Our eldest son recently celebrated a milestone birthday, and while we would ordinarily celebrate such a special event with just our family, the military had my husband away over this time, which left us getting creative to give him a memorable 16th without his dad.
Our son loves people and books so we decided to invite his friends to stop in over the course of the day to wish him a happy birthday and, if they would like, to bring him *their* favorite book, along with a note about why they enjoyed that book.
The whole thing was a surprise and was so perfect for our son.
Invitations were sent out (via text message!) a couple of weeks before. Long distance family members were also sent the invitation (it’s one way we stay connected with them – even though they can’t make it to such events, we include them in the invitation!) In the invitation I specified the hours for the drop in, and that they were welcome to stay for a few minutes or a few hours.
Friends were encouraged to just walk in our home when they arrived – and this ended up being wonderful due to the volume of people in our home at varied times; we never would have heard them at the door! The entire thing was a surprise to our son up until the morning of due to me being unable to hide all the cupcakes I was preparing, as well as having had the realization that there could be some awkward dynamics with friends showing up (some with books and some without) so he was forewarned that there may be friends showing up between 2 and 8. The reality was friends came as early as 1:30, and the last one left at 9:45! 3-6pm seemed to be the most popular time, and the length of visits varied from 15 minutes – 3 hours.
Coffee was kept brewed, hot water and tea bags were readily available, and cold water rounded out the drink selection.
For snacks we had cupcakes – both gluten free and regular to accommodate diets – and a popcorn bar. The popcorn bar was enjoyed by all ages! We kept a large stock pot filled with freshly popped popcorn and used brown lunch bags for friends to scoop their buttered popcorn into. Then we had an assortment of savory spices such as Everything But the Bagel, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt, Unami, etc. We also had a selection of sweets that the kids loved adding to their popcorn – mini marshmallows, candy eyes, gummies, M+Ms, etc. It was such a simple party food and worked so well to just pop more popcorn as needed – and our friends loved customizing it however they wanted!
I created a design using 16 pictures from over the course of our son’s life and had it turned into a thousand-piece puzzle – this turned out to be the perfect “activity” at a drop in style party. People could spend a couple minutes or a few hours (!) working on the puzzle. It was communal, simple for the newcomer to jump into, and folks enjoyed seeing the pictures of our son throughout his childhood. Over the course of the afternoon a chess board and a couple simple games were also pulled out and utilized during the drop in party.
In all, about 40 people stopped in to wish our son a happy birthday on his special day. He had friends from toddler years up to senior citizens stop in – and the assortment of books gifted to him express the varied ages of friends that dropped in.
The accompanying notes are something our sentimental son will treasure for the rest of his life, and the stories and wisdom contained within these books will walk with him through the seasons the Lord has planned for his future.
A number of the friends checked in with me about favorite books to ensure he didn’t own any, and of the books gifted to him he had only read two but didn’t personally own any. Through those conversations friends were encouraged to purchase second hand books, and many did.
Of all the books, What if? 2 is the one he’s most excited about, but that came from his best friend who flew across the country to surprise him … and my son had introduced him to book 1 – so it was basically like he’d picked the book himself!
The next two he’s most excited about are ones the gifter of those books made a point to talk to him about (in addition to their note.) Their excitement over their books made him eager to read them.
There is a duplicate of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, two different translations. That came from a 17 year old who loved that book when he was assigned it in school and wanted to give options for my son to pick his own translation.
I was SO touched by the thoughtfulness of our friends who loved him so well in his dad’s absence. It really wasn’t until after the party as I looked at the assortment of books gifted to him (and a handful or so not pictured that came by mail from those dear long distance family members!) that I realized the profound beauty he had been given in the form of books. Our friends gave him the foundation of a beautiful personal library with their thoughtful selections, and a birthday he will never forget!
