I am so excited. Today is my day to host Ruby’s giveaway.
Ruby was born to my sister and her husband a year ago. She spent 15 short days here on earth.
Kristin, family and friends have been hosting 15 days of giveaways to celebrate her life.
If you missed any of it, you can see what is being given away here.
I am excited to share this with you.
I am giving away something that is special to me.
As you know, I love to celebrate Birthdays.
My giveaway is full of great birthday essentials.
Throwing a beautiful celebration starts in the kitchen.
Here is what my giveaway includes:
An angel cookie cutter for Kristin’s sweet angel baby.
Red towels, red spatula, and red measuring spoons to help bake a special birthday surprise.
Red polka-dot cupcake liners, along with these great liners that represents her so well.
…and my favorite part of the giveaway:
A special Ruby cake plate.
I love cake plates, and believe that are a great addition to any party.
In fact, Kristin bought this same cake plate for Ruby’s party. You can see it here.
To be a part of this giveaway, just leave me a comment telling me how you celebrate your loved ones birthdays.
To get a second entry, leave me a comment sharing a random act of kindness that you participated in to honor Ruby. (Kristin and Jared’s wish for Ruby’s birthday.)
Giveaway will end Monday evening at 10pm.
Winner will be announced on Tuesday morning. Don’t forget to include your email address so I can contact you.
Thank you for celebrating with our family and my sister’s family.
One thing we do to make birthdays special is to let the birthday boy (in my case) choose breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's always fun to see what they come up with, something crazy or a favorite. :)
ReplyDeletejeni(dot)edvalson(at)gmail
our birthday person gets to pick the days activities and the dinner either home cooked or at a restaurant.
ReplyDeleteWe do a special dinner of the birthday person's choice on a "You are special today" plate. We also do a birthday interview asking the kids questions about their favorite color, their best friend to their future plans--it's always hilarious to see what they say!
ReplyDeleteMy act of service was making dinner for a friend. I hope I win that amazing cake plate and other treats!!! It iwll be a great addition to our birthday tratitions!
What a great idea you came up with. These giveaways have been amazing! You guys sound like you have an amazing family.
ReplyDeleteWe like to celebrate birthdays with steamers, balloons, dinner of their choice (which lately has been sitting on the saddle at Texas Roadhouse) and cake. I LOVE birthdays. I still get really excited about mine. So we try to make each one extra special.
My act of service. We were up in the mountains for a fall picnic and a cute girl came up to take senior pictures with her mom. They didn't have a great camera. Luckily, I had my fancy camera with me and I really like to take pictures. So I took a few for her and showed her how to pose, etc. I edited them and sent them to her. I think pictures are so important! It was so much fun!
stephaniebladen@gmail.com
so cute! love it all.
ReplyDeletemy kids are young so i just like to have family birthdays so i can concentrate more on the birthday kid instead of all of the chaos of a friend birthday party. although i'm sure those will come soon enough! i love to decorate our kitchen and let the birthday kid pick out the theme.
jody (jodododo@hotmail.com)
We celebrate birthdays by letting the birthday person choose where to go for dinner. We then come home that night and have an extended family birthday party. We eat cake and ice cream and open presents. If it is a weekday, we usually let the birthday person choose a fun activity to do on the weekend as well. We just love to be together as a family to celebrate birthdays.
ReplyDeleteLove your giveaway idea! Very cute.
For my act of service today, I graded a huge stack of papers for my student teacher. I know she struggles staying on top of everything, so I offered my time to help her grade.
ReplyDeleteWe always do donuts with candles for the birthday breakfast and a special dinner of their choice that night. We usually have a party with family and a few friends and of course the presents and cake and lots of yummy food. My kids love birthday shopping for each other, it is always fun to see what they pick out!
ReplyDeleteI love the cake plate, what a fun giveaway for Ruby! you know how to reach me :)
We celebrate hard! My husband's favorite day of the year is his birthday and I love him for it. So, although I'm not the biggest celebrator, he is- so I do it for him and it's fun! Last year, I gathered a bunch of his friends together and threw him a surprise party with pizzas, sodas, balloons and presents.
ReplyDeleteAs for doing service, I volunteered to help with a funeral of an elderly friend of mine who passed away at the ripe age of 93. She was definitely loved.
Lauren- laurensikora@hotmail.com
My daughters first birthday is in a month. I am planning on centering it on reading. I think that education is so important and she loves to read! When she is older, I will have a fun breakfast for her and she will get to pick what she wants for dinner. I always do birthday banners and decorate a fancy cake!
