The School Birthday Party:
Focused and Fun Classroom Activities

Classroom Behavior Management for Food-Based Celebrations

Question: School birthdays...fun classroom activities or major recurring distractions?

Answer: A little bit of both, actually!

The most-common party scenario faced by any teacher is the school birthday celebration. In our culture, everyone is officially "special" on their birthday, and being special when you are a kid means celebrating multiple times: at breakfast when you get up, at dessert with mom and dad, when grandma brings your presents over...and...yes...with your classmates at school.

So teachers must sometimes make a tiny little fuss over birthday kids...after all, we want others to make a little bit of a fuss over our own birthdays, don't we? More importantly, teachers must accommodate the treats that birthday boy brings to school. Here's how to keep these fun classroom activities on track.

Before we start the party, however, remember that not everyone can participate.

Accommodating cultural differences

As I discuss on the school party ideas page, there are religions that do not celebrate birthdays. Be observant and listen for clues...you'll normally hear a child make a comment (sometimes wistfully) the first time cupcakes are passed around that they are "not supposed to celebrate birthdays."

Be sensitive to this. Once you know there is a non-birthday-celebrator in your room, be sure to talk to their parents about it. You may be able to tweak your approach or you may need to be ready to slip them out unobtrusively to another classroom before the mini-party gets rolling. Since your ten-minute party will occur at the very end of the day (if you value your sanity), these kids will never miss much.

School Birthday Party Basics

As noted above, not every birthday boy or girl will expect that a fuss be made, nor will everyone who wants a fuss bring food.

If a student mentions it's her birthday, then I always give her a big congratulations and maybe lead a round of classroom applause. That's really all they want - some recognition.

But if food arrives...you've got to be ready.

Fun classroom activities involving party food

As with all parties, the primary rule is: keep them short. Ten minutes at the very end of the day is ideal.

Ask for it nicely!

If food does arrive, here's my tried-and-true process.

• Designate one student to deliver hand sanitizer to everyone in the class...
• ...and one to deliver napkins
• The birthday kid chooses one other person to help out
• The duo delivers the goods to each of the other students

But no one eats yet!

• Each recipient must say, "Thank you, happy birthday!"
• The birthday kid must respond with, "You're welcome."

After all of the treats have been delivered, the birthday kid gets the first bite. Then everyone else can start eating.

So what have we accomplished here? Quite a lot, actually:

• We have kept the process (which may be repeated a couple dozen times every year) from turning into a messy little grab-fest

• We have encouraged teaching social skills of politeness

• We have made the birthday person the center of attention by having them serve others...rather than having the goods delivered to them (that will happen at their home party).

And what is your role during this process? Oohing and aahing and complimenting the treat, of course! Make a big deal about how the cake or cookies look and smell. This is another reinforcement that food - especially special food - is to be appreciated and not just shoveled in.

If you model this, your students will learn to be very complimentary of food at all birthday parties without prompting...another great politeness habit.

And the final step: clean up

Final classroom birthday party thoughts

OK, because I know you are wondering...no, we don't sing "happy birthday." Too distracting to other classrooms in my opinion. And another important point:

"You get what you get and don't throw a fit."

Juvenile but true...this should be a well-known phrase in your classroom when it comes to parties. If there are plenty of snacks to choose from, a child may choose. If not..."you get what you get...."

And the final item...promoting healthy food for school birthday parties: Don't bother. You can't control what parents send in like you can for other classroom celebrations. Just fall back to plan B: limit the damage by controlling portions and enjoy the fun classroom activities.

Fun classroom activities are possible to pull off - even with yummy, distracting food involved - while still maintaining effective classroom behavior management. Polite, orderly and non-messy...and your students never even notice because they are too busy enjoying themselves!

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