Yes, birthdays mean that you are getting older, you are getting wrinkly and let’s face it there is no turning back! Birthdays are a must and what is cool is that it comes only once a year, unless you are like me where you celebrate the whole month! Well I love birthdays. It is an achievement knowing that you have completed another cycle and bigger and better things are approaching. What is even sweeter is making someone else’s birthday amazing. I just love how some people I know are like, “Birthdays are just not a big deal to me” or “You don’t have to give me a gift”. I am like WHHHAATTTT!!!! The thing is because I love birthdays so much I have to make others feel that same joy. You know the golden rule, “Do unto others as you would have them done unto you!” When I taught Girl Scouts, one girl said, “I have the PLATINUM rule: Treat others better than how they treat you!” I was like go on girl you get it! It’s not about what you get, it’s about what and how you give!

Many people think it’s about how much money you spend or how many things you get them! Nope, no way that aint it at all! Want to blow the nonchalant birthday person’s mind? Want to make their birthday so sweet you will have imprinted on their heart?

Well here are 10 tips to make someone’s birthday sweet:

1. Surprise them… this is really simple and you do not have to spend a fortune on them. The best birthday gift I got was when my aunt came to my job during lunch break unexpected. I was sitting in the conference room with about 8 other co workers and in she walks with balloons and a little gift bag. WHO CARED ABOUT THE GIFT just her presence was enough. The gift was awesome too! I will get into that in the next tip!
2. Know them... what do they like, what have they asked for, what are their hobbies etc? My aunt’s gift was probably a total of $10. In it was a gluten free cupcake because I have an allergy, the other thing was a hand me down plant that I saw at her house and I was like, “That is so cute, can I have it?” and she said no but here it was! Who needs a diamond bracelet lol… I mean I guess well anyways.
3. Make them SHINE… all eyes on them. Make them feel special. My ex-husband was one who did not celebrate birthdays and I just wanted to make him feel special. So I planned to take him to breakfast to one of his favorite spots. But here is the kicker, I invited people that loved him and he was so surprised, so in awe. He was like this is the best birthday ever and this comes from a guy who says he does not celebrate and he does not want to!
4. An experience to remember… I think experiences are greater than gifts and money. People connect memories and emotions to events and smells and music etc. A song comes on the radio and you go back to memory lane don’t you! You remember that time when you guys first kissed, or when you stayed up all night studying for midterms while jamming to your favorite cd.  This will imprint on them for real. Hopefully it all goes well. Plan a trip to the lake or somewhere they have never been. Ziplining or bungee jumping, that is a forever memory! Whatever it may be, I am sure they will always remember.
5. Leave a mark… your mark or theirs…I love specialized gifts that hone in on their passions and dreams, who they are. I recently celebrated a close friend’s birthday and I know that he likes to drink and play drums. I was like what can I get him. So I got him this really amazing flash and got his initials on it and on the back was a quote. This dude almost cried. He was like I wasn’t expecting anything but this is amazing. He is one of those that really doesn’t care about gifts. He loved this one though!
6. Allow others to enjoy their birthday… what’s a birthday without anyone to share in the good times? I love when people publically send happy birthdays to friends and family via Facebook. They tag them and share something amazing about them and it brings joy to others who see it. One thing I have been tasked with at work is to do birthday and anniversary emails. Before me it was a simple happy birthday with a picture of a birthday cake. Me, the lover of birthdays had to make it sweeter so I began personalizing it! We keep a folder of staff pictures from different events and I would use pixlr or some other online photo editing tool and create personalized customized birthday cards. I made different greetings based on their personalities. I would send it to all the staff and they would get a great big laugh and wish them a happy birthday or anniversary. Here are a few:

   

   

7. FEED THEM… I feel like everybody loves food. What is their favorite meal or place to eat! That is it… the way to someone’s heart is through their stomach… I think I have that wrong but whatever. So many great memories are made over a great meal especially one they love.
8. Give them a gift to DIY for… maybe not DIE, we want to celebrate life! Nothing means straight from the heart like something you make. SO MANY cute ideas to chose from. Collage of your photos from college days, wall clock with your names as the hands and pictures as the numbers, I don’t know, you know them better than I do! Just make it meaningful.
9. Can’t forget the Sweets! There are so many bakeries that make some pretty amazing sweets and what’s even better is that some even do CUSTOM cakes like my girl at Xtravagant Events and Sweet Treats. So many people love something sweet to eat and I think you should make all those calories and carbs count! Make it big! Enjoy it!
10. Document them… the next thing that I love a LOT is PICTURES! Someone once told me, if you are on your phone then you are not having fun! I say document all your fun on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram whatever. Make sure there are pics to capture such a great occasion so that when new apps such as TimeHop, can look back and reminisce. I love tagging where I am at however some people are crazy out there… maybe tag the location after you have left that area! But whatever you do DOCUMENT IT and print out some of the pics as well.

Well I hope this helps when figuring out ways to make somebody’s birthday sweet! Tell me how you make others birthday something they will always remember! Let’s keep the list going!

Stay Sweet,
Cicely-Renee