"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?