Make any occasion special with one or more of the Big Four!
1) Conversational Questions / Journaling
One of our favorite ways to make events with our family and friends more meaningful has been to use questions. Our questions have been a source of both fun and meaningful sharing and have helped us learn new things about even lifetime family members and friends.
At birthdays you can ask questions about the past year and the coming year (happiest day, most surprising event, accomplishments, hopes for next year)
Graduations are a great time to ask about favorite school memories and future plans.
Wedding showers and Anniversaries are an opportunity to learn about the couple~ how they met, their favorite memories, what they were attracted to in each other, etc.
On Thanksgiving, guests can talk about what they are grateful for.
Easter questions might be about the Easter story, spring, and new life.
Valentine’s Day is a good time for asking what people love and appreciate about each other.
On New Year’s, the questions might be on thankfulness, reflections on the past year, or dreams for the future.
2) Readings
Suggestions include blessings, prayers, poems, scriptures, holiday stories, humorous anecdotes, and wishes sent by absentee friends & family.
3) Adapted Activities
Adapt games and other activities to include content related to the celebration. Here are a few examples:
Exchange the cards in games like Pictionary, Taboo, and Scattegories to include topics related to the holiday or honoree.
Play Mad Libs, but make up your own stories with blanks for key words.
Make up trivia questions about the honoree.
Have people write memories or advice on cards or in a book.
4) Music
Create a playlist to use annually for each holiday~ Make one for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Valentine’s Day, and Independence Day. Listening to the same mix every year brings back warm memories of holidays past.
At a birthday party, play tunes from the era of the honoree’s birth date or the decades of his/her life.
Play lullabies at a baby shower and love songs at a wedding shower.
Play the school song at a graduation party.
Play hymns and praise songs at a baby dedication, christening, ordination celebration, and other spiritual milestones.
Listen to the same romantic song or album on your anniversary every year.
You can make an event very special by incorporating live music– it doesn’t have to be professional and expensive. Can you get a small group of talented teenagers to play together? Or a few members of your church choir to serenade the honored guest? For a reasonable cost, we hired members of our local farmer’s market band to play for my Dad’s 80th birthday party.