"Tillykke!" or about birthday parties in a Danish daycare

Flags, buns with butter and chocolate, warm cacao and presents with exchange tags all listed on the wishing list....

from @Olgas blog where a very good recipe is available

Coming from the culture where birthdays are huge celebrations with cakes, tables filled with the most amazing dishes and a pile of completely useless but wonderful presents, the Danish birthday reality was indeed a cultural shock.

It deepened as A. started in the nursery.  When we were about to celebrate her 1st birthday I received a note from one of the caretakers, in which I was informed about the rules each parent is obliged to follow when preparing a birthday celebration in the daycare (How would you feel about that?!).

We were faced with two possibilities:
1. Hold the birthday party at our home, which would imply that at least one week before we have to fill in the form with the date and time of the occasion and what we will serve to the children. Since it was at our place, we were allowed to serve two sweet dishes: something sweet to drink and a cake or an ice cream. The rest was supposed to be regular food, preferably without meat as many kids are not eating pork. Exciting, right?

2. We could hold the birthday party in the kindergarten, it had to happen between 10 and 12. We could serve only one (surprise, surprise!) sweet dish and the famous "saftevand" was considered sweet.
I was furious! No one was supposed to tell me how to celebrate my child's birthday! Not to mention the very first birthday.....But rules are rules, so I had to learn to live with them.
Later I found out that rules also meant traditions - very touching, very different and very special.

We were welcomed with the following note on the door

A. received a present from all the kids in the group: a little book filled with drawings.

A's book as she turned 4

Looking back it is fun to see how the "quality" of the drawing has increased with years.

drawing of A's best friend

The child is also being measured, his or her hand and foot are being traced and all those things end up on a little card which together with the pictures from the birthday is hanging on the wall for the whole year until the next birthday.

yes, A is tall.

foot tracing

Next, the child sits on a special birthday chair, where the occasion picture is taken.

2 years old

And finally the a birthday sing a song tradition, which is rather elaborate (and my personal favourite!). At first, the candles are being lit and blown before the child get to choose an old birthday song or a new one (sorry, could not find a better version).

4 candles = 4th birthday

If the child chooses the new song, he or she also needs to choose the instruments which will appear in the song (guitar, piano, drums, etc.). Then the birthday kid is invited to stand on the chair while all the others are singing. When the song comes to an end, the child raises up the arms and as long as the arms are up all the kids are yelling Hooray! But when the arms are down, everyone has to be quiet.

Do I have to say that the kids are simply loving those days? They feel special, they have something to look forward to, they learn to respect that there can be an important occasion for someone else.

1st birthday - present opening ceremony

only the caretakers are singing :)

2nd birthday

3rd birthday - we invited everyone home

outside bday table

Sometimes, I wonder whether it is only our daycare that have such birthday "routines" or is it like this in all Danish kindergartens? What is your experience? 

Let's party the pirate way

D. had high expectation from his birthday party. It had to be with "pirate flags and lots of black balloons and a cake, when one cake stands on the other."

We had to put up a calendar for him to cross out days that were left before the occasion.

"And what would you like as a present then?" - I did not expect the answer, as D. left to his room with the words "I have to think about it." Ten minutes later, he came running with an announcement: "I want  a batman toy and a super man toy, as these are the superheros that I lack. I need Captain America costume And I want a real camera. Remember, mommy, you have already promised me a pirate bday party!" Speechless, I started to think how to fulfil the requests of the Red Haired Prince of Denmark.

Thanks to all the amazing mom-bloggers of the US and even more amazing ladies on Pinterest I have managed to plan and execute my first pirate birthday party (pinterest board)

In Denmark when a child has a birthday party he or she is inviting the whole kindergarten group home or is holding a party at the daycare. The first task was to convince D. to accept the latter option as the prospect of 17 kids ransacking the house did not appeal to me. Instead we were to hold two parties.

We started with  decorating small pirate ships. My husband became a "paper-ship.making.master" after folding approximately twenty paper boats. It all was worth the efforts: paper boats, stickers and a bunch of very concentrated and occupied kiddies.

Next was a treasure hunt. Children had to find different staffed animals places everywhere around the house. Each animal had a clue with the picture of the next animal from the map. The one who first spotted the pirate filled with chocolate coins, won.

Then everyone was ready for the cake: two level chocolate cake with white chocolate and strawberries filling, decorated with the Jake the Pirate figures.

www.bakingwithlove.dk

First went the treasure chest, the crocodile had to be shared and captain Hook sneaked away on A's plate. The palm tree - well, we found it later without the leaves. And Jake - we've managed to save him for another day. It is fascinating to see how children are choosing the figure they like most: there is a lot of doubt as the choice is extraordinary complicated. How is it possible to decide whether Jake is better than the crocodile? Or whether the treasure chest is bigger than the palm tree?

I somehow feel that a cake like this always adds something special to any birthday experience. Once, I stumbles upon a discussion about birthday traditions. It turns out there are a lot of those, endless number of variations of how to make the day more special. Then I thought that for our family it can be a cake. Also because the only birthday that I remember from my childhood is the one when my mom baked a three levelled cake!

As the cake disappeared from the plates, the kids moved into the garden and occupied the pirate ford, which we created on the swing. There was a real pirate hanging bed inside, a water slide and Jake the pirate.

This little wooden Jake took a lot of my energy and almost all creativity I had. But those two evening me and my husband spent making it were worth it, just to see the thrill on D's face when he saw the figure for the first time. (for those who want to make a Jake of their own - use thin wood, which is easy to cut and paint on, and acrylic paint.)

Happy birthday little Mr.Twister D.!