Don’t forget those birthdays! July 26, 2011

Back in 1995 my cousin Alexis gave me a Birthday Book from the British store, Marks and Spenser. This book had no year printed on it, just days of the month, ready for you to enter people’s birthdays. Believe it or not, 16 years later, I still have this book.  I also use a birthday reminder service from Birthday Alarm. So, you’d think I’d never miss a birthday… well, all I can say is that I try to remember and I try to send out a card, make a phone call or send an e-mail.

Anyways, when I saw this gorgeous free printable on line, I had to share it with you guys! Here is a really pretty Birthday Calendar, ready for you to print, cut and clip together. It’s small size makes it perfect for an office notice board or desk drawer. Thank you so much to the Elephantshoe Stationery Studios and the Pretty Blog for bringing us this DIY Birthday Calendar. If you’ve never looked at their blog, go check it out- their work is amazing.

Here are the photos, straight from their blog. The printable is available here.

 

Of course, I couldn’t post this without having printed off their calendar and putting it together. Here is the one I printed, ready for me to add birthdays! Isn’t it cute? I think this would make a very thoughtful gift for Mother’s Day… just fill in all the family birthdays before adding a bit of ribbon.

And, here is my 16 year old book from M&S…

 

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First Birthday Party May 24, 2011

Seems like I’ve been getting a ton of requests for first birthday parties recently! That got me thinking about how special this milestone is for everyone… the birthday child as well as the parents! It such be celebrated and enjoyed. Your baby is growing up. His personality is developing and he’s becoming more assertive. Maybe he’s started to walk already and say a few words! So many changes have taken place since his birth.

Four years ago, for my daughter’s first birthday, her auntie Heather sent her a book- a book of birthdays called Happy Birthday to Me Journal: A Keepsake Album of Your Celebrations! My son just celebrated his first birthday and got him a similar book. These books remind me of the baby milestone journals you can get but so much less time consuming. There’s basically one page to complete per birthday… the who, what, where, etc and slots to place any keepsakes such as the birthday invitation.

Here’s the book she got my daughter:

Happy Birthday to Me Journal

Roomy pockets pages hold invitations, and there’s space to fill in guest lists, party locations, gifts received, and any other moments of a child’s special day. I like to put her invite, the deflated mylar balloon, a couple photographs and her personalized chocolate bar wrapper!
Here’s the book auntie Heather got my son:

Your Birthday Book: A Keepsake Journal

And here’s a synopsis, direct from the publisher:

This is not anything like a baby book. It’s a birthday book! It was born from the simple idea that birthdays provide the perfect annual opportunity to preserve a sweet moment in time as your child changes from year to year. So it’s a multi-layered confection: annual touchstone, cherished ritual, and eternal keepsake. This journal provides fun, fast, and casual birthday activities for ages 1-18 as well as space to stick birthday photos and a random picture from each year, amusing and thought-provoking questions to ask your kid, and a time-capsule envelope for stashing away odds and ends (artwork, school papers, hand tracings, birthday cards, invitations, and other memorabilia).

From toddler hood to young adulthood to every hood in between, you’ll return to the same four activities for each birthday. The questions prompts, and tone may shift each year, but the essence intentionally remains intact.

So, if you’ve been invited to a first birthday party, consider giving a birthday journal book as a gift! Another wonderful keepsake idea is personalized chocolate bar wrappers. I have made these every year for my daughter and of course made one for my son’s first birthday. Check out this blog entry to see the first three I made for my Aubrie. And, here’s the one I made for Asher’s first birthday:

Sailboat chocolate bar wrapper

Personalized chocolate wrapper