ReplyDeleteMy act of service is I put a few items that were out of place at the grocery back where they should be.
hollim78@gmail.com
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ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful way to celebrate a life taken too soon. We celebrate birthdays by making a special birthday breakfast, the birthday child may pick out what to eat. Our three children were born in the summertime so we plan beach days to spend as a family, ending the day with icecream.
ReplyDeletegrcmgirl@gmail.com
My three kids all have birthdays in the same week (crazy!), so we love to have a whole week of birthday fun. They choose special cereal and each get their own cake.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog -- and have been following you for awhile. Your family is beautiful!
For a random act of kindness we took cookies to our neighbors.
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This is so sweet! My little sister had an angel baby 3 years ago. You never stop missing them. We love to celebrate birthdays with family around here! Nothing better than that right?!
ReplyDeletesunshineinmysoul_33@yahoo.com
For my random act of kindness we bought dinner for a cute couple at our favorite restraunt! It was so fun!
ReplyDeletesunshineinmysoul_33@yahoo.com
For my act of kindness I watched my friends kids today:)
ReplyDeleteAdrianne
reddogbyu@aol.com
We love birthdays. We celebrate by letting them pick their favorite dinner and dessert. Every other year we do a big friend party and then a small family one. Thanks,
ReplyDeleteAdrianne
reddogbyu@aol.com
I love this! First, I want to say I owe you for bringing Ruby into mu life (albeit over the internet). I had pinned a photo of your hall way, with the pciture of Ruby and the Proverbs 3:25 and that is how I came to read about Little Ruby. And her spirit has made me want to be more kind. Today I baked cupcakes for the people at work. We're going through a lay off, and although the crew had know it was coming for a while, I made them a little treat today.
ReplyDeleteIn my (very small) family, (my husband and I) we do a birthday dinner and celebrate for a week instead of just a day :)
ReplyDeleteAlways with cake and ice cream. Usually a special breakfast and gifts in the morning. My act of kindness would be helping my aunt make jam today. All day :D And we usually share it with the rest of family members and friends! Plus it's always a good time to hang out with family. Good old canning.
ReplyDeleteWhoops. Email is roxymyrl21@gmail.com love that adorable plate!!!
ReplyDeleteI have a banner that I hang for the day of the birthday and the child gets to pick the menu for the day. For my birthday, I make my hubs take me our to dinner. sariah.melina@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteFor an act of kindness today, I invited one of my neighbors to a book club group at our church. It seems so simple, but she was so grateful and said no one ever invites her anywhere. She was happy and excited to attend. sariah.melina@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteWe love having a reason to go out to dinner and birthdays are one of them (Olive Garden is a popular request in my fam.) And of course cake and ice cream after!
ReplyDeleteToday I saw a boy who had fallen off his bike on the side of the road and I stopped to help him. I'm grateful for Kristin's request with finding ways to serve- it has been on my mind all week and i've been constantly looking for ways to help others. And I'm hoping it never ends.
stacie214@hotmail.com
For birthdays, I like to make sure the day is all about the birthday person. They get to pick all meals, activities, etc.
ReplyDeleteFor an act of kindness, I returned a shopping cart for an older lady.
So cute! I haven't seen Kristin since we were roommates our sophmore year in college, but I have been uplifted and inspired by little Ruby. To celebrate birthdays we use a "you are special plate" and the birthday guy or girl chooses where or what to eat for dinner. My twin babies are only 8 months old so I'm sure we will have a lot more traditions in the years to come.
ReplyDeleteMy act of service was taking ice cream to a friend who needed a pick me up after some bad news.
My email is jkini15@gmail.com
I love that your sweet sister did this amazing reminder of her darling Ruby! I love how you all have gotten involved with the give away and it has been a sweet reminder of doing service for others in her honor! So Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteTo celebrate birthdays here, I decorate the door with hanging balloons & streamers, they get to open 1 gift in the morning, then we take the birthday child to lunch and make their favorite meal for dinner along with singing and cake! Then we get on Skype and talk to grandparents!
Today I text several gals here, back home, and in Vegas reminding them of how beautiful and amazing they all are! One of whom recently lost her own little one girl last month...Ruby, Lula, Elizabeth & Sadie have been on my mind a lot and I thank you for giving me the opportunity to remember & honor these sweet baby girls, through finding service in helping others!
Thank you!
