Faith-inspired Giving as We Celebrate Jesus’ Birthday

Recently, I asked my granddaughter her age. “Three,” Isabelle said, “and a half.” Those extra six months can’t be missed if you’re a preschooler. And neither can a child’s enthusiasm for birthday parties.

Whether a big celebration or a small one, a party holds great importance. Given that natural excitement, Christmas seems the perfect time to throw a birthday party for Jesus and simultaneously bless the child/children in your life with a meaningful faith gift.

Warner Press can help with a Happy Birthday, Jesus! Coloring Book suitable for two to four-year-olds. Drop the coloring book, a boxed cake mix, candles, festive paper plates and napkins, plastic forks, and deflated balloons into a gift bag and you have all the makings of a party. Together families can bake a birthday cake and celebrate. Or, for a larger group like a Sunday school class, the teacher can make a cake or cupcakes ahead of time and then give each student a coloring book that also features the Christmas story from the NIV Bible.

I expect most kids will remember this birthday party for Jesus long after they’ve forgotten whatever presents they receive for Christmas. It is often the experiences, the personal connections, the time spent with one another that imprints upon our memories. For example, I remember most from my childhood Christmases the Sunday school service—the scripture we recited and the singing of Oh, Come All Ye Faithful as we filed into church and Joy to the World as we hurried out. I remember few of my gifts.

It’s easy to get caught in the materialistic side of Christmas with commercials, advertising and social media urging us to buy the latest and the best. But there’s something to be said for holding back and giving fewer and more meaningful gifts. I especially appreciate recent gifts from my eldest daughter of customized photo albums packed with family images. This Christmas I expect a new photo book that includes her nearly year-old son, Isaac.

I’ll limit my buying for the grandchildren to one gift each, honoring their parents’ request and my desire to keep Christmas focused on Christ, not new toys. Whatever we as adults can do to keep Christ front and center can have a profound effect on the little ones we love and teach. 

Warner Press is a great resource for faith-focused gifts for all ages, especially kids. The Nativity Color & Cut Out book for ages five to seven features illustrations to color, then cut out, and set up. What fun for a child to have his/her very own personalized Nativity set.

Check out a video of The Nativity Color & Cut Out book in action here.

It is often the hands-on aspect of gifts that makes them especially treasured. Each Christmas for the past several, I’ve baked gingersnap cookies for my mom, who lives in a senior care center. She doesn’t need more stuff at her age. But the cookies are her favorite and she enjoys them. Ditto for my husband. I bake date pinwheel cookies, a favorite from his childhood. I give my loved ones the gift of my time via those cookies.

This Christmas I hope you, too, will find joy in simple giving. I hope you will find yourself inspired to give faith gifts as you celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. Maybe even at a birthday party for Jesus.