How To Celebrate The Nativity Of Mary

The feast of the Nativity of Mary is coming up on September 8, which means… Happy Birthday Mother Mary!!! **cue horns blowing and confetti flying through air** There are so many really fun and meaningful ways to celebrate the Nativity Of Mary with your kids, and today we are going to look at some food ideas, crafts, printables, and more!

 

Nativity Of Mary “Cheat Sheet”

  • “Nativity” is like a fancy way of saying birthday. So it’s Mary’s birthday
  • Mary was conceived and born without original sin
  • Mary’s parents were St. Anne and St. Joachim 
  • The 3 “nativity” feast days on the Church’s calendar are Mary, Jesus, and St. John The Baptist- all 3 born without original sin

Celebrate With A Birthday Cake For Mary 

So the most obvious idea for celebrating this feast day is to make a birthday cake for Mary. Any cake would be a great cake for Mary’s birthday! I would suggest icing your cake in white (to symbolize purity) and blue (Mary’s traditional color).

If you’re getting together with friends for a Marian celebration, consider making a cupcake rosary! You can have 3 families sign up to bring about 20 cupcakes each, iced white, and one family to bring the “Our Father” cupcakes iced in blue. You can use a real crucifix for the bottom, or assemble with a cake, cupcakes, or chocolate.

If you’re only one family and 50-something cupcakes is WAY too many for you, you could make a “one decade” cupcake rosary, or assemble rosaries out of something smaller such as marshmallows and candy. Find some pictures and ideas for making edible rosaries here.

Put 10 candles on the cake. Pray one decade of the rosary, lighting one candle for each Hail Mary. When you’re finished, sing “Happy Birthday” to Mary, and blow out the candles!

I have a recipe for this symbolic Mary cake. It’s shaped like a crown to symbolize Mary’s queenship and full of blueberries- Mary’s symbolic color!

You can decorate your cake with candles, like Sweetness and Light– and don’t forget to put out your Mary statue! Because it’s a birthday party, you definitely want to have candles and sing “Happy Birthday” to Mary. You could even use 10 candles to symbolize a decade of the rosary. 
 
 
At These Thy Gifts, they pulled out all their normal family traditions for birthdays, including the special birthday plate and this funny hat! 🙂
 
If you need a Mary statue, check out this free printable Mary craft! These would be very cute along side your cake!

Set Out A “Baby Mary” Doll

This feast day is such a great day to be able to focus on the infancy and the childhood of Mary, a concept that we don’t really think about too often!

I love the idea of celebrating by stressing that it’s Mary’s birthday by portraying Mary as a baby! This is such a hands on and effective way to show children the meaning of the feast day. 

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Our Little Catholic Corner put out a “Baby Mary” doll for their table centerpiece. What a great visualization for kids! Love it!

 
 
You could even craft your very own baby Mary dolls using just socks and no sewing needed! These little dolls are so much easier to make than they look and kids absolutely LOVE making these and playing with them! Check out my full directions on making a sock baby doll here.
 
 
Also, if you have my ABC Saint set for kids, A is for St. Anne and the child Mary is standing with her! This could be perfect to craft and stand alongside your cake or place on your home altar for the day.
 

Make A Birthday Card For Mary

Make Mary a card for her birthday! We went ahead and used the same puffy microwave paint  as our cake craft and monogrammed am “M” for Mary, a crown, and a birthday cake with a candle. Inside I wrote a prayer for the nativity of Mary (that I found here). At the birthday party, everyone can sign the card with promises of prayers as presents.

Effectively, this birthday card becomes a spiritual bouquet! 

 
 
We have also made a cake craft for Mary’s birthday with a simple microwave puffy paint, and that is a fun craft! 
 
 
If you’re wanting to add this fancy “M” symbol for Mary on anything, be sure to check out my video on how to draw a Marian symbol and I will break it down step by step for you! 
 

Party Decorations

You can decorate with anything blue! Be sure to bring out a Mary statue (or several) if you have some. Think party hats and streamers- it is a birthday party after all! 😉

Sing Some Mary Hymns! 

I love singing Mary songs! You can find lyrics and guitar chords for Haily Holy Queen here. I really need to find the time to post some more lyrics and guitar chords for Marian songs! Some other songs you could sing are the Hail Mary, Immaculate Mary, or Ave Maria.

Play A Game

If you’re looking for a simple activity for celebrating with your family, check out this Hail Mary game from The Catholic Toolbox. (It’s free to print!)

 
Now who wants to join me in singing to Our Lady? All together now!
 
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Mary, happy birthday to you!!!”
 
 
If you’re looking for more ideas, check out my other resources on how to honor Mary with kids.

Comments

  1. Sarah Harkins says

    Any reason for making a cake is a good one 🙂 I'm def going to celebrate Mary's birthday this year! I love Mary!

  2. I love these ideas. I don't think the kids will appreciate it yet, do you think? They are almost 5 yrs and 2 year boys. I think this is SUCH a great idea though.

  3. happymomonline says

    We made cup cakes and got Mary some fresh flowers for her birthday today. Thanks for putting these out there a week ahead – gives me time to get organized! I have a picture on my blog if you want to look.
    http://happymomonlinecom.blogspot.com/2010/09/family-fun-day-2010.html
    Thanks for the ideas and keep them coming!
    God Bless!
    Heather 🙂

  4. I start CCD on Sunday and already plan on having a birthday party for Mary.
    I think 3rd graders will especially love this. Thanks for the baby doll idea. I will
    definately have to add that to my lesson plan.