A kid in a shelter already knows their birthday is landing in a hard chapter. Cake with your name piped on it says the chapter doesn’t get to cancel the day.
Throw a Birthday Party at the Family Shelter
Call the family shelter, ask which kid has a birthday coming, and show up with a cake, candles, and one wrapped gift.
What you'll need
- A cake from a real bakery, with their name on it
- Candles and a lighter
- One wrapped gift the staff helped you pick
- Plates, forks, napkins
What to say
Call ahead: "We'd like to throw a birthday party for a child staying with you this month. What date works, and what does the birthday kid love?"
Pitfalls
- Go through the staff for everything — names, dates, gift ideas, photos. Their rules protect the families.
- Never take pictures.
- Make it about the kid, not the shelter. It's a birthday party that happens to be here.
When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. — Luke 14:13-14