need some thoughts...birthday while on vacation

[kfeusse]

my, to be 9 year old son, has a July birthday. Nearly every year we are on our 3 week family vacation over his birthday. Which is good and bad....he has at least 3 birthday celebrations, but we are hardly ever at home on his day. This particular vacation time is always to the grandparents home (both sets) and often my brother as well. (3 different stops along the way). When he was younger, we tried to celebrate it at home before we left (especially if it hit a day or two before we left)....but this year it is smack dab in the middle and we will be camping on his day.

 

I pride myself in making special birthday cakes for the kids (my mom did that too) but it will be impossible for ME to do that this year ON his birthday. (Can't bring a cake 15 hours of car travel and can't make it at a campground).

 

He doesn't want to wait until we get home for us to have a separate family celebration...he likes things to happen on his day.

 

Would you bring gifts along and give those to him ON his day, but encourage him to wait until we get home for a cake? Or would you try to convince him to forgo the cake altogether (Grandma will probably make cup cakes or something for him to bring to the campground) in place of the special event of camping with grandparents?

 

Or something different?

[Wildcat]

Will you be in the middle of nowhere camping, or near a store? I ask because maybe you can make this b'day special with a very small store-bought cake/cupcakes (in lieu of grandma's cupcakes since this trip if different, I would do something you haven't done before) or banana splits at an ice cream parlor. If you choose the ice cream route, bring one candle and light it in the store when you're sitting at the table and you can whispersing to him. The cake/cupckes, you can take to a park/campground bench and eat. Since he is used to original, homemade cakes, this would be something different for this different b'day. If there is a restaurant whose desserts you enjoy, you can also go just for dessert (and order water to drink). That will cost a bit more, but shouldn't be too much more than the other ideas.

 

I would do gifts at the campground, unless there is something valuable that might get stolen, or you don't have room to bring everything. Or, you can give gifts before you leave buy hold back a few things for 'the big day'. Since you think he might be sensitive about opening gifts early (he is turning nine, so I understand!), tell him ahead of time that you just don't have room to bring everything, but never fear, he will have a surprise or two to open on his day.

 

I would not forego the cake. We always do *something* on all of our birthdays whether we are home or not, like the aforementioned banana splits. We have travelled often on someone's birthday, so we just make due and make the day fun while enjoying our vacation. We are usually at vacation destinations, so we'll go putt putt golf, to a movie, whatever.

 

At nine, he should start to understand that sometimes things have to be celebrated early or late, but I wouldn't make a big fuss about it. Nine is about the same time my kids learned that little lesson. They are still kids at that age and like 'their day'. In another year or two, he should (hopefully) see that it can be just as fun to celebrate early or late. Actually, I think my kids because fine with not celebrating *on* their birthday about when gifts changed from toys to more practical items. :laugh:

[kfeusse]

thanks for the ideas. i love the idea of having a special treat...like a banana split instead of a cake...we have never done that, so it would be special and fun.

 

we will bring the gifts (we have done that before too)...but you have given me some good things to consider. so thanks.

[Sasharowan]

Here are a bunch of camping dessert recipes. Maybe you can find one there he will love. We went camping on my daughter's 11th birthday and just made brownies at home and brought them in a container. Brownies pack well for camping. You can also make cupcakes and bring the frosting separately, then frost on the day, or even have frost your own cupcakes.

[Lara in Colo]

do the cake in an orange thing for camping ( I have a baby in my arms or I would google it for you)

 

Or make/buy a cake (the original cakerie is a decent store made cake available almost everywhere) and freeze it and it should keep really well for several days in a cooler.

 

 

use a dutch oven???

[Mama Geek]

If you don't normally do this you could always do s'mores instead of cake as well. We also did something called firepies when I was really young. You would need to buy a pie iron, but you can fill them with almost anything from pie filling to ham and cheese.

[lavender's green]

We are huge cheesecake people over here, so in your situation I would totally make a cheesecake, freeze it in tin foil, and pack it in the cooler, possibly in some plastic wrap and a cardboard box if I was worried about the ice melting or it getting crushed. You can then either thaw it at room temp for a couple of hours or eat it frozen (it's ice cream-ish that way) when the time comes.

 

(This is my method for having a "birthday cake" on hand for births, since I use birth centers where meals aren't available post-partum so you have to bring your own in a cooler. It works really well!)