7 Ways to Host a Charity Focused Birthday Party

When school starts, the round of birthday party invitations begin. Yet, it got me wondering. How can a typical birthday party be a-typical? How can it be an opportunity to be good, while doing something good. How can the kids be social while promoting social endeavors? A birthday is a great time to teach our children how to think beyond cake and think about charity. So consider holding charity birthday parties!
So I came up with seven ways you can throw a ‘Birthday Party That Gives Back’. Just make sure to reach out to any organization in advance for approval.

Seven Ways to Throw a Birthday Party that Gives Back.

1. Party at a Pantry: Make part of your birthday celebration at a local food pantry. Ask for can goods and sundries in lieu of gifts. All the kids can bring the donation to the local food pantry, and then they can stay and help stock shelves or prepare deliveries.
2. Cupcakes for Cops: When ordering cupcakes for the party-goers, stock up on extras. Have the kids head to the local fire station or police station and pass out the sweets. Not only will they get to see the cool rescue vehicles, but they can give the treats to these community helpers to say thank you for their service.

3. Birthday Donations: Instead of asking for gifts for your girl or boy, ask attendees to bring a toy for donation. Kids can bring the toys to a local charity or Toys for Tots. Another option is a site called Birthday Wishes, which gathers toys to bring birthday parties to children in homeless shelters.
4. Out with the Old: Sometimes, you have to start small and little ones may not understand why they are not getting presents! If you cannot make the party into a community service opportunity or donate gifts to causes, then ask your children to select a few existing toys they own to give to a local shelter, church or other non-profit organization. It teaches them that not all children get to have new things, so we need to appreciate what we have. Then share the gently used/barely used toys with other children to give them a chance to play with toys too.
5. Charitable Crafts: One thing we often have to do at a party is an activity to keep the kids entertained before pizza and cake. Instead of kicking around a ball in the backyard, make the party into a charity craft opportunity. Enchanted Makeovers has a program called Capes for Kids. Children can make a superhero cape, decorate it, and then ship their super capes to children in shelters who need to know that they are superheros everyday! Just gather supplies (Amazon affiliate) like pre-made capes or large pieces of fabric that you can cut out into capes with fasteners (there is a template on the website), and then add items like fabric glue, ribbon, and other embellishments to decorate the capes. There are great design inspirations and printables from FamilyFun magazine. Send the finished creations Enchanted Makeovers. They also have doll, pillowcase, and knitting projects too.
6. Service and Smiles. Another way to make a birthday party into an opportunity to do good is to clean up a local beach, paint a fence or help plant trees at a nearby park. Most towns have a recreation department or department of public works. Reach out to your local town office and find out what opportunities are available that kids can help with as an opportunity to support their hometown.
7. Lastly, have the kids make cards and decorate them. Crayola makes some really fun products that inspire kids to have fun while being artistic! They can take their creations to a local nursing home and pass out the cards! Maybe even find out if one of the residents has a birthday and have the kids since the Birthday song!
Hopefully one of these ideas inspires your child to do something unique for their next birthday bash! Do you have other ideas to share? Did you host a charitable birthday party? Share in the comments!