Lorien Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 If you have a child who's birthday falls within 2 weeks of Christmas, Christmas and birthdays are always big events in your family except that they're usually far enough apart that they're celebrated separately.... How do you keep the Christmas birthday from getting lost in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TN Mama Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 I don't have a child with a birthday close to Christmas, but my sister's birthday is within a week of Christmas. I've learned from her - never, ever combine a Christmas gift with a birthday gift. Two seperate gifts, please. Do not wrap birthday gift in Christmas paper. Pretty please. :D And she really loved the year my mom threw her a birthday party on her half birthday. She had a pool party in June! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 My mil's is Dec 23. We always send two gifts. Perhaps the best solution is not to have as much hustle and bustle around the holidays! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasharowan Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 My friend, whose son was born 3 days after Christmas, usually has a special family day on his birthday, then will do a party in Jan when all the holiday stuff dies down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 My dd loves having a Christmas-time bday--more stuff! We actually don't do parties. If that was important to us, I would either wait until after Winter Break when more people are around or do a half-birthday party. We also do a half-birthday gift (just one) so there's something to look forward to at a different time of year. We don't do cake at Christmas because we know we'll have one in a few days. Christmas dessert is often chocolate milkshakes! There's usually a movie out that we want to see and we'll do that on the birthday and then go out to eat at dd's pick of restaurant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momof3littles Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 My bday is a few days before Christmas and my DD's is about 2 weeks before. I don't know anything else, so it is mostly not a big deal. Growing up, my mom would not put the tree up until after my bday as she wanted my memories of my bday to be separate from Christmas. Once I got older I had to assure her I liked having the tree up, so we started putting it up earlier. My DD is 5.5, and insists she likes the tree up too, so I just roll with it. I don't like combo gifts, unless I would specifically request a higher ticket item from my DH or something like that. Children don't really know the true monetary value of most gifts, so even one "big" gift may not feel like that, if it makes sense, so I'd definitely avoid combo gifts. I also disliked getting a Christmas card as a bday card, or having my bday present wrapped with Christmas paper. To this day, many of my friends forget to call or send a card on my bday, because it is so close to Christmas that everyone is really busy and life is chaotic. I've learned to roll with it. I've always had nicer winter clothes than summer clothes, including while growing up. I'd end up with lots of sweaters, and then summer would roll around and my wardrobe needed some help LOL. I think my parents could have been a tad more conscientious about that, but no biggie really. My DS1's bday is about 6w after Christmas, so not incredibly close, but close enough. Because of that combined with DD's bday being so close to Christmas, we celebrate half birthdays in our family, but just as a very small thing to sort of divide up the wait. On their half birthday each year, they can pick out a cupcake, donut, etc. and we all have one and sing happy (x and a half) birthday. It is a silly and frivolous thing, but I remember feeling like I had to wait forever for my bday to roll around, and then boom, it was all over at once (Christmas and bday). The half birthday thing is really just a little excuse to help them feel special an extra day out of the year and have a little fun to hold them over. THey don't get a gift or have a real party or anything ;) Plan bday parties early, as friends and family book up really quickly that time of the year. I know it was difficult for my mom to schedule something where people could find the time to show up amid holiday shopping, holiday parties, and other preparations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carriede Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 I don't have a child with a birthday close to Christmas, but my sister's birthday is within a week of Christmas. I've learned from her - never, ever combine a Christmas gift with a birthday gift. Two seperate gifts, please. Do not wrap birthday gift in Christmas paper. Pretty please. :D And she really loved the year my mom threw her a birthday party on her half birthday. She had a pool party in June! All of this! My bday is Dec 28th, and I agree with this completely. Separate presents, separate celebration. I never minded the Christmas decorations, but my family would put up some extra crete paper, balloons, and a birthday cake. I also got to pick the dinner meal, just like everyone did for their birthday. I rarely had a friends party on my birthday since most people were out of town. It usually got pushed to January. I asked to have a half birthday party many times, but was always told no. :( While I appreciate getting both Christmas and birthday gifts, it was annoying that "present time" was only once a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blessed3x Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 I don't have a child with a birthday close to Christmas, but my sister's birthday is within a week of Christmas. I've learned from her - never, ever combine a Christmas gift with a birthday gift. Two seperate gifts, please. Do not wrap birthday gift in Christmas paper. Pretty please. :D And she really loved the year my mom threw her a birthday party on her half birthday. She had a pool party in June! :iagree: My bday is 12/28. ;) My actual birthday was a small family celebration (birthday gifts in birthday paper), then my actual birthday party (=friends) was my 1/2 birthday at the end of June. Great fun. Two celebrations and it was easier on everyone. Another good reason to do it this way was that around the holidays, and especially between Christmas and New Years, my friends and their families were always busy. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blessed3x Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 All of this! My bday is Dec 28th, and I agree with this completely. Separate presents, separate celebration. I never minded the Christmas decorations, but my family would put up some extra crete paper, balloons, and a birthday cake. I also got to pick the dinner meal, just like everyone did for their birthday. I rarely had a friends party on my birthday since most people were out of town. It usually got pushed to January. I asked to have a half birthday party many times, but was always told no. :( While I appreciate getting both Christmas and birthday gifts, it was annoying that "present time" was only once a year. :lol: I read this AFTER writing my post. We share the same birthdays and said the same thing. