Thousands of children in foster care spend their birthdays without a celebration. They don’t get to open gifts, eat cake, or spend time with their family and friends. For many foster youth, birthdays feel unimportant as they pass like any other day. But a child’s birthday should never be forgotten. When kids in care need a reminder that they matter, Birthday Boxes for foster care kids are there to turn that ordinary day into a real celebration. It’s a small yet powerful package that allows children to feel like every other child and experience the kind of birthday filled with joy, gifts, and celebration that every child deserves.
Each Birthday Box is designed to turn an ordinary day into something meaningful. With party supplies, decorations, balloons, candles, and fun toys inside, it gives kids everything they need to celebrate, even if their circumstances make it difficult. For many children in foster care, this may be the only celebration they receive that year.
In a system where so much can feel uncertain, something as simple as a birthday celebration can bring comfort, confidence, and hope.
Because no matter their situation, every child deserves to feel special on their birthday.
What Is Inside a Birthday Box
Each birthday box is thoughtfully designed to include all the essentials needed for a full party experience, packed with kindness by volunteers. A box includes staple essentials, including:
- Party supply necessities like a banner and streamers
- Party hats
- A hand-decorated card
- Candles for a cake
- Balloons
But it can also include extra items donated from the supporters, like:
- Age-appropriate toys, books, and small gifts
- Fun goodies that bring excitement and joy, like candy or activity books
- Gift cards for treats at places like McDonald’s, Krispy Kreme, Dairy Queen, and more
Every box is packed with love and designed to bring joy and a complete celebration to every child
How Birthday Boxes Reach Children in Foster Care
Getting Birthday Boxes into the hands of children requires coordination and trust. They reach children through our direct partnerships with foster care agencies and community organizations. Our partners help us ensure boxes are delivered in time for a child’s special day.
Foster care agencies submit referrals for children in foster care who would benefit from a Birthday Box. These referrals are reviewed and confirmed through agency contacts to ensure accuracy and appropriateness. Once approved, a coordinator works directly with the agency to schedule delivery and ensure the Box arrives at the right time.
This agency-based model is how Birthday Boxes are able to reach children who might otherwise go without any recognition on their birthday.
More Ways You Can Make Birthdays Special
Volunteers are at the heart of this program, helping turn simple supplies into meaningful Birthday Boxes for foster care kids. Every box is assembled and decorated with care, creating a personal celebration for a child in foster care who might otherwise go without one.
There are a few different ways to get involved, depending on how you want to make an impact, including individual volunteering, team building events, and large-scale experiences like Foster Love Birthday Palooza.
Individual volunteers can sign up to pack Boxes through the Foster Love volunteer page and can participate in scheduled packing opportunities. Teams can also come together for a team building experience, bonding while making a difference.
These are both hands-on experiences that allow both individuals and teams to directly support children in foster care while creating something meaningful, tangible, and impactful. But there’s an even more hands-on experience that lets you make a difference live, in person with kids in foster care in your community—Foster Love Birthday Palooza!
Help Kids Celebrate at the Largest Party on the West Coast
Foster Love Birthday Palooza is a large-scale volunteer event where the community comes together to assemble Birthday Boxes for foster care children in real time.
Held at Kidspace Children’s Museum in Pasadena, Birthday Palooza gives children the chance to enjoy a real birthday party experience surrounded by community support. The day includes games, music, activities, gifts, food, and birthday cake—all created to make each child feel seen, celebrated, and valued.
It is a large-scale event made possible by volunteers and donors who help transform what is often an overlooked day into something unforgettable for children in foster care.
Volunteers work side by side to decorate boxes, pack party supplies, and prepare complete birthday celebrations that will be delivered to children in foster care.
Your only mission? Make sure every kid has a blast at the party!
The energy of the event is what makes it different. Instead of volunteering in smaller groups or individually, Birthday Palooza brings hundreds of people into one space, turning a single day of service into hundreds of birthday moments for children who might otherwise go without recognition on their special day.
The Impact of a Box
While programs track the number of boxes delivered each month, community growth, and consented feedback, the most meaningful impact is seen in real moments of celebration inside the home:
“Our boys were overjoyed to receive the Birthday Boxes. Not only were they able to open a colorful box full of goodies, but the whole family was able to join in on the celebration by hanging the streamers and the banner while wearing birthday hats. It was such a delight to catch them admiring their very own birthday banner. When my son asked where the box and everything in it came from, I told him that there was a special organization that sends Birthday Boxes to children in foster care and they wanted to send one to both of you. It is important to me that my boys understand that they are not alone and that people outside our home care about them. My hope is that they will grow up with the desire to care for children in foster care just as others have cared for them.”
How You Can Help a Child Celebrate
There are many ways to get involved:
- Make a one-time donation to help make a child’s life brighter.
- Have a virtual kit sent to you to decorate at home.
- Start a fundraiser to help kids feel remembered and celebrated.
- Join us at Birthday Palooza as a participant.
- Sponsor a child’s day at Birthday Palooza.
At the end of the day, every child deserves to feel celebrated.
And sometimes, all it takes is one box to change everything.
