Kiddos are giving instead of getting for their birthdays and I’m 😭 !

Have you heard of a kindness party? Are you  😭 too at the thought of it?

We all want to instill kindness into our kids’ character, and there are tons of ways to do that. Adults are in on the trend of “donating” their birthday by asking for donations to a charity on Facebook, but what about the littles?

Turns out you don’t need Facebook to donate your birthday. Starting with the first one, you can make your kid’s birthday party about charity.

Robyn Bomar, founder of The Birthday Project, has heard from people on six continents about how they made their birthday parties about giving. She told me about one two-year-old who was obsessed with shoes (always pointing them out and wanting to try them on) whose mom decided to throw a shoe-themed party. Guests were asked to each bring one pair of gently used shoes to donate. They collected 51 pairs to donate!

At that young age it’s all about picking up on what your kid loves and taking the lead yourself on making a connection to charity. The mom of a four-year-old who wanted a monkey-themed party called up the local zoo to see what kinds of donations they might need for the primate center.  Turns out monkeys have a lot of the same toys as human kiddos so a list of monkey-friendly toys like balls and beach toys was sent out with the invitations. Guests brought monkey gifts and the birthday girl was excited to bring a car full of donations to her favorite friends at the zoo!

The most common birthday pairing is with the local animal shelter. Ask guests to bring donations like towels, leashes, brushes, and pet food and have a doggy or kitty themed party. One child had the local animal shelter bring small dogs to a park for his party and guests could bring their dogs to play with them. Two dogs ended up getting adopted by party guests. How sweet is that?? You might try asking a shelter if you can even hold your small party at the shelter for older to kids to play with the pets as volunteers.

Children do naturally want to help so anytime they react to a St. Jude’s commercial or come home excited about recycling, jump on it and and find a way to connect to a local non-profit and get your kid involved somehow, even just once for a birthday party!