Happy Birthday!
Celebrating together
by Alexandra Palmer
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To consider how we celebrate our own birthdays and Jesus’ birthday.
Preparation and materials
- Before the assembly, you will need to arrange for four children to write a few sentences about their dream birthday party, ready to read them out during the assembly.
The sentences might include:
- a theme, such as a football party
- a location, such as a village hall
- the type of birthday cake, such as a particular flavour or design
- who they would invite if they could choose from anyone in the world, including famous people
- the games that they would like to play
- the type of music
- the sort of birthday presents they might be given - You will also need a birthday cake, some magic relighting candles, some matches and a container of water into which you can place the used matches and candles. (Note: you will need to follow your school’s health-and-safety procedure.)
Alternatively, use an image of a birthday cake and adapt the assembly accordingly. An example is available at: https://tinyurl.com/sd6h9cjm - For the ‘Time for reflection’ part of the assembly, you will also need to have available a list of the various names that are used for Jesus in the Bible. These include Son of God, Almighty, Creator, Shepherd, Immanuel, Holy Servant, King of Kings, Lamb of God, Prince of Peace, Son of Man, Yahweh, Word of God and Light of the World.
Assembly
- Ask the children whether they have ever been to a birthday party. Ask them what they liked best about it.
Listen to a range of responses. - Invite the four children to read out their sentences about their dream birthday party.
- Ask the children what they might expect to eat at a birthday party.
Listen to a range of responses.
Show the birthday cake, or an image of one. - Ask the children what would usually be placed on top of a birthday cake.
Listen to a range of responses.
If using, place the candles on the cake and light them. - Ask the children what usually happens after the candles on the cake have been lit.
Listen to a range of responses.
Ask if there are any children who have a birthday today, this week or this month.
Invite those children to the front and sing ‘Happy birthday’ to them. - Ask the children what usually happens next. They will soon suggest that the candles get blown out.
If using a real cake with candles, blow them out yourself and pretend to carry on with the assembly. The children will notice that the candles have relit and it will be very funny! Blow out the candles several times before placing them in the container of water. - Explain that, every day of the year, there are people celebrating their birthday. Some people might celebrate their birthday on well-known days such as April Fool’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter Sunday or Bonfire Night.
Ask if anyone has a birthday on Christmas Day. If any of the children do, invite them to the front and ask them how they celebrate a birthday and Christmas Day on the same day.
Explain that people who are born on Christmas Day might receive double the amount of presents or have Christmas presents in the morning and birthday presents in the afternoon. Alternatively, they might celebrate their birthday at some other time of the year, such as in summer. - Ask the children, ‘Whose birthday are we actually celebrating on Christmas Day?’
Listen to a range of responses.
Explain that Christmas Day is a celebration of Jesus’ birthday. Christians around the world use this day to remember and celebrate the birth of baby Jesus. - Explain that when a child is going to be born, the parents often spend a lot of time trying to decide on names. Point out that names tend to have some sort of meaning.
Ask if any of the children know the meaning of their names. Some examples include:
- Alex means defender
- Ella means light or beautiful
- Archie means bold or brave
- Sarah means princess
- Paul means humble
Time for reflection
Explain that Mary and Joseph didn’t have to choose a name for their baby because the Angel Gabriel told them to call him Jesus, which means to deliver or rescue.
Christians believe that Jesus was born to help rescue people because when he was 33 years old, he died on the cross to take the punishment for the wrong things that people do. Christians also believe that Jesus came back to life again and is alive in heaven today - that’s something worth celebrating!
Explain that Jesus doesn’t have just one name, though; there are many different names for him in the Bible.
Read out the list of the various names that are used for Jesus in the Bible.
The last name on the list – Light of the World – reminds us of the candles on the cake.
However, the candles on a cake can be blown out, but Jesus’ light never goes out. (Note: if you have used a real cake with magic relighting candles during the ‘Assembly’, explain that even those candles would eventually go out, but Jesus’ light never does.)
Christians believe that Jesus is there during all the good and bad times in life.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the birth of baby Jesus.
Thank you for the fun times that we have when celebrating our birthdays.
Thank you for our birthday parties, birthday cake and exciting presents.
We pray that we will all have an exciting Christmas.
We pray that in the excitement, we will remember to celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Amen.
Song/music
‘Away in a manger’, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnwO_0DrpCk (1.59 minutes long)