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ReplyDeleteFor our family birthdays, we have invented our own cheesy birthday song that we sing all day just to be silly. For a little service, I gave a neighbor girl some new jeans that I bought for my daughter that turned out to be a little snug, but fit my neighbor perfectly.
ReplyDeleteyrice2002@yahoo.com
For our birthdays, our family has to work together to perform random acts of kindness. Our RACK goal is the same number as the new age of the birthday person. We try to do it over the week of the birthday.
ReplyDeleteAct of Kindness: Today while leaving the zoo, a woman helped me with my act of kindness. She asked me if i had an extra diaper and wanted to pay me for it. I happily gave her a diaper (without taking the money) and helped her out.
ReplyDeletejody
We haven't started many birthday traditions, but making that person feel special is definitely one of them. And it all depends on the person. I need to read through the comments and borrow some fun ideas!
ReplyDeleteMy act of service today was to be very kind in driving, letting people in and not getting upset. It really helped me feel better!
ReplyDeleteYour items are beautiful! I would love to win.
We do breakfast in bed a'la Andrea! :) You inspired that one in our family - well, it stuck!
ReplyDeleteI have loved reading about your time celebrating Ruby - it is so sweet and heartfelt and lovely. Thanks for sharing that part of your life with us.
Very cute giveaway items. I LOVE the cake plate. So cute. We celebrate birthdays by decorating special to that persons likes, then we have a special birthday dinner and activity. The birthday boy/girl gets to pick where we go and what we do/eat. We also have an extended family party with cake and ice cream.
ReplyDeleteAs an act of service I went to mail a package today at the post office and an elderly man was getting out of his car and struggling a bit so I took his mail in and dropped it off for him.
Birthdays in our home are HUGE! Our living children get to be king/queen for day and for our angel children we spend the day doing things that we think they would be enjoying if they were here with us and we send them balloons for how many years old they would be with messages written on them. culaparker at yahoo . com
ReplyDeleteToday my kids and I took my neighbors trashcans back up their very steep driveway. I hope they didn't freak out when they got home from work today and didn't see them at the end of their driveway. ;)
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm not too creative with birthdays! My husbands birthday is on Halloween and we have a tradition of watching Arsenic and Old Lace (his favorite fall-ish movie) after trick or treating. We have a projector so with the kids we often have their favorite friends over and have a theater night.
ReplyDeleteMegJill at
he4rken at yahoo dot com
Love the acts of service for Ruby idea!
ReplyDeleteWe made little notes with sayings like "You Are Special" and "You Are A Child of God" written on them, then attached a quarter and left them around town on busy sidewalks. We had great fun watching all the people find them!
MegJill at
he4rken at yahoo dot com
Loved ones of mine get a birthday "season." nowadays we can only squeeze about a week out of it, but during that week surprise spoils are fair game. special dinners, treatment, gifts, and lots of "happy birthdays" are not spoken for just a day, but many!
ReplyDeletechristina7saunders(at)yahoo(dot)com
This year my 3 year old woke up to balloons surrounding her! We let the kids pick where we will eat dinner and let them have a special treat of donuts for breakfast!:)
ReplyDeleteshannonlilly524@hotmail.com
DeleteI love birthdays it's a day to spoil the crap out of them!!! One thing we do that I really like is their special lunch date. I take then out of school and they get to choose where we go. They love this! I just read about your sister's random act of kindness. She is sooo awesome I dont even know her but i know she is awesome. One thing I think I do quite often is when at Aldi I always look for someone to give my cart to so they don't have to rummage in there purse for a quarter, it doesn't happen every time but when it does it's nice to see the look on there face.
ReplyDeleteBirthdays at our house always start with the Birthday Fairy! She comes in the night to decoreate the house and the birthday person's doorway...plus she tends to leave a gift or two! It's a great way to kickstart a birthday day!
ReplyDeletecallirenee@hotmail.com
and for a random act of kindness, I "booed" a few neighbors. valbri@cox.net
ReplyDeleteVery fun party stuff! I need to come up with traditions for birthdays for our own children, but what my parent's did for us was wrap our presents in comic strips and mom made us whatever we wanted for dinner.
ReplyDeleteFor service, I made muffins for a get together to help a friend out.
mail4erica at gmail.com
In my family we do about of week of celebration for each birthday--one with my side, one with my husband's side, and then a special date with my husband. It's a great excuse to get together with all of our loved ones and celebrate family.
