When Superboy was a toddler, Hunter and I talked a bit about what type of birthday traditions we wanted to start with our little family. One thing we both felt was that we wanted some element of excitement right when the birthday boy/girl first woke up in the morning. Sort of like on Christmas morning: you know that the minute you get up, you're about to jump feet first into celebration & excitement.
We decided that we'd have a "breakfast birthday cupcake" tradition with our kiddos. They would wake up & stumble into the dining room to find cupcakes on a plate. How many cupcakes? Same number as their new age. Usually we also have the same number of balloons tied to the birthday boy/girl's chair.
We always take a few pictures of the birthday child in front of the birthday cupcakes. I love these photos---love seeing my happy little still-sleepy-looking babies smiling proudly. We usually get them to hold up their new age for the picture. What pride they have in getting to display their new age for the very first time.
Last year for Pumpkin's birthday, we were at the beach. (Summer conference '10) Pumpkin's request was strawberry cupcakes (yummm!), and my sweet mother made a TON of strawberry cupcakes. Six for the birthday girl, of course, but also plenty for the college students.
One of these days I'm going to do a dedicated scrapbook page for each child with all of the cupcake photos lined up in a row.
