“What life expects of us is that we celebrate.” — José Eduardo Agaulusa, The Book of Chameleons
Today is Cinco de Mayo Day. For Mexicans it’s a celebration of historic significance and culture. Commemorating a military victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on this day in 1862, the events focus on everything from cuisine to music, and take place in countries the world over.
For my Canadian family, however, there is another awesome reason to celebrate May 5. Three years ago, our daughter and her husband welcomed a son on this day. Of German-Irish-Czech lineage — a tow-headed treasure with sparkling azure eyes— he’s as physically removed from the swarthy Latin aesthetic as you can get. Regardless, when it came time for our Little Mister’s first birthday, his mom incorporated the Mexican holiday into the theme with sombreros to wear and piñatas to burst.
This little dude isn’t the only May celebrant in our brood, however. Our younger daughter blessed us with a sweet granddaughter just eight days after Mister’s arrival. Since gathering all of us from various places for two birthdays within a week stressed already busy schedules the girls decided after that first year to combine them from here on in. This weekend then is the big event for us to celebrate the two bundles of adorableness that have enriched our lives.
The combo gala has taken the Mexican theme away. (Though the piñata remains, because, let’s face it, it’s a lot of fun to beat the crap out of something and get candy for it.) Instead, the theme this year is dinosaurs, because what three-year-old, male or female, doesn’t love a prehistoric monster?
I love that my two daughters really get into these parties.. When my kids were still under my roof their special day was always commemorated by two gatherings — one for their friends and one for family. They weren’t fancy, and sometimes they were downright simple, but acknowledging them was a big deal. All of them, including my husband’s and mine. I’m a huge fan of birthdays, you see, regardless of what number accompanies them.
A blog by Jacqueline Woolley, Ph.D. concluded that it’s not how you celebrate a birthday that matters to a child, it’s that you celebrate. She stated that “children, like adults, are driven to seek explanations for personal, meaningful events. To children, the annual experience of the seemingly sudden change from one age to another is of great signficance. Yet, there is no obvious physical cause, as there is with other sorts of changes. Thus, children may grab onto the event that regularly co-occurs with this age change — the party — and assign it a casual role.”
The rationale for me was more simplistic. I always hoped that it was a positive practice to recognize these special days so my offspring might understand that life is here to celebrate, that each day here is a blessing. Or as the quote above states, that life expects us to celebrate.
And, regardless of what might be the focus of the celebration, whether it’s a holiday like Cinco de Mayo, or personal like a birthday, creating items associated to it is easy. There are online tutorials covering a variety of subjects, from making an invitation to decorations, flyers and banners
You’ll also want to find a safe resource for for the visual elements you’ll need to enhance your designs. You can find wonderful clipart and photos on sites such as iCLIPART.com, iPHOTOS.com and Clipart.com These subscription services offer access to thousands of images that you can use in many different projects over and over again. Be sure to read the terms to ensure that your particular usage is permitted.
Because birthdays are on mind mind these links will show you just a portion of what’s available on each website:
