Learning to Celebrate My Birthday (Plus Two Games I Forgot)

I have never really wanted to have the attention on me, especially on my birthday.

When I was really young, we had sleepovers with yard games. This was fun because it meant the attention was only on me some of the time while we focused more on who was winning the games. Then, when I got older but was still living at home, a small group of family friends and I went to Water World every year. Since my brother's birthday was only three days before mine, we got to share the day. It was so nice of him to have a birthday near mine so we could share the limelight.

Once I headed to college, I could get away with a family dinner and little more than that.

Then I met Krissy: the celebrate-all-month girl and the bigger-is-better lady.

Krissy knows her own worth and deserves the awesome month. We have done some great birthdays for her, like throwing axes, a Mexico trip, art/craft bars, and so much more.

She has also taught me to embrace the day.

Adult Birthday Experiences We've Tried

Over the years, we have celebrated birthdays with axe throwing, a trip to Mexico, art and craft bars, an adult field day, rafting, card marathons, and now petting Highland cows.

I have learned that I definitely prefer having an experience to having a traditional birthday party. Doing something fun takes some of the pressure off the whole "everyone pay attention to me because it's my birthday" thing while still making the day feel special.

This year, we got to celebrate both of our birthdays together.

In May, I gave Krissy a gift to go pet small Highland cows at Lucky Blu Ranch in Loveland, Colorado. Randomly, the first time we were both available when they were open was on my birthday—three months later.

The day started with a surprise birthday breakfast from our friends, the Campbells. They are so sweet and are always thinking about the people around them. They make me feel special on a normal day, let alone my birthday.

Then we headed to Lucky Blu Ranch to pet cows, which was very cute and fun. We were able to be near the pens of the miniature Highland cows, feed them, pet them, and have them lick our hands.

After that, we went just down the road to Sweet Heart Winery. It is a beautiful place on the Big Thompson River, where we enjoyed the space from Adirondack chairs by the river and played a card game called Barbaroo. There was even a wedding that we got to see from a distance.

Then we headed to dinner for some Italian food.

Such a good day!

Krissy has taught me to enjoy my birthday and value the time. I love having different experiences, and my birthday gives us another reason to keep trying new things.

She makes me feel extremely special and keeps reminding me that I deserve fun things. Her enthusiasm for life has helped me enjoy every minute and celebrate when the opportunity arises. She is such a light for so many people, and I hope she knows that and can see her own light.

Two Great Games for Getting to Know People

Right after I posted last week, I thought of two more games that would be great to play on the road because they would also be great icebreakers.

First to Worst

First to Worst is a game where you get to know people's preferences. Five random cards are drawn with different topics, and one person secretly puts them in order from first to worst.

The rest of the group tries to guess what order that person put them in. Then the original person reveals their order and everyone gets to see how well—or how terribly—they guessed.

It's a fun way to learn things about people that probably wouldn't come up in a normal conversation.

Piles

Piles is a quick matching and memory card game for 2–8 players. Everyone plays at the same time, competing to collect six complete sets of matching clothing.

You also have to remember what is in each of your piles while everyone else is doing the same thing, which is where things start getting a little crazy.

Both of these games reveal how people think and lead to conversations about why they made the choices they did. They are both really fun and funny, which makes them great games for meeting people while traveling.

How do you celebrate your birthday? Do you like your birthday? Do you have someone in your life who makes it feel more special?

Sappy sentence: Thank you, Krissy, for being my fun, my light, and making me feel so special that I actually want to celebrate me.

Here's to another year!

Anne