Let Him Eat Cake

For three summers in college I was a counselor at a kids camp. It was SO MUCH FUN. The camp's name was King's Domain and many of our activities had royal names to them. Birthdays weren't the exception. The counselors tried to make a big deal out of b-days since the kids were away from home on the special day. The counselors would dress in silly clothes and barge into the lunch room yelling, acting crazy. Below is the chant/song we'd sing to the kiddos on their magical day.

[The lead silly person would start by yelling:]

There's a birthday in the palace!
[the rest would say:] Whose is it?
It's John Isaac's and he's three-and-a-half!

[all:] We just heard from the royal page that
Prince John Isaac is 3.5 in age.

In the Majors' home - it's a special treat
'Cause a Birthday Prince just can't-be-beat!

So, bring out the cake, just for you -
We hope your birthday is special, too!

Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to you!

Birthdays are fun; making cake is fun. We like fun at our house. However, the main motivation for making a big deal of a half birthday was purely to put him to work, um, give him more responsibilities.

Hubby and I have tried to make a big deal about "When you get older, you have more responsibilities." These are the responsibilities expected for our 3.5 year old:

-make his bed every morning before coming downstairs. He started this a few months ago. He's got a way to go before hospital corners, but it looks better than just crawling out of bed.
-folding wash cloths (shapes: sqaure, rectangle, square!)
-putting away his clean clothes
-taking his plate to the sink after meals
-putting away the clean silverware from the dishwasher

*note: I added 1/2 c. pumpkin puree to the cake (idea inspired by Jessica Seinfeld) - no one noticed a taste difference. We made 12 cupcakes for the neighbors, which JI loved delivering! and one 8" round (to cut in half for 1/2 of a cake for a 1/2 b-day. :) When I flipped the cake out of the pan it cracked. I'm not sure if it was from lack of practice, it wasn't cool enough, or from the pumpkin puree addition.