Happy Birthday to Me: Being Prepared is a Gift!

 

Today my friends is my birthday! Here in Canada Thanksgiving is a floating date, but the year I was born, I was born on Thanksgiving Monday. By default October has become my most favorite month, wrapped up with Halloween!

As a lover of all things birthday, I thought I would share a few ways that emergency preparedness can be a part of your own big day.

Emergency Preparedness as a Gift:

You can use a birthday as an opportunity to give the gift of preparedness. Consider gifting emergency supplies or survival gear to a friend or family member. It’s a unique and thoughtful way to show you care about their safety and well-being, or to get them that one thing they may never buy for themselves.

My own wish-list consists of the following items:

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  • The Aquabrick water filter straw OR the Lifestraw water bottle – for my hiking pack
  • Freeze dried onions – for my pantry because I greatly dislike chopping onions
  • Freeze-dried pineapples – one of favorite of the fruits! Tough call between this and the apples though.
  • and lastly (because my list could be a mile long, and I don’t want to seem greedy), the JetBoil MiniMo because how cool is this!

Emergency Preparedness-Themed Party:

If you’re passionate about preparedness or survival, you might choose to incorporate this theme into your birthday party. You can have activities centered around emergency preparedness, sharing valuable information and skills with your guests while having fun doing it!

Here are some suggestions for activities:

• • Emergency Kit Building Contest: Divide your guests into teams and challenge them to assemble emergency kits with provided supplies. You can set criteria and time limits, and the team with the best kit, judged based on completeness and creativity, wins a prize. Then consider donating these kits to a local shelter.
  • Emergency Skills: Fire starting, knot-tying, or creating a charades style game.
  • Disaster Simulation Game: Set up a disaster simulation game, such as a mock evacuation or a scavenger hunt for emergency supplies. Create scenarios that encourage participants to think on their feet and make quick decisions.
  • Communication Exercise: Show your guests how to use two-way radios or other communication devices commonly used in emergencies. Have a friendly competition or game involving communication tasks – hide and seek 2.0?
  • Fire Extinguisher Training: If you have access to a fire extinguisher, provide a brief training session on how to use it safely and effectively. This knowledge can be invaluable in emergencies. There’s nothing more exciting at a party then making a really big mess. I suggest doing this outdoors!
  • Outdoor Survival Challenges: If your party takes place outdoors, organize survival challenges like building shelters, purifying water, or identifying edible plants.
  • Mock First Aid Scenario: Create a scenario where someone “injured” or “sick” needs first aid. Have guests take turns applying basic first aid techniques (bandages and tourniquets – toilet paper works too)
  • Lastly, I highly recommend sitting around a campfire (maybe after seeing who has the best fire-starting skills?) Campfires in my opinion make everything so much better. Special bonus if you have smores.

Birthday during an Emergency: On a more somber note, if someone’s birthday happens to fall during an emergency or natural disaster, it can serve as a stark reminder of the importance of preparedness. It may prompt individuals to reflect on their readiness for such situations. Remember, regardless when and how your birthday falls, you have a community who has your back!

So my birthday wish is that we all will smile a little more, be a little kinder, and be a little more prepared – whatever that means for you. Have a wonderful day!