What do you do if anything for your DCK's birthdays?

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I serve their favorite meal (aka what I've noticed they eat the heck out of) and serve mini cupcakes along with snack. That's it.

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I was just wondering this the other day. It is tricky as I have 3 under 5 of my own so they are friends and we get invited to the parties. Looking forward to other's answers.

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After some issues early on, I now have a written policy for birthdays...

Birthdays are an exciting day for a child! At ABC child care we celebrate the child's special day by making them the "leader" for that day, having them choose the special afternoon treat (I will provide it) and singing to them. Please NO GIFTS or outside foods. Thank you for your cooperation!

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I do cupcakes after lunch, we sing "Happy Birthday" and I let them pick a prize from the prize bin or I get them something small if they are under 3 since the prize bin is for kids over 3.

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I hang balloons from the ceiling, let the birthday child be the special helper/leader/selector of all things that matter when you're a small person for the day. Plus we do cupcakes at snack time(sometimes parents supply, sometimes not). And I usually get them a small gift $15 or so. I used to decorate it up big-time and play party games but not anymore.

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Cupcakes and a special gift from me. Special does not equal expensive and s/he gets it before s/he leaves for the day.

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A ribbon sticker that says happy birthday and a page of stickers. Parents can bring a treat for everyone if they want.

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I serve their favorite meal, do cupcakes for afternoon snack, and give them a birthday balloon and card from all of us at the daycare. Keep it simple and consistent. Like other posters, my own kids are often invited to their birthday parties, so this seems to have worked well.

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They get sung to, to use a "Happy Birthday" disposable cup, and if their parent brought a treat then that is served at snacktime.

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For me it depends on the child and when the birthday is but if the birthday is during the week I will make their favorite meal for lunch and do a yummy snack. We are in walking distance to a frozen yogurt shop so we usually will walk there. I give them a book for a gift. This is where it can very. If I'm close to the child/family it will be a nice hard back but if I'm not then its a paper back. If the birthday is on the weekend we don't doing anything at DC but I will give the gift to the parents to have the child open at home on his/her birthday.

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I provide a treat that we eat after PM snack. I usually do the child's favorite color plate/napkin and we sing happy birthday. I give them a $5 coupon for a free book from scholastic. (That I order with points, so it costs me nothing).

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We do cupcakes and a birthday song at snack time.
The end.

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Thanks for the replies, keep them coming! I the past all of my DCK were the same age as my kids, we went to their parties and give them a gift there. Now all of my DCK are under 2 and my kids are SA, so that is no longer the case. I want to acknowledge their special day, but not spend much time or money as I have 5 birthdays in the very near future.

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When I first started doing day care, I bought a birthday gift for the birthday child, party favors for the others and I'd serve cupcakes while we'd all sing the Happy Birthday song. After several years of doing that, I was looking for a way to save some money so I stopped giving out the party favors. A few years ago, I started filling a "Birthday Box" with toys and books I found on sale throughout the year. Now, when we celebrate someone's birthday, I let the child pick a toy or book from the box. That seems to be very popular with my dc kids but lately, I've been thinking about filling the box with books only and ending the toy gifts. We'll still celebrate with cupcakes or some other special snack and we'll sing the birthday song but I'm feeling like it's the right time to stop with the toy gifts.

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Special snack and I get them a gift (that i give them before they leave). It's a book of course. Always a book. I also give books at Christmas and when they leave to go to school. :P

I like the written policy thing though. That needs to happen.

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We go crazy!! I love birthdays soooo we get a character cake, balloons, party favors, banners and a few presents $50ish and a pinniata (sp). Birthday parties are included in our program. We love it, our kids love it and our families love it. It's a win win for everyone here. I know it's not something that others want or like to do but it's wonderful here.

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Wow! Someday I hope to be organized enough to go all out. I allow the parents to bring treats for snack, otherwise I provide a birthday treat. We do candles and sing, which usually freaks out the birthday kid and makes them cry.

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It really isn't hard at all. We have a birthday train on the wall which lists all the kids birthdays. When I go grocery shopping for the week I pick up the party supplies and it's done. We don't have the party until after nap so while they are sleeping we get it all put together.

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I have 2 with birthdays Sunday and 2 more with birthdays about a week apart in Sept-Oct LOL I'm trying to decide what to do... I have cute cards but if I do a gift for everyone that could get really expensive.

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I refuse buy toys for dck's. They all have every toy known to man (and I know because they try to get them past me) I used to do books (and still do for Christmas) but after hearing "oh let me guess, another book?!" I was ALL done. *If* we are invited to a birthday party and are able/willing to go then I do a gift.

I used to have several well-to-do families that would go all out for the dck's birthdays, but I also had parents who struggled and couldn't afford to gift and felt uncomfortable they couldn't reciprocate. Took away gifts at dc. DONE.

I also had some families that were sending in elaborate cakes, gifts and treats and I felt like I was expected to essentially throw a party for the child - and heaven forbid anything happened that took away from the birthday kid
(It's quite the story... even DH was like and he usually isn't )

I've learned this last year that my dck's don't need gifts to have a special day. Getting to be line leader is a BIG deal Getting to pick a special treat is a BIG deal. I even make a special paper crown that has their name in glitter. Big doings! basically just a little extra that makes the child feel special but doesn't leave me feeling used and abused

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The reason we do parties here is for me basically. One I LOVE BIRTHDAY PARTIES. I enjoy all the kids excitement over them. Every time we celebrate a child's birthday ALL the children are happy. I started doing the whole shebang years and years ago. I had two different events that made me decide to do them. First, I was invited to one of my children's birthday party at their home. I wasn't busy so I purchased a small gift and went. The following month I was invited to another child's party. This time I had other plans and did not attend. I didn't think it would matter that much to her but it did. She was truely hurt that I didn't come to her party. That bothered me. The next issue was when one of my families had their child's party. They invited some of the other children but not all. The parents didn't get along with some of my other families and this was uncomfortable to say the least. Look, I watch children not families and I'm not getting into the middle of all that. What bothered me about that was all the children here are friends. So I decided to include birthdays into our program. The cost of the birthdays is included in their daycare fee. I no longer attend any birthdays outside of our party. It's not a hassle, I'm not being used, my families love it, my kids love it. I added $5 a week to my weekly rate to pay for birthdays. I have to say that the pictures we take at the birthday parties have gotten us more business than any other advertising I have done combined.

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