i really wanted to put together a gift guide for you all for milad un nabi, but didn’t get my act together until too late, so sorry folks, you will just have to see what i actually ended up doing instead.

i’m excited for this years milad un nabi for a few reasons, first being that a few of my friends and i are getting our kids together to celebrate with menhdi, nail polish, mosque-buiding and other fun activities, and second being that daani is older and much more capable of understanding the significance of this day. it gives more meaning to the fun when she knows what the hoopla is all about!

if you don’t recall, last year i decided that i want to make a big deal out of this and other celebrations so as to make both my children’s connection to the important dates on our calendar strong. milad un nabi is a big deal. it marks the birth day of our prophet, prophet muhammad and for us, as shi’a, it marks one of the first big celebrations after a two- month long mourning period. so we bring out all the bells and whistles.

as part of our family tradition, we like to make a gift for our little friends. last year we made these and they were a hit. this year we went in another direction and made a whole bunch of tribal inspired necklaces for the girls and beaded tassle bracelets for the boys.you’ll have to check out my instagram later on today for the bracelets; i just didn’t get around to photographing them for the blog.

we chose big beads so daani’s little fingers could take part and she really was a big help. i’m not going to post any kind of diy here because it was as straightforward as it looks. string and beads, folks, just string string and beads!

since i’m low on supplies for wrapping, i ended up using daani’s mini masterpieces as envelopes and stuffed them with our gifts. i tagged on a name tag and a gold star for good measure, et voila, our 2nd annual milad un nabi pressies are done and ready to give out!

it makes me feel good to share something i’ve made with our hands. sometime i question whether the receiver of the gift likes it as much as i do, but i know i have to get over that! at the end of the day it’s the thought that counts, right? so, i look forward to seeing our little friends faces when they open their gifts and to continue on in this tradition with both of my girls over the years. (sorry little friends of niyya, you will be included next year when she can put in some work!!)

“for it is in giving that we receive.” ― st. francis of assisi