Happy Birthday Fhe

Happy Birthday FHE Advance Preparation: Make cupcakes but do not decorate. Have frosting, sprinkles and candles ready to decorate the cupcakes at the end of the lesson. Blow up at least one balloon per person. Gather 1-2 trash bags (to hold balloons), masking tape and 1-2 chairs for the activity. Gather 1 picture of each child’s day of birth (or when they joined your family). Place them in a box and wrap it up. Or cut out the letters to the word BIRTHDAY and place them in the box instead. Print the candles on yellow paper, cut out. Print and cut out cake. Print and cut out illustrations for discussion and story. Hold up the corresponding picture when you get to each underlined word. Opening Song: You’ve Had a Birthday Children’s Songbook pg 285 Scripture: “And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.” (Luke 1:14) Attention Getter: Show everyone the gift you prepared. Ask: “What does it make you think of?” Choose a family helper to open the gift. Pass pictures around. Tell your family that you felt so much joy when each member joined your family. Let them know how much you rejoiced. Share how important each member is. (If you used the letters instead have a few family members unscrambled the word “BIRTHDAY”) Discussion: Birthdays are exciting times. We often look forward to presents, blowing out candles on a beautifully decorated cake, eating cake and ice cream, and celebrating with family and friends. It is fun to have all the attention focused on us. But there is something more to think about. Did you ever consider that your birthday is a celebration of a righteous decision we made before we came here? It is a celebration of the decision to accept the plan of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to come to this earth. There are important reasons for us to be on this earth. One of these reasons is to gain a mortal body. In the scriptures we are told that having a physical body is important for our happiness. It gives us a power that other spirits who chose to follow Satan do not have. In fact, in Luke 8:33 we are told that the devils who have no body would rather have a body of a swine than no body at all. We need to serve and love one another and do the things necessary to glorify our Father in Heaven. We need to perfect ourselves so that we can return to live a celestial existence. On our birthday we can celebrate that we chose to follow the Lord, Jesus Christ, and that we chose not to “sit on the fence,” unable and unwilling to make a commitment. On our birthday we can celebrate the commitment we have made to be on the Lord’s side. We can rededicate ourselves to be obedient and choosing the right things so we can achieve and enjoy the blessings promised to us. I’m grateful for my life on this earth and that I made the decision to be on the Lord’s side. I’m glad that you made that decision too! (from Birthdays: A special Celebration by Stephen C. Duncombe)

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Story: choose a story to read to your family Birthday Party by Shirley L. Gillenwater (pictures included) The Birthday Card by Rebekah Hurst Game: The Birthday Cake Game Each player takes a turn giving an answer to one of the questions found on the back of the candles. When a player gives a correct answer, he/she places the candle on the cake. (make sure to have tape handy) Activity: Balloon Relay Set up: (Set up two teams for a competition or one team for a family relay) Place masking tape strips (starting lines) on one end of the room, and a chair (or chairs) on the opposite end of the room facing the starting lines. Put 1 or 2 trash bags full of balloons (enough for 1 balloon per team member) next to the starting lines. To Play: On the call of “GO!” the first member in the line (or lines) grabs a balloon from the bag and carries it over to their chair. Each player must sit on their balloon to pop it and then runs back to his/her line and “Hi-5’s” the next player in line. The next player then grabs a balloon and continues the relay. When your team finishes, you win! Closing Song: Happy, Happy Birthday Children’s Songbook pg. 284 Treat: Birthday Cupcakes Have each person frost and decorate their won cupcake. Put a candle in each one, light the candles and sing happy birthday to everyone. Blow out the candles and enjoy! Follow-up: Birthday Tales Find time during the week to highlight each child’s birth and the details around it. (Or how each child came to be a part of your family). You could share the facts by reading journal entries or recalling from memory. You could do this as a group by spotlighting one person each night at dinner or before family prayers.

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Birthday Party By Shirley Gillenwater Shirley L. Gillenwater, “Birthday Party,” Friend, May 1999, 8

