Mariella's 1st birthday to include Awareness...need more ideas please

[admin]

Mariella will be 1 Sept. 26th!! I will be having her birthday party here at home on Oct 5th. We will be having friends and family...believe it or not, 85 people were invited, but I haven't gotten all the RSVPs yet so I don't know how many will actually be there. Anyway, I have thought about including Awareness of Brachial Plexus injuries into the party. I will hand out a silver ribbon for each guest and a small candle for each of them to lite during Awareness week. I would like to also include a few sheets of facts or something regarding these injuries. Maybe I will write something up myself, but I need some advice from all of you as to what you think will catch their attention and really help them understand how this is affecting our life and especially Mariella's for the rest of her years to come. Many of our family members are great about the whole thing, but many just think it is something that will go away with time. I want to teach them differently, but in a nice manner. Any ideas would be great.
Krista

[francine]

Krista - how about the Quick Facts Sheet.... and then write up a story about your little one and her journey to date, etc. I'm sure it'll be very special. 1st birthdays are sometimes hard- I wish you strength if it does become hard for you. You can lean on us as time gets closer.
-francine

[Teresa&Peyton]

I really don't have any ideas of the top of my head, but that is a wonderful idea. Really Great IDEA>

[Joy in FL]

Krista,

Will you be giving goody bags to the kids when they leave? If so include awareness info for the adults. I like the idea of a story about the year Mariella has had. That puts a face and a human touch to awareness info. Maybe even do a display table with pictures of Mariella over the year and explain the injury with brief captions for each picture.

Let us know how things go.

Joy