When I began planning Sareena's 4th birthday celebrations, as always, I was keen to incorporate acts of kindness into the mix, as birthdays offer such a lovely opportunity to create ripples of love and to give others a chance to be part of a little experiment.  One evening at bedtime, I talked to Sareena about an idea I had and she was really excited about it: in lieu of gifts for the birthday girl, we decided to invite her friends to offer something from their hearts in honour of Sareena's 4th birthday, which she would pay forward with her love to kids at a children's hospital and to elderly residents at a care home.

Opening Gifts For Others Opens Your Own Heart
While Sareena was really excited about the pay-it-forward gifts before the party, I wasn't sure how she would respond when it came to actually opening all of the presents that her friends had offered.  It was the first time that she was unwrapping gifts that were not intended for herself, but instead for her to pay forward for children at the hospital and elderly residents in a care home to enjoy.  I wondered if she would want to open a box of chocolates to eat some herself (she LOVES chocolate)? :)  Or if she might become attached to a particular gift she liked and ask to keep it for herself -- and what would I say if this happened?  Much to my surprise, she was genuinely excited to imagine how the children at the hospital might respond to each gift as she opened it.  She was more excited to be opening gifts for others than she's been in the past when opening gifts for herself!  She was very curious and asked me many questions about how children with any physical limitations might be able to use certain items like markers or paints, and how a child who can't see might be able to play with legos - would the nurses help them or would their parents be with them in the hospital?   She wondered if all of the elderly residents are allowed to eat chocolates?  As we finished opening all of the pay-it-forward gifts, it was so beautiful to see what the families felt moved to offer -- it was such a lovely way to spread some ripples of kindness beyond the walls of her Frozen 4th Birthday Celebration! :)

Art with Heart for the Elderly
A few times each year, Sareena and I volunteer at a local care home where we connect with the elderly residents, many of whom don't often have visitors, to brighten their day a little. We invited Sareena's friends to make any kind of art that inspires them (a colouring, card, painting, etc) for an elderly person and bring it to the party.  On Monday this week, Sareena, Ariyana and I visited St Wilfrids care home to spend time with the residents, offer them birthday cake as we do each year together to celebrate my birthday, and personally deliver the art and chocolates that Sareena's friends had offered to each of the residents. 

We started by visiting residents in a pottery class in the hall and they were pleasantly surprised to see a 4-year-old sharing her birthday cake with them :)  The pottery teacher was moved by Sareena's offering and gifted her and Ariyana little clay hearts with their names and the date on them, so they would have a little something to take home to remember this day.  As we made our way through each floor, it was so beautiful to watch their eyes light up as a 4-year-old and 1.5-year-old entered their rooms with offerings for them.  It was a heart-warming afternoon of sharing conversations and smiles with the residents and simply sharing our presence with them.  What a joy it was to visit with Rada who is 100 years old and full of smiles, jokes and seemed so content with life.  One gentleman, Charles, broke out into the biggest smile as the girls came along to see him and was really moved by the visit.  He repeatedly said to us, "I'm not sure what I've done to deserve a visit from these two lovely children but I'm just so happy that you came."  He told us to be sure to stop by and see his friend SP a few rooms down, as he would love to have these little visitors spend some time with him as well :) 

As we approached the last room that we had time to visit before the residents dinner time, we had one last piece of art left to gift.  As we arrived at Joseph's room, at first he was in a bit of a rush, as he was in his wheelchair ready to be taken down by a caretaker to dinner and wasn't really in the mood to be slowed down by visitors.  But then, as soon as he saw who his visitors were, he stopped in his tracks, paused for a moment and smiled as he looked pleasantly surprised to see the girls.  We placed a piece of cake in his room for him to enjoy after dinner and then Sareena reached over and placed a beautiful canvas painting by 3-year-old Aahna in his lap along with a box of chocolates as he sat in his wheelchair -- he looked up totally surprised and asked, "Is this really for me?" He couldn't believe it and broke into the biggest smile :)  He was very grateful and passed it along to the caretaker telling her he was very excited to place this in his room when we got back.  And it was so precious to see the smile on Sareena's face as she experienced a little piece of his joy through this  act of giving.

Brightening Up Playspaces at a Children's Hospital
Last year, Sareena donated new toys to Evelina Children's Hospital for her 3rd birthday, which were gifted to children who had to stay in the hospital on special occasions like their birthdays. She was very excited about sharing toys with the hospital again this year!

We thought it might be helpful to offer some fresh toys for the play spaces they have for the children in each inpatient ward at the hospital. Sareena had to undergo surgery on her finger (which got caught in a door) when she was 2 years old, and these play spaces were such a wonderful escape for the children on the ward, many of whom are there for months at a time.  We invited Sareena's friends to bring any items they felt moved to offer from a list of suggestions that the play therapists shared with us ahead of time.  This afternoon, our whole family had arranged to visit Evelina Children's Hospital together to meet with one of the play therapists, who could tell Sareena all about the different ways they play with the children in the hospital.  Becca shared many different stories with Sareena, which she was so tuned into, about the ways they engage children with different limitations in activities.  There was a boy who was missing the lower part of his arm and hand, who painted by having a paint brush taped to his arm and a child with a tube in her foot who they created a makeshift ball pit for using a giant tray.

After hearing all the stories that the play therapist shared, we walked around the ward with Becca to visit the children.  As we entered the first set of beds, Sareena immediately noticed a baby crying on his own and she felt moved to get a toy to offer to him.  She went back to the play area where we had dropped off all the toys and brought him a teddy bear :)  This small gesture planted a seed in her heart and inspired her to want to find something special to gift to each of the children she met throughout our visit.  A little boy with tubes in his tummy was a bit restricted to his bed and Sareena gifted him a craft kit to make his own Gruffalo masks, which he immediately opened and started to put together.  Another little boy was waiting to have surgery, so Sareena thought he might enjoy colouring with some new markers and a animal faces colouring book.  One little baby was being fed milk through a tube into his nose and Sareena offered him a little book with finger puppets in it so he could have fun trying to grab them as he enjoyed a story.  And finally, Sareena had a special opportunity to share a present, that she really loved looking at this past week, to a little girl who was really unwell -- a collection of Disney Princess stories, stickers and colouring pages!  I wasn't sure how she would handle gifting something that she loved so much, but she was so happy to share it.  Gifting something close to her heart was a lovely opportunity to expand her heart just a little bit more.



We are so grateful to all of the families who joined us in this little experiment to spread some love to "grandparents of the world" and children at the hospital.  As they say, "It isn't the size of the gift that matters, but the size of the heart that gives it" and we are so grateful for everyone's generosity and for giving Sareena the opportunity to pay forward your love in honour of her birthday -- I'm sure this experience is one she will never forget.