Recent Reads - Everyday Confetti

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Everyday Confetti by Karen Ehman & Glynnis Whitwer - Beyond birthdays and Christmas, there are many occasions that call for celebration in our families. Some moms love planning elaborate birthday parties, but that's not everyone's style. For many families, smaller everyday celebrations offer more chances to make memories for kids, and may even become family traditions.

If you need ideas for the kinds of things you can celebrate, and how to mark achievements or special days on the calendar in affordable ways, this little guidebook has those ideas. In addition to some different ideas for birthdays and achievements, there are ideas for many other occasions throughout the calendar year. There are plenty of recipes included as well. 

The book is organized into two parts. The first is Everyday Celebrations and focuses on ways to honour achievements like work or school milestones, or even character development achievements. These are also celebrations of birthdays, spiritual milestones, and special family occasions. Not all family members live close by, so suggestions for staying connected and for reaching out to others are part of this section as well.

In Part Two, Holidays through the Year, there are ideas for celebrating seasons and the special days that we might find on our calendars. There are fresh takes on the well-known holidays like Valentines Day, Memorial Day, and Thanksgiving; and some days that are just for fun like Backwards Day or Best Friends Day. The majority of the celebration ideas are activities that are geared towards families with younger children, but there are some suggestions to get teens involved. I did notice that although Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day are specifically mentioned and there are references to acknowledging 'our neighbors to the south', the authors did not even one time make reference to the neighbors to the north. Surely Canada Day or the Canadian date for Thanksgiving could have been highlighted as well, and since the authors are from Michigan (at least one is, if I remember correctly), I was surprised and rather disappointed at this omission. 

Overall, if you have young children and would like ideas to celebrate everyday joys and make memories, this little guidebook has plenty to get you started and will inspire you to come up with new traditions and fun to bring your family together.

Since my kids are all grown up and my only grandchild (so far!) doesn't live nearby, a lot in this book didn't apply to me in a way. But it was still very encouraging because I've tried to be intentional about finding delight in the everyday and marking all kinds of special occasions. The china should be used more often than just Easter and Thanksgiving! I especially appreciated ideas like writing personal notes or letters of encouragement to others on each of the forty days of Lent, or using the twelve days of Christmas to bless others who may be facing a particularly challenging holiday season.

 

This review originally appeared on Homeschool Coffee Break as part of the Online Book Club for December 2020

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