4 Ways to Celebrate Kidmin Birthdays
Photo by Jorge Ibanez on Unsplash
I have a confession to make. I’m horrible at celebrating birthdays. Both personally and in the ministry. I don’t have excuses; it is what it is. But for kids, their birthday is one of the most important days of the year. Next to Christmas, there isn’t a day they look forward toward more.
Because the day is so special I had to make a change. So, I set up a system for celebrating kids’ birthdays that was quick and easy, but also meaningful and full of joy. I tried a lot of things but settled on four things that my kids love.
1. Send a birthday card
This is an easy one to do. All you have to do is source a list at the beginning of the month (or the end of the previous month). Your church’s church management system (ChMS), like Planning Center, should have your kids’ birthdays saved.
If you don’t collect this kind of information, I suggest you start. You can get my registration card here. It has all the information you need to know about your kids and their parents.
To really make the birthday card special, personalize it with a short note. This can be from you or a small group leader. There are a lot of cute and/or funny birthday cards out there. You can even get a bunch from Amazon.
At one church, I printed a postcard size and invited the kids to bring it back for an item from our store.
I sent this card to every kid during their birthday month.
It was too much for me to remember to send this out on the kids’ birthday. Bad at birthdays, remember? So, I sent them all out with my other guest follow up cards at the beginning of the month. Yes, they may arrive early, but a kid’s birthday is one of the biggest day of the year for them. They’ll be looking forward to the big day for weeks. Think of the card as an early birthday present.
2. A small gift
As much as I’d love to give the kids in my kidmin a great gift, I don’t have the budget for it. You may feel the pressure to give something with a Christian bent like a devotional or Bible. These are great gifts, but in my experience, they’re not received with joy.
I mentioned my store earlier. It served many purposes which you can read about here. One of those purposes was birthday gifts. I had candy, toys, games, and cheap electronics from Five Below. Kids could come and pick out anything they wanted for their birthday. Since most of the items were $5 or less, it didn’t break the bank, and the kids loved it.
If you don’t have a store, consider doing a prize box or something like it. Letting kids choose their gift on their special day brings extra joy.
3. Give a birthday button or sticker
At one church, I made birthday stickers. I got the idea from Disney. If you go to the concierge desk and tell them it’s your birthday, they’ll give you a birthday button with your name on it.
Whenever we go to Disney for a birthday we always pick up one of these free buttons. Image from Disney Food Blog
As you wear it throughout the park, people will tell you Happy Birthday. It’s great for adults and kids alike. One time I got a free coke!
I wanted to bring that magic to my kidmin. So, my ChMS, Planning Center, tells me when it's a kid’s birthday at check-in. My check-in volunteers then give them a sticker. As the kid goes throughout the service everyone tells them Happy Birthday. I encourage my volunteers to pick them for games and examples, just to make the day extra special.
Planning Center will now print your own birthday sticker automatically. You just have to program the sticker to print in the location. I talk more about setting up Planning Center check-ins here.
4. Birthday Video
During COVID I wasn’t seeing kids week to week. I wanted some way to connect with them in a meaningful way. Birthdays are a great way to do it. At first, I recorded a personalized birthday greeting from volunteers and kids. But this took A LOT of time, and the kids were not into it. So, I shifted the video to a personalized greeting from me. Then I added several generic “happy birthdays” from other staff and kids’ volunteers.
You can see an example video below.
A sample of the Happy Birthday videos I’d send to my kids.
Then on or around a kid’s birthday, I share the video over email with the parents. I found I had to call the parents to let them know I sent it. A lot of times the email went straight to spam.
The feedback I've received has been phenomenal. The kids and parents absolutely love it. The best part for me is that these are quick to make. I connect with kids and parents. And provides pastoral care to families in a meaningful way.
That’s it! Four quick and easy ways to celebrate a kids’ birthday that are meaningful and bring joy to each kid. You don’t have to do all four. But picking one is better than doing nothing at all.
How do you celebrate birthdays in your ministry? What have you found that your kids love?