ReplyDeletewww.texaslovely.com
I just love your blog & think this is such a special way to celebrate sweet Ruby's birthday! In our family you get to pick where you want to eat out on your birthday & the Sunday before we have all of our family over for dinner & cake. Today my act of service was sharing a snack with another toddler at my daughter's volleyball game. The little girl was having a fit & I could tell her mom was very frustrated. So we gave her a package of fruit snacks & it helped her calm down...I could tell the mom was very relieved to have something help her to stop crying!
ReplyDeleteSally
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ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful story and celebration. Every birthday occasion I bake something the special person loves and we let them choose their favourite movie to watch all together. Simple but fun.
ReplyDeleteMy service was to a man with MS. He has a hard time writing and couldn't get his checking account to balance since the first of August. I helped write in his register and find where he was off so he knew what money was still available for him.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute giveaway so others can remember sweet Ruby at all their special occasions, too!
My email is briitthardy@gmail.com.
Love all of this.. we fill the kids room with balloons so they wake up to it. We also let them choose what they want to do and eat. Ive had a lot of acts of service done for me and my family this week since we just welcomed a new addition to our family so I have been trying to do service for those close to me by picking up toys so my kids can play longer and helping with chores that I can do to help ease the load my hubby has been holding! Today I let him sleep in a little bit longer on his last day off before he starts back to work and busy season. My email.is rdbevell@hotmail.com
ReplyDeleteThe birthday person always gets to pick what we eat that day. My kids are still really young, I need to come up with some more traditions.
ReplyDeleteI am entering for my friend Chandi.
ReplyDeleteShe says:
I let a lady, with 2 young children, go to the bathroom in line before me on our drive home today.
The birthday boy/girl gets to pick they're favorite meals for the day & nobody can complain.
That is adorable! I hope I win! haha
ReplyDeleteWe celebrate by making the day(or week :) all about them, doing things they love. And for our Angel's birthday we celebrate doing things we think he would love, and spend the day together!
I babysat my friends kids on a whim for the whole day since her babysitter bailed, and it was the day before we left on vacation. :)
I ask my kids what kind/style of cake they want for their birthday and I make it. Some of the responses have been more complicated than my skills, but I've found my kids don't care if it isn't professional, they remember it was what they wanted and they watched me make it special for them! We also cook them or take them out for their favorite meal.
ReplyDeleteMy kids and I made dinner for Great-Grandma when she had her knee surgery.
sorensen6@yahoo.com
(Thank you for this opportunity of the giveaway it is very thoughtful for your sister.)
I decorate their chair in the kitchen, the door to their room and they get breakfast in bed. They also get to choose a special breakfast cereal.
ReplyDeleteWe made kettle corn popcorn and delivered it to a couple people we thought could use a pick me up. angelou22 at gmail dot com
ReplyDeleteI love birthdays!! One fun thing that we do at our house is to let the birthday person pick a fun activity they would like to do that day and then they pick their favorite dinner.
ReplyDeletekellygirl562@gmail.com
For a random act of kindness we had a neighbor's children over when she was sick.
ReplyDeletekellygirl562@gmail.com
We don't really have a tradition but I sure make the day as special as can be for the birthday kid. They get to pick what to do for the day and have a birthday dinner or lunch at their favorite restaurant. Last week was my daughter's birthday and she chose to paint pottery at an art studio and go to pizza buffet for lunch. Such a fun day.
ReplyDeletekristinbotello@att.net
I have to admit that I read your acts of kindness and have yet to do one. :( I will make a point to this week. In honor of Ruby.
I let my husband choose what he wants me to cook, or choose where he wants to eat out. I try to give him something he needs/wants and something a little more special and personal.
ReplyDeleteFor service this week, I was able to watch my friends little girl so she could go on a field trip with her son for preschool. Thanks!
This is an awesome giveaway! Thank you for hosting. My new husband and I have fun celebrating birthday's in our new family because our birthday's are exactly 7 days apart - so, we call it our "birthday week" and celebrate all week long by doing something small and special each day of the week. Then on each of our actual birthday's we each choose a fun activity to spend time together. For act of service: this weekend I was traveling with my husband and I had to take a cab to one of our meeting places. I had a nice conversation with the cab driver who confided in me about some recent challenges and heartache. It made me feel so good to be able to tip him extra $ and he was genuinely surprised and grateful. Such a good feeling to help someone else. Thanks for your great idea of the 15 days of Ruby giveaways! You are one special gal. - Heather (HAH1202 at aol dot com)
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