This year we talked about the holiday, and what it meant, to our 5 year old. We hung 鯉のぼり and I made okonomiyaki, and fresh gyoza, (but I did not make any traditional red bean cakes wrapped in oak leaves, or chimochi, because I’m not so confident in my sweets-making abilities). And we do not have any gogatsu ningyo or kabuto to display, but we showed her examples and talked about their meanings.
I’m curious if this is a popular holiday, or more of a small gesture. I am in the States, and am white. My husband was adopted from Japan as a newborn and has had very little exposure to his heritage or culture since they moved from Japan when he was 5 or 6, so it is very important to both of us that our daughter get to know and see both parts of her heritage. We’ve been working on learning Nihongo, and are even planning a family trip to the Akita Inari school in a year or so. The effort is worth its weight in gold.