Morning Rituals

This is sponsored content by BlogHer and Kelloggs.

Morning rituals can be soothing, like a cup of coffee. They can be energizing, like a sunrise yoga session or a morning run. They can be loving, like my son tiptoeing into our bedroom to snuggle under the covers with mom and dad. They can be ordinary, like the bowl of cereal my kids eat every single day. And they can even be super, out-of-this-world scary... and fun. One of my favorite annual events is the Halloween Breakfast that the kids' school puts on every year. If Halloween falls on a weekend, the breakfast is held on the Friday before Halloween; otherwise, it's held on Halloween morning. This is one day of the year when I don't need to poke and prod the kids to get out of bed. They're up with the sun, donning their costumes, spray-painting their hair, applying fake skeleton tattoos to their arms, painting scars on their cheeks, ponytailing their hair with fancy purple-and-black bows. The whole school shows up in costume, from the tiniest kindergartener to the principal to the teachers' aides. Some parents show up in costume, some don't, but one thing that parents always show up with is a camera, because the sight of all these kids in costumes is too precious to miss. Kids run around and compare costumes, ham it up for the camera, gobble down a donut hole and gulp down some orange juice before rushing back out to greet more of their friends. They especially love seeing their teachers in costume
On ordinary days, when the school bell rings it's time to get into the classroom, but at the Halloween Breakfast the fun has just started. The whole school lines up for a costume parade than takes them through the school corridors, which are flanked with parents armed with cameras, like a bunch of paparazzi. The whole school forms a gigantic circle on the field and the principal calls out groups of kids to take a bow, i.e. all the princess characters, all the skeletons, all the superheroes, etc... It's a small, simple touch to make each child feel like people are admiring his or her costume and telling each other how great it looks. Afterwards, the kids go back to their classes and have a Halloween party (with all that excitement and all that sugar, I doubt if too much studying goes on!). The Halloween Breakfast is one morning tradition that our family never misses, and it's one of the reasons why Halloween is my favorite holiday! Do you have a yearly morning tradition that your family participates in? Whatever morning rituals you and your family participate in, I hope you'll add Bonggamom Finds to it! I'm partnering with BlogHer and Kellogg's to bring you some fun breakfast topics, from morning routines to cereal to family breakfast traditions and more. Join me every week through October 2010 for a new discussion -- and a new giveaway for a $100 Visa Gift Card! Win a $100 Visa Gift Card One lucky Bonggamom Finds reader will win a $100 Visa Gift card courtesy of Kellogg's and BlogHer. To enter, just leave a comment on this post and tell me your favorite go-to breakfast when time is tight and you're in a rush. For a second entry, you can: · Tweet about this post with a link to it (and put your tweet URL in a separate comment below) · Blog about this post with a link to it (and put your blog post URL in a separate comment below) Entries will be accepted until 5PM EST until November 1, 2010. For full giveaway rules, click here. You can also gain 24 extra chances to win $100 by visiting the BlogHer.com Kellogg exclusive offers page. Good luck! The Mom's Breakfast Club was started to help educate moms and families about kids' cereal and share the scoop on their nutritional benefits and ingredients. Kellogg's helps moms keep their morning simple with cereal varieties for everyone in the family. For more information, visit www.loveyourcereal.com. This is a sponsored post from BlogHer and Kellogg's. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.