Celebrating Ramadan 2020

I wanted my girls to understand the significance of Ramadan this year but they are so young (3 years old and 6 years old) so I wanted to make it as fun and as interactive as I can to ensure they embraced the holy month. We started off the month by reading one of our favourite stories, “It’s Ramadan, Curious George.”

• 

Ramadan is the holy month where Muslims fast and pray to be closer to God. It’s also a time to celebrate and to have dinners with families. Unfortunately, this year we couldn’t be part of family gatherings due to COV-ID 19 so it was even more important for my girls look to forward to this month and for it to be highly celebrated in our home.

• 

We decorated a corner of our family room to signify the importance of Ramadan. It was fun creating this space with the girls and having them help me throughout the process. Our theme was floral.

• 

• 

• 

We made an Eid tree this year! My hubby carved a crescent moon and made a stand. I bought a bunch of branches from Dollarama and used a glue gun to attach it to the tree. Then the girls painted the stand gold and added string lights as a final touch! It was a beautiful small project that we are all so proud of! The idea was for the girls to wake up on Eid and to run down and open their presents under the Eid tree.

• 

I found a cute floral advent calendar template on sweetfajr.com to print out. By the way, sweetfajr.com is an amazing website with lots of free printables. I highly recommend checking them out.  I put two small chocolates in each pouch and that was part of our countdown to EID.

I bought blank floral cards from Micheal’s and each card had a lesson about Islam and a riddle to find a small treasure somewhere around the house.

• 

The treasures were small. I found things from Dollarama and party favours from Party City. The girls looked forward to this part of the day excitedly. I know the little treasure was the big motivator but it made them enjoy Ramadan and to understand that as a Muslim it’s a significant part of our life. They haven’t experienced fasting yet but being so young, I wanted to instill the importance of Ramadan so as they grow older, they have fond memories and look forward to it yearly.

The last couple of days before Eid we started prepping for our at-home Eid party. We baked cookies and cakes, cleaned up, put up our Eid banner and made a summer-y balloon garland. The girls were so excited for EID.

Their treasure the day before EID was a tad bigger. It was new bedding for their bunk beds and new Islamic children’s stories to read at bedtime. There was so much excitement to make their beds and tuck in that night to read their stories. I highly recommend the books, Prophet Muhammad and the Crying Camel by Saadah Taib and Allah Made Everything by Zain Bhikha.

The night before Eid, I prepped a sugar-fest breakfast, wrapped and set-up presents from under our Eid tree. I decorated the table and laid out the cookies, cakes, cake pops and placed sliced fruits in the fridge so that the next morning, I’d only have to make waffles and enjoy the morning with the girls.

• 

It was a lot of planning and dedication but their little faces were so worth it. Eid morning was exactly as I envisioned. The girls showered, got dressed in their new clothes and came downstairs. They were so excited to see all their presents under their Eid tree. Their happiness melted my heart. 

• 

• 

As we opened presents and played with all our new toys, we had a scrumptious breakfast. We ate all day and played with new gadgets. The girls had so much fun that they didn’t want the day to end.

• 

• 

We were so busy on Eid that we forgot to cut our Eid cake. The following day, carrying on with our celebrations, we had a mini tea party after dinner, cut the cake and went out to deliver treats to our relatives.

• 

• 

• 

Despite missing a major aspect of Eid, which is family gatherings and sharing meals, this was our best Eid yet and we have so many years ahead to make it more exciting and memorable. I have saved all my daily Eid lessons and riddles from my Instagram stories as a highlight. Feel free to get ideas.

IG STORY:

https://www.instagram.com/safiahtar/