Happy Birthday Jesus Party (Advent Week 4)

This Monday we hosted what I hope will become an annual tradition:  a Happy Birthday Jesus party!  In the past few months, my children have become obsessed with their birthdays, asking almost daily (!) how long it is until the birthday of each member of the family.  Since birthday parties are an experience to which they can so clearly relate, this Happy Birthday Jesus party was a great way to help convey that Christmas is really about Jesus' birth and fit perfectly with our theme for week four of advent:  Celebrate! 

Our goal was to invite friends who do not attend our church in hopes that we might share our celebration of Christ's birth with  friends who perhaps do not focus less on this aspect of Christmas.  We spent the morning cleaning way too much and decorating with green and red streamers just like a birthday party.  I sometimes forget that kids just have fun goofing around at parties, so I may have over-scheduled.  Here's what we did . . . 

Jesus--Light of the World Votive Holders

As our guests arrived, we got everyone started working on this craft. 

I had cut triangles from red and green glitter tissue paper and had cut out poinsettias from some poinsettia-printed tissue paper.  Each child painted Elmer's washable clear glue on a glass baby food jar and stuck on bits of tissue paper, then painted over the top with more glue.  After they dried we added a votive to the jar.

This was supposed to be an object lesson about Jesus being the light of the world, but Baby Brother woke up right before everyone arrived and I had to pause to feed him. Papa helped everyone with the craft, so I didn't develop this idea very well.  The kids loved this though and the finished jars were very cute.  

What God Wants for Christmas

After our craft, I gathered everyone around our Fisher Price nativity scene.  I had wrapped the figures up in packages labeled 1-9 and made sure that I had one package for each child. 

After a child opened a package, I read the poem from the What God Wants for Christmas Kit for that character.   

I really want to love this poem because I love the concept of opening the figures one at time and I love that the final package is a mirror representing that God wants each of us to give Him ourselves for Christmas; however, I just don't love this poem.  It does not seem to hold the kids' attention effectively and there are times when it seems to sacrifice sense for rhyme.  I know there is also an illustrated book by the same title and author and I wonder if with pictures it would work better.  

The kids enjoyed this, but their engagement wasn't quite as locked in as I'd hoped it might be. 

Food!

It's not a birthday party without cake . . . 

We added one candle for every child present and after singing Happy Birthday, everyone got to blow out a candle (germaphobes beware).  

We also had cranberry orange Chex mix (yummy!) and Lil'Smokies wrapped in biscuits.

And we served punch from my skiing snowman tea pot . . .

 . . . because there only so many occasions where one can use a skiing snowman tea pot, so one must seize that day when an opportunity arises.

Nativity Scene Sticker Sheets
I purchased a twelve pack of nativity scene sticker sheets from Oriental Trading Company (for just $5.99).

Each child got a paper backdrop with a stable on it and a sheet of stickers with all the characters and scenery to create a nativity scene.  The kids were totally engrossed in this activity.

Party Favor Treasure Hunt
We wrapped things up with a little treasure hunt to find party favors.  I like to give craft supplies as party favors, so I had prepped holiday ziplock bags with one marker for writing on windows, one marker with a funky tip, one glitter glue, and a pad of sticky notes.

I wrapped each package in a different style of wrapping paper and then cut squares of each style of wrapping paper.  While the kids worked on their sticker sheets, Papa hid the packages around the house.  When everyone was ready, I gave each child a square of wrapping paper and sent them off to find the package wrapped in matching paper.  

I'd never seen the window markers before, but they were a huge hit and we had an impromptu art party on the sliding glass door. 

Notes for Next Year . . . 

It was lots of fun, but two notes for next year. 

1)  This year I just gave verbal invitations on the phone or in person and it ended up being awkward and confusing.  Next year we need to send out written invitations two weeks in advance.

2)  To me, the stay-at-home mom with a husband who has the week before Christmas off, 1:00 pm on a weekday afternoon seemed like a great day for a party; however, most of the world is still working the week before Christmas and a number of our guests couldn't make it because of working parents.  Next year, we need to do this on Saturday.