It was my son’s birthday this weekend. With seven kids we don’t need to have big fancy parties. We are our own party.

We have some traditions that we carry out with every birthday. The first of which is a treasure hunt. I make up silly rhymes, write them on index cards and hide them. The kids go running en masse from one room to another room finding the next clue until they reach the presents.

It makes the presents fun for everyone.

Just like at Christmas, I encourage the children buy the birthday child presents at the dollar store. It is amazing how many fun things they find there without breaking any sort of budget. They use their own allowance money to do it and that helps them to really take ownership of the shopping, thinking what the other person might enjoy.

(To my daughter: No, I don’t think he would like to have a set of sparkly lip gloss. I realize the Disney princesses are on the label. Are you confusing what you want with what he might want?)

My son got a huge box of bubble gum, a pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey game, a dart gun, a pack of Spiderman pens, ring pops, and a deck of cards. He loved them all probably as much as the high priced presents I bought him.

The fact that his siblings picked the presents out for him makes him feel special.

And the fact that they bought their brother presents with money they earned themselves, makes all of them feel special too.