Jenny brushed her hair until it was smooth, then held it in place with a bow her mother had made to match her new dress. She twirled in front of the mirror on her closet door, eager to go to school. Today was her ninth birthday. That meant that Mrs. Jordan would put her name on the board and her class would sing “Happy Birthday” to her. And, on birthdays, Mrs. Jordan always let the class play an extra fifteen minutes after lunch. When they were through playing games, Jenny would pass out the chocolate chip cookies her mother was sending to school with her. Then, after school, her friends Carrie and Susie were coming home with her for dinner. They were going to have pizza and cake and ice cream. Her mother opened the bedroom door and held her arms out for a hug. “Happy Birthday, Jenny.” “Mom, it’s going to be a fun day.” Jenny hugged her mother hard. “I know, honey.” Mom straightened the bow in Jenny’s hair and turned to leave the room. “Everyone else is eating breakfast. Hurry, or you’ll be late.” Jenny grabbed her backpack and her jacket and carried them into the kitchen. “Happy Birthday, Jenny,” shouted her sisters, Heather and Janie, and her brother, Joshua. Her father got up from the table and pulled out a chair for her just like he did for Mom when they went to a nice restaurant. When Jenny went to her classroom, she carefully set the box of cookies and her backpack on her desk and turned around to look at the chalkboard. Written there was: Mary and Jenny Happy Birthday, girls! The smile left Jenny’s face. She had not known that it was Mary’s birthday, too. Mary had been in the class only a couple of weeks. No one had tried to make friends with her. In fact, most of them whispered about her clothes, which always had torn places and were never very clean. Her hair looked as though it were never combed. Because she never tried to talk to anyone during recess and usually played by herself, everyone else felt that she was unfriendly and wanted to be left alone. Jenny had felt uncomfortable about it, though, especially after last week’s family home evening lesson about trying to see good in others. Still, she felt as if her special day had been spoiled. Mary was the next student to enter the classroom. Her hair was a little neater than usual. She sat at her desk and didn’t even look at the board. Jenny could see that she didn’t have anything to share with the class for her birthday, so she asked, “Mary, didn’t anyone tell you to bring something to share with the class? We always bring something on our birthdays.” Mary looked up. “I couldn’t. My mother is too sick to cook.”

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Jenny looked at the blue box that held her cookies. She felt ashamed. What if her mother was sick? She wouldn’t have had cookies or a new dress. She went over to Mary’s desk. “My mom made cookies for me to share with the class after lunch. Would you like to help me pass them out when it’s time?” Mary looked up at Jenny. “Are you sure?” “Of course. It will be fun.” “I’d like that. My mother has been sick for a long time.” Mary’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I probably won’t even get a birthday cake unless my dad buys one for me.” Jenny couldn’t imagine a birthday party without a birthday cake. She suddenly had an idea. “Mary, you watch the cookies. I have to find Mrs. Jordan.” Hurrying out of the classroom, Jenny saw her teacher at the end of the hall and ran to tell her about her idea. Mrs. Jordan gave her a note to go to the office to call her mother. After explaining about it being Mary’s birthday, too, and about Mary’s sick mother, Jenny asked, “May I bring Mary home and let her share my birthday?” “I’ll go see Mary’s mother and find out if Mary can come to dinner. When I pick you and Susie and Carrie up after school, I’ll let you know what her mother said. Now both of you have a nice day. And, honey—” Mom paused. “I love you.” That evening four girls stuffed themselves with pizza, played games, and fixed each other’s hair. They giggled and told stories. Jenny had been afraid that Carrie and Susie would be mad at her for inviting Mary to her party, but after Mary had told them a story about her former school, Carrie leaned over toward Jenny. “She’s fun. I like her.” “Me, too,” Jenny said, and she meant it. “Girls, it’s time for cake and ice cream. The girls followed Mom into the dining room. “Oh, look!” said Carrie. “They’re beautiful!” On the table were two cakes ablaze with candles. Mary’s eyes opened wide. “I’ve never had a cake with icing flowers.” Jenny looked at Mary. She no longer looked like the unhappy girl who had been an outsider in their class for the past two weeks. Jenny hugged her mother and whispered in her ear, “Thank you for making both our birthdays special.” The girls ate pieces of both cakes with big scoops of ice cream. Then Carrie and Susie begged Jenny to open the gifts they had brought her. Mom slipped her a gift to give to Mary. The party ended with more laughter and singing. Jenny’s mother left the room and came back with Mary’s sweater and a cake box. “Mary, I promised your mother that I would have you home by seven o’clock. We don’t want her to worry.” She handed the box to Mary. “You can share the rest of the cake with your family.” Mary set the box on the table and hugged Mom. “Thank you. It was the best birthday I’ve ever had!” She turned to Jenny and hugged her, too. “Jenny, thank you for sharing your birthday with me.” She paused a moment, then said in a soft voice, “You’re nice.” Jenny thought that that was her best birthday present of all.

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Fill in the blanks on the candles with the names of the members of your family “When is Sara’s birthday?” or “How old is Sara?”

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Pictures for the discussion on are this page and the next page

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The following illustrations are for the story The Birthday Party. Jenny is wearing the skirt and Mary the jeans with patches. If you put a small piece of Velcro between the girls’ hands and a corresponding piece on the back of everything else you can place the pictures on the girls at the appropriate points in the story to make it appear as if the girls are holding the items.

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BIRTHDAY Find more ready to print family home evening lessons at http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com