For my daughter’s 11th birthday she decided to do 11 acts of kindness and invited her friends to join in with her. Instead of gifts she asked her friends to bring food to donate to a local food bank. We were overwhelmed by the generosity. We had suggested perhaps a tin of something or a packet but each friend brought shopping bags full of food to donate. My daughter was so excited when we delivered a very full car load of food to the food bank and they were very touched by her giving up her presents for others. Her party allowed her friends to join in with other kind acts for the local neighbourhood, like baking cakes for the neighbours and toys in the park for kids to find. She still remembers this as her best birthday. She was blessed by blessing others and she didn’t miss out because the gifts weren’t for her, actually she probably gained more.
‘Next time you’re celebrating a special occasion, such as a birthday or a wedding, ask your friends to donate money to your favourite charity instead of buying gifts.’ [Jaime Thurston – Kindness the little thing that matters most]
Jaime Thurston founded a charity 52 Lives which creates wish lists for those in need so that people can donate gifts. Perhaps you can use your time of celebration to bless others and to discover the words from the book of Acts in the bible:
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” Acts 20:35 NIV