birthdays:

1. The birthday boy or girl gets to choose what is for dinner on their birthday night. We've had requests ranging from pizza and ramen noodles to cookies and bratwurst!

2. We bake a birthday cake and the boy or girl of honor gets to help decorate it. In our home, the gaudier, the better! Our oldest child's last birthday cake was a three layer cake using Oreo cookies as stabilizers; with two inches of chocolate frosting all around. I used food coloring in home-made white frosting, put it in a Zip-lock bag, clipped a corner and we made fun decorations all around the cake.

3. We play family games together such as Uno or Skip-Bo.

4. We decorate the lower level of the house with as many balloons as we can blow up before our lungs give out! Just because there's no party doesn't mean it can't look festive!

5. We sit as a family and watch a movie of the birthday boy or girl's choice.

6. We make sure the digital camera is charged and ready to go to record all the fun events of the evening!

In these ways, our children get to feel special, we have a lot of fun, we all get a nice sugar buzz and amazing memories are made! Not throwing a party for your child can actually end up being a great way to come together as a family to enjoy such a special event.

Learn more about this author, Char McClary.
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