Around here birthday’s are a big deal. I believe in celebrating moments big and small, and I especially believe in making everyone feel extra special on their birthdays! I love coming up with fun ideas to surprise my kids the morning of their birthday, and this year was a big one. My twins recently celebrated their 10th birthday and I put together this fun 10th birthday morning tradition and surprise birthday sign.
Turning 10 is a big deal, it’s the official crossover into the double digit club. And when you have twins you get to have double the fun!
Ever since my kids were little I’ve been decorating their bedroom doors and creating a birthday morning surprise to make sure we start the day off right. In year’s past we’ve covered their door with streamers, balloons and photos. I’ve created a sticky note scavenger hunt that leads them downstairs to a special breakfast. But, this year I wanted to do something that was extra special and that showed my twins just how incredibly special they are.
I created this 10th birthday morning tradition and surprise birthday sign idea in less than 30 minutes and it is by far one of my favorite birthday surprises I’ve ever done!
I used a roll of white bulletin board paper (and pink) and cut it to cover the entire length of their bedroom doors. Next, I used my Cricut to cut out their names and the saying Happy 10th Birthday in colorful cardstock. I glued those to the top part of the sign and then cut out the numbers 1 through 10 and glued those down the left side of the sign.
Together my husband and I came up with 10 reasons why we love them and I hand wrote each of those on the signs. I absolutely love how these signs turned out, they are so personal and perfectly reflect how we feel about our twins.
Birthday
This tradition could be used for any birthday celebration or milestone, it’s such a fun and easy way to celebrate your special birthday girl or boy!
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So cute! I’m a big believer in going “BIG” on birthdays, too! I grew up in a family that really celebrated birthdays and many of them are by far my favorite memories. Love this idea in particular because it reinforces all the good things about your kiddos and truly shows how special they are to you (and others!).
I love that you have so many special memories from your childhood about birthday too! I hope that my kids will never doubt (or forget) how much they are loved with these little traditions!
I can promise you they’ll remember! I definitely did!
What is the name of the font you used?
Love it
The Happy Birthday is from the Create a Critter cartridge
#M39FE0 (I found it in Design Space by searching Happy Birthday) and I used the “Grinched” font for their names.
I like the concept behind this idea – telling your kids why you love them. I think it’s wonderful for kids to know we love them unconditionally and I think you are probably wanting to send this message as well as celebrate them being in your life on their special day. I do wonder what message it sends when you tell them you love them because of something they can’t control, like how they look though. What might they feel if one day, they get acne, or gain weight, or get a bad haircut that’s not so pretty or handsome. Will they wonder if you’ll still love them that way? Your post made me think. Thanks!
It is really a great idea except have you looked at your boy vs girl lists?!? It is super sad how you prioritized her looks. His looks are much lower on the list and his intelligence, humor etc much higher.
Hey Angela, thanks for your comment. The lists were in no way “prioritized” although I can see why it would look like that since it is numbered. I simply made a list of the things that stand out to me about each of my kids and added them to the list.
I think it is a really important point – why would we ever need to tell our daughters that pretty is a virtue/worth highlighting. It gives them the message that superficial is important and that their worth is defined by their looks. It impacts their self esteem, especially in a social media world where a like for what you wear or look like becomes all encompassing.
Spot on ACC. This was the first thing I noticed. The girl has ‘pretty’ as second in her list (not sure why it is necessary at all) and ‘intelligent’ as seventh whereas the boy has ‘smart’ as second. So immensely disappointing. This is not the messaging we should give to our girls or boys.
Hi Mel, thanks for your comment, however I think it is important to point out that this list was NOT a list created to highlight the qualities in order of importance. Nor is it an exhaustive list of ALL of the things we love about our kids. Rather, it was a fun way to celebrate them and remind them of some of the things we love and admire about them. If you are paying attention you will also notice that we listed “handsome” on his list, which is the same as “pretty”. We believe that it is important to remind OUR children that they are pretty/handsome, especially in today’s world where they are often told otherwise by their peers. The best part about this sign that we created to celebrate our kids and choose to share online because we thought others might like the idea too, is that it is 100% customizable for you and YOUR kids. You can choose to list the qualities YOU love about YOUR kids or that you want to highlight. As a parent I am sure you know that each of our kids is different and they require different needs and encouragement, so by all means we encourage you to do what works for you!
Yikes, you love her because she is pretty?
Hi Amy, if you notice I also say that I love how HANDSOME my son is. The lists I created were just a fun way to show my kids how much we love them and some of the characteristics that stand out to us as a family. Your list may look different, but I would LOVE to see what you would put on your list. 🙂
Of COURSE we think our children are beautiful and handsome…they are!! But I try not bring too much attention to it, as I don’t want my daughter to put so much thought and value into her appearance. There are SO MANY other great things about our kids that come before their looks. In the comment above you said you’d love to hear what was on another commenter’s list. I did a similar thing with my daughter for Valentine’s Day with little hearts. Here is what was on some of them this year:
-The way you teach others how to do things. You are so good at explaining!
-How creative you are when you make up games.
-How you remind others to do the right thing.
-How thoughtful you are.
-The reactions you make when you’re excited.
-How curious you are.
-How you stand up for yourself.
-Your laugh
-How you’ve grown up to be a good sport when you lose a game.
Some of ours are the same. Just thought I’d share some others.
Hi Malita, thanks for sharing your list, it’s fun to see all of the different perspectives and get inspiration from others. I do something similar for Valentine’s Day as well and we “heart attack” their doors with more detailed and specific things that we love about them, just like what you mentioned above. I believe that in this day in age with all the negativity and constant comparison our kids face at school it never hurts to constantly reinforce and remind them how amazing they are and how much they are loved. And that includes telling my kids how beautiful they are both on the inside and out!