Birthday Traditions

There is no doubt - I love birthdays!  Just something about them that is so special.  An opportunity to celebrate a special person!  I love making a big deal of birthdays (if you couldn't tell by my blogs over the years).  I also love traditions.  I want my kids to have very special memories of their childhood.  I think that happens through traditions.  Through doing the same thing through the years so they can remember the traditions.  So that being said I have a few special little birthday traditions that we like to do for everyone in the Eckley family's birthday.  

First up is the birthday banner.  I got this for Matt's birthday the very first year we were married.  We had been married for about 2 months and were living in an apartment in Knoxville.  I wanted to do something special for his birthday so I got this banner.  It hung around our dining room in our apartment.  Well, it has stuck around and has been put out for every birthday in the family since then.  It is so neat because it fits perfectly around the bar area in our kitchen.  I love putting it up a few days before a birthday and enjoying through the birthday.  I plan on it being up for every birthday for every person!

 This mug is actually a tradition I borrowed from my parents growing up.  We drank out of this mug all day on our birthday.  I "inherited" the mug when Ben was little so we continued the tradition.  The kids ask for it first thing on their birthday.  They want to drink out of "the mug."

 We have now added a plate to the mug.  On your birthday you also get to eat off of this special plate!

 Matt and I bought these 2 little plates right after we got married at Crate and Barrel.  It is what we used to celebrate for the years we didn't have kids.  I still like to pull them out and decorate with them.

Those are are our main fun birthday traditions.  I hope that Ben and Kate remember these fun/silly little things when they are grown and continue them in their own homes.