Which birthday do you celebrate - English or Hebrew?

amother

Coffee

Fri, Jul 19 2019, 9:37 am

Both. Also, we have what we call "birthday shabbos." We started this before thete were kids and it is a lot of fun to see what people pick . On the shabbos closest to one of the birthdays (whichever makes most sense practically), the celebrant gets a menu of their favorites, and a special dessert of their choosing. This year I decided that dds were old enough to do mine themselves. I kept the menu simple and told them to feel free to raid the freezer for challah and soup, but I got Friday off!

amother

Ecru

Mon, Jul 22 2019, 8:54 am

amother [ Coffee ] wrote:

[b]

We do this too!

Oldest child is born on a Yom Tov and therefore gets many celebrations because we split that Y"T between parents and in laws and each grandmother bakes a cake. Then we do birthday Shabbos at home and some years we do something for friends too.

Younger kids who are in school get the usual school party with cupcakes plus a celebration at home. Babies/toddlers get a Sunday brunch or dinner with grandparents and any additional family members who are available, more of an excuse to get together than because babies need a party. These parties are scheduled for convenience and are not necessarily bo bayom.

DH usually gets a favorite weeknight dinner that's more of a patchke than my usual. The kids make him cards, etc. We usually celebrate his Hebrew birthday except when inconvenient.

I get a birthday Shabbos made by DH with some assistance from the kids, including hand drawn menus and costumes. They get really into it and I get the weekend off! I love it more than any physical gift they could buy. This Shabbos usually takes place somewhere in the realm of my birthday but is scheduled for the convenience of DH when he knows he'll have a lighter week at work and more time to cook.