In honor of my daughter turning seven and a half last month, I want to share one of our favorite family traditions. Instead of just celebrating birthdays in the Gregory house, we also have a half birthday celebration six months from each child’s birthday.

In spring 2004, I realized that Laurel would be two and a half in a few days and decided that we needed to add some fun to our week. With a six pack of pink cupcakes, a large Winnie the Pooh Balloon and a Happy Meal from McDonalds, a new family tradition was born.

Half birthday parties in our house are a simple dinner celebration with just the four of us. The focus of the evening is on the child - not the decorations, the goody bags or planning the perfect party games. In many ways, our half birthday celebrations are what I wish birthdays could be.  

To celebrate their half birthday, each kid gets to select the dinner menu for that evening. My daughter has been consistently loyal to the “golden arches” for her celebration dinner while my son is partial to steak and broccoli.

The decorations for the party consist of a single large Mylar balloon selected by the “birthday” kid. Last year, my son selected a very large Lightening McQueen balloon that danced around my house for at least three months. I can’t tell you how many times that thing startled me in the middle of the night.  My kids love those character balloons, but they never seem to make it onto the to-do list for real birthday parties. So for half birthday celebrations, I make sure that the balloon is up at the top of the list.

There is always a small present for the half birthday kid to open during the celebration. The gift is something inexpensive and usually something I would have gotten for the child at some point anyway, such as new colored pencils, a puzzle or coloring book. We try (and pretty much succeed) at keeping the focus off presents for half birthdays.

After the dishes are put away, we feast on cupcakes and sing “Happy Half Birthday” loudly and off-key. My kids go to great lengths to select the perfect cupcakes.  On each trip to Target throughout the year, they check out the cupcake case and plan out which style of cupcake they are going to order.  Once the cupcakes are gone, we all take turns saying why we like that person and share a memory of the person from the past six months.  

I hope that this tradition is one that continues for many years in our house. And if I am really lucky, maybe one day I will get to go to a half birthday party for one of my future grandkids.

Jennifer appears Mondays on TriangleMom2Mom.