Coping With Special Dates

Coping with special dates can often be difficult, however sometimes these dates can be a special day where you may do things in honour of your baby. Some special dates may include:

• Due date- The day your baby was meant to be born had your pregnancy been different
• Anniversary/birthday of the birth of your baby
• Anniversary of the death of your baby
• Christmas
• Mothers Day
• Fathers Day
• Significant dates of when your baby/babies would have gone off to school
• Significant birthday's of when your baby/babies would have turned 5, 16, 18, 21 etc
• Other significant dates ie: your birthday/partners/children's birthday.

Dates can create a sad feeling of what could have been or how your life would differ so much to the way you are feeling now. How you chose to get through these dates is entirely up to you.

Some suggestions for what you could do on these special dates:

Balloon & Butterfly Releases

You could release a balloon. You might like to write a message on the balloon or choose a special type or colour of balloon. We have TLC balloons available in our TLC store.

You could arrange to Release butterflies

Cemetery and Significant Places

Visit the cemetery or special place. you might like to take some flowers or

Spend some time at the ocean/beach

Visit the TLC memorial bench (Brougham Gardens, across from the WCH Hospital entrance).

Visit the hospital in which your baby was born

Spend some time alone or together quietly.. somewhere tranquil

Do something nice for yourself where you can be alone with your memories

Celebration

Have a special lunch or dinner with your partner or those close to you

Celebrate with a party, you might also like to have a special cake.

Have a picnic

Light a special candle on your own or with family & friends. TLC has personalised and memorial candles in our TLC store.

Buy a birthday card for your baby and place it in your memory box or at the cemetery

Include your baby/babies in significant celebrations or family portraits/photographs (wear a photo badge of your baby)

Keepsakes and Memories

Purchase something special or personalised in memory of your baby. TLC has an online store with many personalised gifts and items.

Buy a special piece of jewellery that represents your baby/babies - please visit our Keepsake links for more information.

Write a letter to your baby

Plant a tree or make a memorial garden

Name a star in memory of your baby

Make a difference for another bereaved family

Donate a bear in memory of your baby

Hold a bear drive

Make a donation in your baby's memory

Please also visit our keepsake and memory making page for further ideas.

We hope these suggestions will be a starting point for how to spend your day. Remember that you may chose to do many of the above or let the day pass without doing any. Both are ok, the most important thing is to get through the day. 

Christmas

Christmas Memorial Ideas

We would like to share with you all some ideas & suggestions of things you can do at Christmas time in memory, in honour or to acknowledge your precious baby or babies.

• Buying or making a personalised bauble to hang on the tree
• Getting a special decoration to hang on the tree
• Setting up a special Christmas display with your baby / babies ornaments
• Buying a gift for another (possibly the same age as your baby/babies would be) and giving to the Christmas tree gift funds such as KMART gift tree, anglicare or smith family etc
• Lighting a  candle or your babies candle on Christmas eve ( if you have living children when putting their presents under the tree) or on Christmas day when everyone are swapping presents
• Burn your candle during your Christmas lunch or dinner
• Decorate your babies’ special place whether it be at the cemetery or at home or another special place.
• Include your babies name/s or a stamp, cut out or initial symbolising them on Christmas cards
• Write a Christmas card to your baby and keep it in their memory box
• Donate a bear in memory of your baby
• Give family members and friends a TLC keyring in memory of your baby 

Special Christmas Recipe - Angel Biscuits

Preparation time: 25 Minutes  Ingredients:
Cooking  time: 12    125g  Unsalted butter (room temperature)
Makes 20 biscuits approx   1/3 cup pure icing sugar
      1 Tbsp creamed Honey
      2 Tbsp Milk
      1 ¾ cups plain flour
(Extra flour for kneading) 
1 ½ cups of desiccated coconut
½ cup of royal icing

1. Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees. Line two large oven trays with baking powder. Beat the butter, icing sugar and honey in the bowl of an electric mixer until the mixture is light and creamy. Add milk and flour and, using a wooden spoon, stir to combine.
2. Gently kneed the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Roll our dough between two sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick. Use medium sized angel cutter to cut out shapes. Bake for 10- 12 minutes or until lightly golden and cooked underneath. Cool Biscuits on tray or rack.
3. Sprinkle coconut on a sheet of baking paper. Spread royal icing on 1 side of each biscuit into the coconut. Stand biscuits on rack for 20 minutes or until the icing is set.

Royal Icing
This recipe makes 1 cup of icing
Put 1 egg white in a medium mixing bowl with a wooden spoon until the egg white thins and starts to froth on top. Sift 1 ¼ cups of pure icing sugar to the egg white and beat the mixture until it is well combined. Continue adding icing sugar in this way, one tablespoon at a time until the mixture is thick and stiff peaks from when the spoon is removed from the mixture.

TIPS:
Using a piping bag, write your baby’s name and date on the biscuit
Royal icing dries out quickly so always keep covered
Store in a cool dry place, do not refrigerate
Best used on the day it is made * biscuits can be made up to two weeks in advance

KIRRIKEE'S ANGELS.

"EVERY YEAR FOR CHRISTMAS IN MEMORY OF MY NIECE KIRRIKEE I BUY AN  ANGEL XMAS DECORATION TO HANG ON MY BROTHERS TREE.I SECRETLY PLACE IT ON THEIR TREE A FEW DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS.ITS A NICE SURPRISE FOR THEM TO  FIND IT ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY AREN'T LOOKING FOR IT.ITS MY SMALL WAY OF INCLUDING HER EVERY YEAR .I ALSO BUY A PRESENT TO PUT UNDER THE WISHING TREE ,SOMETHING THAT I WOULD HAVE BROUGHT FOR HER SO THIS YEAR I WILL BUY SOMETHING FOR A 4YR OLD.THAT WAY I CAN HELP OUT ANOTHER FAMILY AND  ANOTHER LITTLE GIRL CAN HAVE SOMETHING SPECIAL ."

"Trinity Beer in memory of Kirrikee"