I am looking for any ideas to do something a little special on my husbands birthday which is next week.
Here's some background: we have five young children; DD9,DD8,DS6,DD5,and DD3. After being laid off from his prior job for what seemed like forever (almost a year) he has just started a new job, hasn't even gotten first paycheck yet. The job is 7pm-7am, so very long nights, gets to sleep his eight hours, then back to work. Two days on, two days off kinda thing. Well, he will be working the night before his birthday and sleeping the day of.
My thing is... we have very little money and no baby sitter but I really want to try and do something special for him. We have had some really tough times, being very stressed, but now he finally has a job and turning 30 next week. So I want to show him I care and celebrate the new leaf that's turned.
If you have any suggestions or something you have done for your husband in the past, even if its little, I would like to know.
Thanks in advance,
LM
Make a big Happy 30th Birthday sign out of wrapping paper ( the backside will do unless you have craft paper for kids art projects) that is around the house and make his favorite dessert and meal. Also you get a few movies from the library one for you guys to watch in another room and one for the kiddos too. Have fun
J.
Have the kids help make his favorite dinner and bake a cake. Then, have them retire to bed early for his "real" LOL present...Dim the lights, have strawberries & champagne on hand, sexy nighty & either romantic music. Give him a nice massage. Relax and enjoy each other.
Make him a list of 30 things you love about him to celebrate his 30th bday!
You have some good ideas here for things to do with the kids. How about if you have the house all nice and clean when he gets home from work (don't take this the wrong way, I'm not suggesting it is dirty, I just know what a houseful of kids can do!), even clean sheets on the bed, get up early so you can do your hair and makeup and be all ready for him, have his favorite drink or snack on hand, and give him a nice massage before he goes to sleep. I know my DH LOVES it when I give him a lotion foot and leg rub. Even if they don't admit it I think most men love to be babied, so anything you could do to pamper him and just show him that he is still #1 to you would probably go a long way.
How about getting a pack of contruction paper at the dollar store and you and your kids cutting out 30 hearts of all colors and decorating them with a special message inside.
You can also get a poster board, at the dollar store as well, I believe, and glue the backs of the hearts onto it like a huge card.
Thirty reasons why I love you would be really cute and your kids could be involved. I bet he'd love it.
You've got 5 kids to 10 handprints, 10 footprints, and 10 of mommy's lipstick kisses might be cute too intermingled.
You dont have to have much money to make these things special.
You've got 5 kids plus you. That makes 6. Equals 30. Each of you write 5 special things about him and give that to him.
He will treasure it.
I think you'll find the right thing.
For my hubby's thirtieth this year, I just cooked all his favorite foods all weekend, got him a cheap cake at Wal-mart bc he loves their icing and filled the house with his favorite junk food, which we normally never do. He does martial arts so I got him this text book he was wanting and I think I made sure he was a little extra happy in the romance dept;) I basically thought of all his favorite little things that weren't pricey and just gave them to him in abundance. Our three year old picked out his birthday card and greeted him at the door with a big "Happy birthday Daddy!" We ate junk, sang happy birthday and just had fun. He loved it:)
My hubby looks forward to his favorite meal and favorite dessert every year! He is easy, I love it! Me just putting in the effort to make his day all about him is all he ever needs...I rarely spend any $ on him for his b-day (we don't really do gifts for each other) I just wake him with his favorite breakfast and some coffee, make him his lunch (if it lands on a work day), help him get dressed (wink-wink) and send him on his way!
~Something else we have done for him (that is really more about involving the kids) is getting a couple dollar store bags of balloons and allowing the kids to blow them up and leave them all over the floor, add in a home-made banner and letting the kids hide and jump out say "surprise, happy birthday"! and your golden...it looks festive and is fun! I bet your family with your age range of kids would love this and a family game of "balloon volleyball"...always FUN! *Winners get to pop all the balloons and losers have to clean them all up!
