We are now in the middle of the "nine days" a period of mourning on the Jewish calender, which culminates on Tisha B'Av, the saddest day of the year and a fast day, marking the loss of our Holy Temple. Fortunately for my daughter, she was born just before the "nine days" otherwise we would not be able to celebrate on her actual birthday, since parties and happy occasions are not appropriate now.
So just before the nine days, we made a family birthday party, a birthday party made with love! A crown cut out by Mom and colored by siblings, our classic birthday bear cake, a handmade present from Mom in a box decorated by siblings, special cookies, and the dining room chandelier decorated for the festivities.
The table was covered in a bright red duvet cover (sheets make great table cloths!) with a cute matroyshka doll pattern, I made a centerpiece with a striped Mexican basket filled with my paper flowers, and we ate pizza (a semi treat) and salad. A very nice time was had by all. Phew.
So my friends, your next birthday party doesn't have to look like it came from Martha Stewart, that might not only be very difficult, but require many days of preparations! My humble advice (to myself as well) is to make a birthday party that looks like it came from Creative Jewish Mom!
And by the way, as I was cleaning up from the party and lamenting over throwing away three pizza boxes, miracle of miracles, I noticed that the clean ones could actually be used for a fun project! Come back on Monday to see what we did, and if you order pizza in the next few days with octagonal boxes, so save the lids!
