Our Favorite Birthday Books for Kids!

We love birthdays in our house and we tend to make it a BIG deal! When one of our kiddos has a birthday, you can sense it all throughout the house. Whether it be the decorations that are hung up around the house, the streamers by their door, or the birthday books sitting in the seasonal book nook— you can tell that someone is being celebrated!

When it comes to adding birthday books to our book nook, I’ll be honest in saying that we don’t do an entire book nook of just birthday books. Instead, we choose to sprinkle them in with the other seasonal books that are already on display.

For instance, Graham has a birthday in March so birthday books are on the shelf with all of our Spring books and Aspen has a birthday in April so birthday books are on the shelf with all of the Easter books. I also want to clarify that the boys don’t have separate birthday books, we have a few birthday books that are used by both kids and they just stay out for both of those months.

If you don’t have a collection of birthday books, I encourage you to consider it! Birthday books are such a fun way to get your kiddos excited for their birthday and to start talking about who they were created to be. We don’t have many, just a few, and really that’s all it takes. I’m sharing a some of the best ones I’ve been able to find and some of our personal favorites to get you started! I’ve linked them all HERE for you to easily find, but I will definitely encourage you to try to find them at a local used bookstore first. Sometimes, you can find books in great condition for a fraction of the cost!

Let’s jump into our favorite books for birthdays!

If You Had Your Birthday Party on the Moon: This is a really cute and fun book about what it would be like if you had your birthday party on the moon. It incorporates facts about space while also touching on the fun and excitement of having a birthday. The illustrations are engaging and beautiful, but the story is top notch— especially if your kiddo loves space.

Happy Birthday from the Very Hungry Caterpillar: This is for all of you Eric Carle lovers out there! This is a very colorful book that helps you celebrate your little one’s birthday. They’ll love looking at the pictures as they try to find the caterpillar on each page and the book will leave them feeling loved and special on their big day.

Happy Birthday to You!: Step into the world of Dr. Seuss and explore the fun and exciting things that happen when the birthday bird comes to see you on your birthday. It has a rhythmic flow and the illustrations stay true to that original Dr. Seuss style! It’s a lot of fun and stretches your imagination for what you think is possible when celebrating your birthday.

When God Made You: This is not a birthday specific book, but it does talk a lot about how God was so intentional when He made us and I think that’s a beautiful thing to incorporate when talking about their birthdays. The illustrations are stunning and the book is written with a beautiful rhyme that encourages kids to lean and live into their own unique gifts!

Happy Birthday, Mouse!: We love this book! It’s a super simple, yet very sweet board book about Mouse’s birthday. It stems from the original “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” book and incorporates a lot of the characters from the book and show series. What will Mouse want to have for his birthday? Follow him to find out and celebrate your birthdays together!

We’re Going to a Birthday Party: Join four little bunnies on a birthday adventure in this lift-the-flap book. With party hats, cake, balloons, and presents hidden under each flap, this book has gorgeous illustrations and cute story to help your little celebrate their birthday.

God Gave Us You: Again, this book is not birthday specific, but it does talk and touch on how God intentionally gave us our children. It’s from the perspectives of a sweet bear family and the little cub has so many questions about why God gave her to her parents. The mama bear shares the story of how they waited for a baby and how she prayed as she grew the baby in her belly. It’s one of our favorites and is such a sweet book, bring tissues!

The Night Before My Birthday: This is a great series and they have a lot of books talking about “The Night Before _____”. Obviously, this one covers the night before the kiddo’s birthday and it’s a really sweet book that walks you through the family prepping for a birthday party and how the child grows with each birthday. It’s a good one to read on the eve of their birthday every year and is written in the format from “The Night Before Christmas.”

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I hope this gives you a solid place to start as you create an intentional book nook for your kiddos. Doing this for my kids is one of my favorite things and it's also really nice to be able to switch out the books as needed.

The Importance of Switching Out Books

Whether you have a seasonal shelf in your playroom or in each of your kid's rooms, there are SO many benefits to switching out your books with the changing seasons. First of all, it helps your kids to have a better understanding of the structure of the year and the different things you get to do or experience within that time. Second of all, it really helps to keep your books fresh and lively versus reading the same books all of the time.

How We Store Our Seasonal Books

I have a bunch of small buckets (which I'll link HERE) that house our seasonal books and I store them in our game closet, but you could also store them in the garage. I have a bucket for each big season or holiday- Spring, Easter, Summer, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and so on. I store everything I need for the seasonal shelf in the bucket and each bucket is labeled so it's easy to find. You could also use large ziplock bags depending on how many books you have (you don't need a lot of books in order for this to feel special).

When it Comes to Buying Books

Let's state the obvious- books can be really expensive. That's why I always try to link new books that are $10 or less (when or where I can) because I know how crazy expensive it can be. This is also why I encourage you to shop at a used bookstore or consignment sale when possible! Many of our books are not new and have been purchased second hand, so don't forget to look for seasonal books the next time you go thrifting! Sometimes you can find them for as low as $1 each.

Setting Up the Book Nook

Our current Book Nook is located on a wall in our playroom. It was super easy to put together, but I also want you to know that it didn't start out this way. Our seasonal books started out as a simple basket in the boy's room with the right books for the season or holiday. As they got older and we moved to a new house, I decided to make a more permanent space which is where we are today.

I found the baskets on Amazon and this was probably the most important part because you want to make sure you're finding baskets that are sturdy enough to hold a lot of books. The baskets I use and would recommend are linked with the books and come in a set of four.

Once I have those in place, I add a few simple things to make it a little more festive. A seasonal banner, from the one and only Hunny Prints, hangs above the books and I usually try to add another element for the season like a garland, etc.

This is a super easy thing you can do to magnify the magic of each holiday or season and once you fall into a routine, it may just become your new favorite thing. As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.

Stay tuned because I'll be sharing our Birthday Book Nook next and you don't want to miss it! Thanks for stopping by and I'll see ya again real soon.

SB

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