Pack a somewhat gourmet picnic lunch and go to a park where the kids can safely play and give you a relative sense of privacy. Write a card to him that expresses how you feel and how much he means to you. Keep it simple and just enjoy each other's company!
Are you able to cook his favorite meal?
Maybe do an art project, use your children's hand prints or something, make a special card of how much you appreciate him.
You probably have some art supplies at home from various school projects. If not, ask one of your children's teachers for some paper and maybe borrow some paint from the classroom.
Pack a picnic and some toys for the kids and head to the park. Ask the two oldest to help play with the 3 youngers (soccer, duck duck goose, playground etc) so that you and hubby can have 30 minutes to talk without the kids all needing you. Give him the gift of your time. Make picnic friendly foods that he likes and have everything ready to go when he wakes up (or there abouts) when he wakes up.
I gave my husband a "We Love You Because" jar last year that the kids and I filled with slips of paper stating reasons we love him. It was his favorite gift ever! So I like the suggestions of 30 reasons you love him!
My sister always decorates the inside of her husband's car on his birthday with balloons, cards, streamers, etc. You could decorate his car the night before so when we gets off work he sees that. Or have the house decorated the same for when he walks in from work, or wakes up after sleeping.
Good luck! Hope you have a memorable day. My kids thought the jar was really fun, too so hopefully your kids would enjoy telling dad why they love him!
I absolutely agree...make it a family night...make his favorite dinner...have the kids decorate a cake or cupcakes...so each of them can be involved in the decorating. Take them out to gather some prerty leaves, rocks, flowers, anything that catches their eye and let them make a collage for Dad. Or if you have some tempra paint let them make a collage of their footprints and/or hand prints.
Maybe you could find someone to swap some babysitting time with you and the two of you could go out for some together time after dinner...there should be some beautiful scenery near Seattle that you could enjoy together. I googled the 10 ten things to do in Seattle and it looks like on 1st Thursday of each month there are tons of interesting things to do in Pioneer Square. It also looks like Pikes on the waterfront would be a fantastic place to spend the day!!!
Most of all, you and the kids all make birthday cards for him...telling him how much you love him and how important he is to you!!!
These are all right on the money with what I know my hubby would love for his birthday. My dressed up just for him, a nice dinner, even with the kids present, or if you have a good friend that could watch them for a couple hours, even better. A movie, or just visit, a nice message before "bed"!!! Men are super easy to please, usually! Good Luck and I am sure whatever you plan will work out great.
I think all the suggestions here are good ones, but if you feel like you want to do something more or you would if you had the money (which, believe me, I understand!) then what about a 'coupon' or 'gift certificate' for something he might like that you can buy when finances permit? For example, if he likes sports, maybe you could make a 'gift certificate' redeemable for 2 tickets to a football game later this season where maybe he could go with you or even a friend? You could have your family celebration on his actual b-day and then one day in the future, he could go have a guy's outing or the two of you could go out as a couple to celebrate in a way he'd enjoy. Good luck!
I like the favorite meal idea. And to expand on the list idea I would use 30 "Post it notes" and put them all over your bedroom with all the things you love about him written on them. Besides his favorite desert or cake/cupcakes to go with the birthday meal you can send him off to work the night before with a cupcake or bake another special treat and put it in a (kid decorated birthday paper bag) for him. - Write on the bag "Don't open until midnight!" If you have a camera you can take a picture of the kids holding a sign they made saying happy birthday and print it off on the computer (if you have a printer) If not 1 photo at Walmart is under 50 cents. You can include the photo in the treat bag too (in a zip lock baggy). Or if he isn't big on treats, just the photo. This way you can start to celebrate his Birthday right away and aren't waiting for him to wake up. If he has a cell or can take calls at work you could also call him at midnight to wish him a happy birthday.
I was going to suggest the same thing-cook his favorite meal and you and the kids bake a cake for him. My husband looks forward to his birthday dinner and homemade cake every year! To me, just being together as a family and telling him how much you love him and appreciate how hard he is working goes a long, long way!
