National Reading Month Ideas - Birthday Books

Type: donation, books

Age: any

I have written several times about my older daughter, but this particular idea features an idea appropriate for any age child. In this case it is my 1 year old daughter, Brier. When it came time for her first birthday in December, I looked around at the mountains of girly things we already owned and couldn't conjure up any ideas for what family could get her for this occasion. So instead, we decided having guests bring gifts to donate would be the perfect idea!

Each guest to Brier's party brought a book personalized for her to commemorate this big day, and another book that would be donated. As I have previously posted, we LOVE books, and you can always add to your collection, so Brier happily opened all her specially selected new books. Afterwards we wrapped up the dozen or so donated books and headed to Detroit and and a place called the Matrix Organization which has a Headstart program in the heart of the city. For my husband, myself, Schuler and Brier, it was an amazing experience touring the facility and seeing how excited they were to be receiving this gift.

For your child's next birthday, consider making a donation in your child's name. Not only will you be impacting your community, but yours and your child's lives as well.

National Reading Month Ideas - Milk + Bookies

You never know where inspiration is going to come from - and this post is no exception as it came from, of all places, a celebrity mom blog! Seems that many of the cool Hollywood mom's (including my personal fav Jennifer Garner) are supporting an organization called Milk + Bookies. According to their website:

"Milk + Bookies is a non-profit organization that teaches young children how great it feels to give back while celebrating the love of a good book"

I can't think of a mission statement that touches my 'little heart' more - as in addition to identifying with the service portion, I am an avid reader and lover of books. So in honor of National Reading Month, I wanted to highlight the work of this organization.

If you and your little one decide to support Milk + Bookies, please let us know. We'd love to hear how it went. As always, we love your ideas, comments and feedback!