Celebrating Whit’s Golden Birthday

I first learned of a “golden birthday” a few years ago. From my Instagram poll, it seems that while 68% knew of golden birthdays, that left nearly a third of people that didn’t! Your golden birthday is the year that you turn the age of the day you were born (Whit turns 12 on the 12th, mine would have been turning 8 on the 8th). I made a mental note of this fun, extra special birthday and was excited to go golden for Whit’s big day. I planned 12 hours of fun for celebrating 12 on 12/12!!

Golden Birthday Headquarters

It was another gorgeous day in Atlanta so I took advantage of it and set up the golden birthday headquarters outside.

For decorations, I made a balloon garland out of gold, white and clear confetti balloons (Party City). The last time I made one, I blew them all up myself. I learned my lesson and picked up a manual balloon pump ($6 also at Party City) for this one. I purchased the gold sequin tablecloth online and plan to reuse all of this for New Years Eve! The 12 items will become a 21. :-)

12 Hours of Fun for 12 Years Old

I thought up 12 different activities and gifts for the day, and wrote each one on a slip of paper inside of a balloon. Whit popped one each hour to find out what was inside. I even made him a special balloon popper by taping a safety pin to a party pick.

The party kicked off at 8AM, with Waffle House at Home! His pick of lunch (he chose avocado toast and kale salad… a kid after my own heart) and surprise dinner OUT at Melting Pot (he begged to go earlier in the month, rather than make it at home – John drove us!) were inside other balloons.

Like with John, we decided to give Whit his big gift of the year on his birthday rather than at Christmas like we usually do. He had been wanting a new laptop and was absolutely shocked when he got it. We did a good job of making him think it wasn’t going to happen until his half birthday. (We are hoping he can celebrate with friends on his half birthday in June.) The other gifts were just little things and his forever gift (zombie poodles plate by calamity ware).

We also had family activities in the balloons, like a ping pong tournament with gold glow in the dark balls, watching a movie from the hot tub and a basketball game for the guys.

Cake and Cheers to 12 on 12/12 at 12:12 PM

The highlight of the day was cake and cheers to 12 on 12/12 at 12:12 PM! He opened this in the 12:00 balloon. I cleared off the gift table to make room for the treats.

Since it was just the four of us, I ordered a plain white 5″ cake from Publix ($10) and added my own festive sprinkles (Fancy Sprinkles) and glitter numbers (I used the 1 for John’s 15th and replaced the 5 with a 2 for Whit’s 12th). I’ll reverse the 12 to 21 for NYE!) To add the sprinkles to dry icing, I first carefully spread on a light layer of jarred white icing. To add them around the bottom border, I just pressed them in to the existing icing. I added gold prism powder around the edges as well (Fancy Sprinkles).

I made the cake pops yesterday. This was my first time and they turned out pretty amazing! I’ll do a post when I have more time with the details on these, the cake and the balloon garland. I used the same sprinkles and prism powder on them.

This is a GREAT time of year to find all sorts of gold things, with Christmas and New Years on the horizon. I was thrilled with the gold bottle of sparkling grape juice. I added a dab of the gold prism powder to each glass and they literally GLITTERED!! So fun and festive!

I was a little worried that number twelve would be lackluster. At the end of today, we are pooped from partying hard with just our little family of four. I think today will go down as a birthday he never forgets.

Wishes for Whit

Every single day for the last twelve years this child has brought immeasurable joy and love to our lives.  He’s funny, quirky, smart, honest, sensitive, laid back and independent.   He has a witty, dry sense of humor that is so quick it often catches us off guard. He’s doing really well in school, has made a few new friends, and has picked up the cello. Whit is immensely looking forward to traveling to Cooperstown with his baseball team this summer, and just finished a great modified basketball season. He was really enjoying his middle school youth group meetings until those were paused earlier this month. He just got braces last week, and his smile still does a number on me. As y’all know, he loves Elsa with his whole heart.

Whit was my rainbow baby and the thing I wanted more than I ever wanted anything in my life. Twelve years later and I still well up with tears every time I think about how lucky I am to have him.  The months we spent in virtual learning weren’t easy, but I treasure those days sitting together in my office facing each other. I was reminded, again, just how funny and smart he is. Thinking back on this year, Honey said one of his top highlights was spending time with Whit. They walked the golf course behind our house day after day after day all spring.

As a parent, I’ve realized life as the baby of the family isn’t always the cushy, spoiled, easy street I once thought it was. :-) In raising my own boys, I see that it is particularly hard for the younger brother to not always compare themselves to the older one.

I pray that Whit remains grounded in God’s love, and that he knows that his family loves him unconditionally.  I pray that he continues to know how special he is in his uniqueness and that he never feels pressure to conform or be anyone other than himself.  I pray that he is courteous and chivalrous.  I pray that he realizes you only need one or two good friends, as opposed to a wide circle of acquaintances as he navigates middle school and every year beyond. I pray these dear friends are warm, true, trustworthy and respectful, and that Whit embodies the same qualities in return. I pray that he will value hard work and see the value he brings to every table. I pray that he continues to be uninhibited in his happiness and know true joy. 

Happy birthday precious baby. I love you more than you could ever imagine.

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16 thoughts on “Celebrating Whit’s Golden Birthday

  1. Your celebrations are always so divine, and the last paragraph is so wise! In other news, can you please tell us about the contraption they are cooking the eggs on outdoors?

    1. Thank you <3 It is a blackstone camping grill. Honey purchased ours many, many years ago but it was hard to get in and out of the garage so we used it sporadically. Now that we have a covered area to keep it out back, we've used it a ton! There are a lot of camping fanatics that share all sorts of good recipes, tips and tricks for cooking on it.

  2. Happy belated Birthday Whit!******!
    It looks like everything was geared special for “JUST YOU”. And such a handsome “JUST YOU”
    I wish you many more birthdays.

  3. I have read your blog for several years and just now realized that Whit’s shares the 12/12 birthday with my Granddaughter–she turned 18 this year! Happy Birthday to your sweet young man!! Your plans for him were wonderful! When we get Lucy’s birthday behind us we are ready to head for Christmas!!

  4. What a wonderful celebration. Sadly, missed my son’s Golden Birthday when he was 4 and my daughter won’t have hers until she’s 30!!! :- )

    1. Haha! I’ve got 11 more years before John’s. It will be the day before Thanksgiving 2031. HA! Maybe I’ll actually see my 26 year old that day with its proximity to the holiday.

  5. That is one thoughtful, memorable birthday.

    Hey guess what our cities were #1 & #3 of top givers for GoFundMe this year!

  6. I adore the way you celebrate your family! Every event is so perfectly planned and executed, with love and hands on, and always wonderful! Thank you for including us. Happy Birthday wishes and lots of Pixie Dust for your sweet, kind, happy boy.

  7. You are such a wonderful and caring mom!!! Keep up the great work!! What wonderful wishes for your sweet boy!!! I admire you so much!!! MEMORIES is what life is ALL about!!

  8. Happy Golden Birthday, Whit! What an amazing milestone. I love the theme you chose for your celebration – it’s so unique and fun. I’m sure you had a blast with your friends and family. Here’s to many more adventures and memories to come! 🎉🎂

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