Celebrating Birthdays with Disney

How much more magical can you get than Disney?   Well none, in my opinion.   So, where would be a more perfect place to celebrate a birthday? 

Everyone in my family has celebrated something at Walt Disney World.  Our first visit was for my son’s fifth birthday, but we had not yet been clued in on celebrations.  We learned on that trip and made sure to take advantage of it on following trips.  We returned to Walt Disney World when Clay was 10, in 2009, to celebrate again.  This time we did it right.  Everyone in our group wore an “I’m Celebrating” button.  Clay, of course, wore his special birthday button.  Everywhere we went people were singing Happy Birthday. It wasn’t just cast members either.  Total strangers were singing!  The best part was seeing shy little Clay’s red face.  He had never experienced that much attention all at once!

The birthday celebrating doesn’t stop with just singing.  If the staff is notified, usually ahead of time is preferred, that a member of your party is celebrating, something special will be prepared.  You can also have gifts, flowers or cakes sent to your resort room.  Clay had cupcakes with cute candy Mickey heads,  cake or pie with special messages written on the plates and even s’mores with a candle in them !  Every single meal made Clay feel extra special. 

Of  course we couldn’t let Clay be the only kid to celebrate!  Last year was Zachary’s turn.  He is my actor, attention seeking child, so he was all in and no where near embarrassed like Clay.  He fed on the attention! He was turning 11 and received the same special treatment that Clay had gotten the year before.  Singing and cake every day!

This year will be dedicated to Erin.  She is a special little princess.  The past two years, Erin has chosen to have her birthday gifts be designated to a certain foundation.  She gets the wish list of the foundation and asks the guests to bring those items to her party.   When she turned 7, she chose a local homeless shelter and last year she decided on the Target House (this place houses the families of seriously ill children that are receiving long term treatment far from home).  This year, Erin has chosen the Give Kids the World foundation, located in Kissimmee, Florida.  GKTW is a foundation that fulfills the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses so that they may be able to experience cost free visits to central Florida attractions, such as Walt Disney World.  I hope that our visit during the Christmas Holidays, near Erin’s birthday, will make her feel just as special as I imagine the others feel when they receive her donations.  I have no doubt that Disney will pull through for me again.  Happy Holidays!  What will you celebrate?