How do you celebrate birthdays in your classroom? Or do you? It seems that the higher in grade level you go the less fun you have in school.... even on your birthday!
We don't allow birthday celebrations at our school. No cupcakes, no time away from academics, no fun! Okay, we're really not that mean but birthday cupcakes are STRONGLY discouraged. If by chance a parent does bring in cupcakes for their child's birthday they must be dropped off in the office and kept there until the end of the day when the cafeteria closes. It is some Texas law that's called
No Cupcake Left Behind! Well, I may be exaggerating a bit but it feels that we have that law, especially to a cupcake lovin', pleasantly plump teacher like me. Anywho, the cupcakes are allowed at the end of the day but because cupcakes are discouraged many parents don't bother.

My personal feeling is that everyone should feel special on their birthday so it is up to me to make my students feel special on their day (without a cupcake of course). To celebrate my students' birthdays without taking too much time away from academics I put up this adorable banner I ordered from
VistaPrint and take a picture of the birthday child's by the banner. Another awesome thing I ordered from
VistaPrint are these adorable personalized birthday postcards. I tape on a birthday pencil and place it on the student's desk. The love it! It's like I gave them a hundred dollar bill.

And if that wasn't enough I read the special birthday book. Yup, I read the book several times throughout the year and it doesn't get old at all. The students can't wait until its the next birthday so we can read the book again. What book you ask? Well, Happy Birthday to You of course!
So whether you are allowed to have cupcakes or not you can start your own classroom traditions that your students will treasure!
Denise from Sunny Days in Second is having a birthday linky party so stop by and see what other fabulous birthday ideas you can learn!