Christmas is so close you can almost see it coming at bullet train
speed. If you’re here, you most likely have a parrot or are thinking of
adopting a companion bird. Congratulations! Bring on the festivities!
When
you are celebrating any Holiday, Christmas, New Year’s, Valentine”s Day
or even Easter, you can indeed include your birds in the festivities.
But how do you do that?
You can include them in many activities
designed to make it a safe and joyous holiday for them depending on how
easy-going they are.
Set The Table And Have An Indoor Christmas Picnic!
If
it’s just you and a couple of other people and they are wiling, you can
prepare a “Bird Appetizer Feast” before your festive meal. This way,
you can feed your flock prior to actually sitting down for dinner
yourself. This will alleviate any begging problems you might have when
you sit down to your holiday meal. Simply place a washable sheet or
blanket on the floor and prepare food that is parrot-friendly and
parrot-delicious!
Disposable plastic picnic tablecloths work
quite well for this as well. I’ve included some wonderful snack ideas to
give you some ideas on what you could serve here: “Quick and Easy Intriguing Treats For Your Flock”
Bring On The Feast!
A
good way to serve these treats and turn it into a gourmet meal for them
is to place them on paper plates on the sheet or blanket. You could
prepare the “One Pot Pasta”
and serve it in shallow bowls. It would be fun for them to slurp up the
pasta and pick out the seeds and vegetables. Birds always enjoy a
choice, so having this placed in the center of the “table” would be a
great way of providing an edible centerpiece for them.
You might
want to serve Vegetable Parrot Spring Rolls or Vegetable Parrot Sushi as
a way of introducing them to the fresh, seasonal vegetables available
at that particular time of year. Spice them up with fresh cilantro, some
watercress and jalapeño and your birds will so enjoy this offering.
Bring On The Activities!
Parrots also enjoy foraging, so a shallow pan of small wooden blocks or small foot toys with bits of millet, nut slices and healthy seed would go a long way in an intriguing game of “find the treat.” I know that Best Friends Parrot Garden provides
foraging trays for their cockatiels on a regular basis. They seem to
love those trays and when caregivers pick them up after a few hours,
there is nothing left beneath the toys. It’s a wonderful game for them
and such a challenge to unearth the treats hidden beneath the foot
toys.
And we’re on to the next course. Natural paper coffee
filters are an inexpensive and convenient way of creating a foraging
treat for your bird. Most birds love nuts. So wrapping a nut in a coffee
filter is such an easy task that is a fun and easy way of introducing
foraging if they’ve never encountered the concept. Be sure to let your
bird watch you wrap one up so he knows what is inside!
Include A Gift!
There
are other ways to celebrate the Holidays with your winged family. We
all have them because they have individual personalities and unique ways
of expressing themselves. I believe receiving gifts make
Paper shredders would love a "Shredmaster” by Bonka. These are perfect for the parrot who enjoys making spit balls and turning their paper into confetti.
Any
toy they would enjoy would be a welcome gift. Think of what they enjoy
doing most, be it ringing bells, shredding paper, tearing into wood, or swinging on a star and that will give you some insight as to what they might like to receive.
And
honor the tradition with a Christmas stocking. Little foot toys, treats
and nuts could be included in their stocking. What better way
celebrating Christmas than by sharing it with the birds you love?
It’s About Celebrating With Them And Including Them!
Our
birds love to be included in our lives. They recognize us as part of
their flock and respecting this feeling goes a long way in making them
feel special, wanted and included as part of the family. Spend time with
them. Dote on them a bit. Make them feel special. These are some pretty
smart cookies. They know what they see. And when they see themselves
included in the festive and happy activity, they will know that you care
enough to treat them how they see you: A fellow flock member.
