Well, with Christmas time comes my now annual Birthday Party for Jesus. Now that my friends Malinda and Angela help me it has become a fun event to plan. It totally took the stress out by asking them to help and I'm so glad that they do! Not only because it helps me, but because they are so much more creative than I'll ever be!
This year we decided to do an all girls party of close friends/relatives and neighbors. The worst thing about birthday parties, I'm coming to find out, is who to invite. We've had many a tear in our house over not being invited to birthday parties, so as a mother I have a hard time finding a cut off point! But, I guess that's just part of life...
This year we went with a manager theme.
Our invitation was an ornament to color with information about the party printed on the back.
We started with a craft.
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| We glued craft sticks around a felt piece for the manger. I found some nice manger scene figures at Hobby Lobby and put felt backing on them. The idea was to have a craft they could play with over and over like a flannel graph. |
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| I got some manger scene stickers for the younger ones. |
Angela then had an interactive story for the kids. If you are familiar with resurrection eggs for Easter, this was along those lines. The kids went on a scavenger hunt to find little presents to open that coincided with the Christmas story. Very fun!
Every child brought a gift for Children's Mercy hospital and we worked that into the story time. They got to show what they brought to give away and everyone was very happy and excited to place their gift in the box for others to enjoy.
Next we did the cake.
Malinda free-handed this cake of her own creation. I loved how it turned out!
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| I just have to say that it's really nice to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and have Him be the focus of the party. It's so refreshing to see kids having so much fun at a party that's not thrown in their honor! |
We finished the night playing dress up and acting out the Christmas Story. I think this was the kids' favorite part of the night. They got to take turns acting out different parts.
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| We had Kings |
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| Joseph |
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| And donkeys! |
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| Joseph leading Mary and the donkey to Bethlehem |
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| Mary |
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| A donkey taking a break |
It was great night to take time to focus on the Lord and remember the reason we celebrate Christmas.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
