Welcoming a Daughter to Young Womanhood
As our oldest daughter neared her thirteenth birthday, we knew we wanted to celebrate in a very special and meaningful way. We wanted to celebrate her femininity, shower her with love, and encourage her to grow in Biblical womanhood.
I began making plans about a month before her birthday. First, I asked a few special people in her life to write her a letter (making sure that the writing was only on one side of the paper). The letters were meant to pronounce blessings on her life, acknowledge achievements and praiseworthy character, and encourage her to stand firm and live for Jesus. Special memories were also shared. My letter took up three sheets of paper! I put together a special scrapbook full of pictures of her from her growing up years: playing dress up, helping around the house, and holding her younger siblings. I wrote some verses in calligraphy, and decorated them with stickers. The verses I used were ones that encourage Biblical womanhood, letting our light shine, and loving others. The letters were mounted in the scrapbook accompanied by pictures of my daughter with the author of the letter.
The day of the party, we sat down to a special lunch of tea sandwiches (egg salad, turkey, and cucumber cream cheese), a fruit tray, a vegetable tray with homemade vegetable dip, cheese, and crackers. We also had some delicious cream cheese mints, and cold kiwi-peach green tea.
After a dessert of cake and strawberry ice cream, we went into the living room to open presents. The gifts were carefully chosen items that we knew she would love and appreciate. For each gift, I wrote out a verse on a piece of cardstock. On the package of lip balm, I wrote Proverbs 31:26. A music CD had James 1:22. On the hand lotion, Proverbs 31:13. When she opened these gifts, she said she especially liked the corresponding verse attached to each one.
Our daughter asked for a purity ring, and her thirteenth birthday seemed like a great time to give her one. She wanted to make a commitment to remain physically and mentally pure, giving her heart to her father until the day she marries. After giving her the ring, we had a time of praying over her and blessing her. We also enjoyed looking at her scrapbook, which she said she would always treasure.
Our daughter said it was the best birthday she’s ever had, and it was a very memorable day for all of us. Our younger daughters are now happily anticipating their thirteenth birthdays!
Joy,
This is a beautiful idea!!! Our oldest daughter will be turning 12 in a few months, this will give us plenty of time to be planning her special day. Did you invite others to join with you?
I'm over from RH and your newest follower. 🙂
~Jennie
Welcome, Jennie!
I'm sure your daughter will be very blessed with a special day just for her! We only had family at our party, which is just the way we do birthdays in our family. Immediate family and extended family, such as grandparents, are usually the only ones present. However, I'm sure it would be a wonderful celebration to have other close friends there, too.
Thanks for stopping by, and for following! 🙂
How sweet!! What a beautiful way to make it a special day for your daughter. Popping over to RH to read more…. 🙂 (And your cake pic is just lovely!)
Thank you, Collette! Elyse actually made her own cake, as she's been doing the past few years. When I said I'd love to make it for her, she insisted that the fun of it was making it herself! 🙂
Where did you find your daughter's purity ring? It is lovely! Our oldest turns 13 in January and I am going to use your ideas!! Thanks!
Thanks so much for your comment!
We got our daughter's ring at Cornerstone Jewelry: http://www.cornerstonejewelrydesigns.com/
There are several other places that sell purity rings, but she chose this one. We also made our own purity commitment card. They send you one with the ring, but it didn't really fit our daughter, so I made my own, changing the wording a bit. 🙂
Some of our friends have also just let their daughters choose a ring that they liked (not one meant to be a purity ring)– just whatever your daughter would like best.