Look who’s coming to the party?

How do I celebrate your Birthday little one? Let me count the ways….

There are truck themes and fairy themes and animal themes. There are clowns and balloons and bouncy castles. There are treasure hunts and swim parties and music parties. And then of course there are joyeaus parties filled with all the family and friends near and far. The options are endless. But have you thought of the tiny sacred moments that blessed the actual day or night your child was born—like the ones that happen in nature?

This is my older daughter’s birthday week, and every year leading up to it, I looked at the peony bushes standing at attention, waiting to be invited to the birthday breakfast table. At the end of May, I wondered: will you be ready? Will you don your frilly party frocks in time? The answer was almost always yes! It still is 26 years later. The strawberries we picked in the fields with her friends were always sweet enough to top the honey butter cake and whipped cream we shared on a picnic blanket under a nearby shade tree. We celebrated that way for years, and my daughter still celebrates her birthday with peonies and strawberries—they are the promise of the coming summer and a celebration of her.

Two months later in a mountain field not far off, we would find equally sweet blueberries for my second daughter’s birthday. Every year she and her friends would pluck and snack, while butterflies danced around their heads. Eventually buckets heavy with berries would join the honey butter cake waiting on a blanket in the shade. This time the cake was crowned with a huge sunflower right in the middle.

Birthdays can be simple. In fact, for young children it is less overwhelming and more memorable that way. Young children love repetition-they thrive on it. Having a nature ritual that celebrates them every year also means we don’t have to keep thinking of new ways to celebrate.

When we open our hearts to invite nature into our celebrations—not just for its beauty but for its sacredness—we will be amazed at what each season brings. Each one of us has an astrological chart that tells us a story that the planets and stars whispered when we were born, but what did Mother Earth whisper? Can she be invited to the party in her authentic glory so our children can connect to her and honor her more deeply? A confirmation that this is where they belong.

We can honor the season, the birds, the flowers and the herbs along with our children. Spending quiet time in nature will help us see what is unfolding there and who wants to come to the party.

Seasonal and Nature Celebration Ideas:

• Is there a funny story about a mama cardinal that kept looking into the side-view mirror of the car when your child was born? She will likely do that every year heralding birthday wishes.
• Are there flowers, seashells, leaves or pinecones for all to collect at birthday time to decorate the breakfast table or make a birthday crown?
• Can you measure your child on the barn against the height of the sunflower every year?
• Does a pumpkin get carved  to become a birthday vase for dahlias or a lantern for the dark days ahead?
• Can you take a forest walk in the snow singing "Happy Birthday" while dancing around the trees?
•  Snowmen or snow angels might want to come to the party
• Can you make candles in the frosty ground and light a path?
• Birds will love to celebrate with new homemade birdfeeders or wool strings tied on tries for them to add to their nests.
• Maybe you can build a bonfire or a birthday fort with the fruit tree prunings that everybody collects?
• Spring ephemeral walks may shift from year to year but they can still make a birthday season.

Moon phases and half birthdays can have a little part in the celebration too. They help us feel the full rhythm of the months and year. My friend Theo Moon may be celebrating the new moon on his birthday with a nature offering. Children born in April might plant bulbs in anticipation of a daffodil birthday in the Spring. A Summer jam can decorate a winter cake. A flower fairy birthday might be less about costumes and sparkly wings and more about setting out flower tea for the fairies, thanking them for their help in the garden by candlelight at dusk?

 Growing it Up: 

• The simple honoring of nature in your young child’s birthdays will be with them for the rest of their life. It will help them as an adult cherish the sacred gifts of Mother Earth and remember their own sacredness no matter if they are celebrating a birthday or just an everyday moment.