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firestar Academy Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 my daughters is dec 23. she just had a sleepover this past weekend to celebrate her turning 13. we used to do a combined birthday in june with my other dd whose birthday is in may. we have a huge yard and pool. we did no gifts so we can call anything a party. I also have been known to celebrate easter early and other random holidays. robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrappyhomeschooler Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 (edited) One of my sister's birthday is Dec. 29. She always got gypped on presents and a party. Everyone was too busy and too tired. My mom did make an effort to make her a cake and wrap a few things up separately with birthday paper. My god daughter's birthday is Dec. 26. When she was little, I always spent the day with her on her actual birthday. Now that she has friends and is a teenager, we usually schedule a day to ourselves sometime within a month of her birthday. I always have a special birthday present for her that is separate from her Christmas presents. We always have a special day together. Last year, I went with her and her mom to get her ears pierced and we saw a movie. Edited September 26, 2012 by thescrappyhomeschooler I accidentally killed a kitten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 My niece who has a 1-1 birthday celebrated on her half birthday until she was old enough to appreciate a New Years birthday. Her family would do the family party on her birthday and her friend party on her half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSurprise Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Just do the best you can to make it as normal and special as possible. My birthday is the 23rd. I don't mind usually. No one ever forgets to give me a gift, even though my siblings don't usually give each other bday gifts I always get one from each of them. Its tied to Christmas that much in their minds. As a kid I missed: parties (no one ever came so I stopped having them) cake (we were usually traveling to Christmas celebrations) it being MY special day (usually we were doing Christmas gifts for the nuclear family and packing to see the extended) gifts spread throughout the year (its a long wait between presents) Talk to the person. Find out if something bothers them and look for a solution. Most of the time they just want to feel special. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coffeegal Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Mine is a few days before Christmas. Mom always scheduled the parties either on my birthday or shortly before when friends could attend. My birthday itself was treated the same as my siblings. I never minded the Christmas tree being put up before my birthday, but my siblings once got the grand idea of putting my birthday presents under the Christmas tree. They couldn't understand why I got so upset! It was only when I was 16/17 years old that I received a combined birthday present, actually a Christmas/birthday/Christmas present, but it was really special and I cherish it to this day. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorien Posted September 26, 2012 Author Share Posted September 26, 2012 Thanks for the replies! We still have a few months, so I'm hoping to plan well and be prepared for both events! The birthday on the day is important to me, so I'm going to try to make sure dd has a big day like her brothers and sister do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenangelcat Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 My daughter was born on the 21st. We don't do big birthdays with lots of people so there's no concern that people won't attend or whatever. Birthdays here involve doing whatever the child requests (within reason) and involves only the 5 of us. So one year I did a Mario themed "party" then we went to the bowling alley and a kids play center. I make the food they request and the cake they request. A present that doesn't take away from their Christmas hauls is must. I know adults who didn't get gifts for their Christmas birthdays and that was one thing that bothered them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooketopia Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 One of my BILs has a Dec 20-something birthday and my MIL had his birthday parties in June while he was growing up. My husband was actually very surprised a few years ago when I mentioned that I was sending a card to his brother in December--"Why are you doing that? His birthday's in June..." :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeschoolMamaOfTwo Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 My daughter's birthday is the week before Christmas. She will be 5 this year. We haven't done a party for her before (she never asked until this year) but this year we are. We are going to have her party in the first part of December, before holiday things get really crazy. I hope it works out because she is really looking forward to her first party! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
athena1277 Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 My birthday is 12/23 and dd's is 12/24, so I have lots of experience dealing with Christmas birthdays. I agree with others about having separate gifts, no Christmas paper, etc. When I was growing up, extended family lived close and we usually had my party a week or so early. This way friends would still be in town and we could get together with family nearer to Christmas. Mom usually held back a gift to open on my actual birthday. The only time I felt really slighted was when I was a teen and a couple friends gave me a gift for "my birthday and Christmas". Then gave all our other friends the same gift for only Christmas. I knew they did/would give those same friends another gift for their birthdays, so it hurt.:( Now as an adult, we live far away from family. When dd was little, we would always end up traveling on my birthday.:glare: When it finally got to the point that it was too difficult to do Santa away from home (and too expensive to fly), we have made it a rule that we are always home for Christmas. This has meant that we are also home for our birthdays.:hurray: We don't always do much for my birthday, but we usually do something as a family for dd's birthday. For example, one year she wanted to go to Build-A-Bear. Instead of a party, we went as a family to eat lunch at the mall (special treat for the kids) and then to BAB where each kid made a bear. I also let dd pick what is for dinner on her actual birthday (within reason!). The only time i made a big deal about having her party on her actual birthday was her first birthday. Thankfully our closest friends were in town and able to come celebrate with us that year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 My son is a Christmas baby!!! We decided to separate it for our family. We open presents on Christmas Eve. Any gifts mailed to us from family are opened that night. Christmas morning we do our son's birthday...presents, cake. It's his day but he knows grandma will show up... My mom shows up Christmas day usually after lunch time. We have more birthday presents. Late in the day we will do Christmas presents with her....but if she is here Christmas Eve then Christmas is all birthday. We decided years ago due to the Christmas birthday not to travel to family events. No one was happy with us house hopping anyway. So we are home. Anyone is welcome to visit that holiday. Only my mom shows every year. So we are able to make it mostly his day. Now, if we had huge family Christmas dinners/events I would probably let ds pick a day to be his. But we don't have that to contend with, so we are able to preserve his birthday for the most part. Now, parties are another story. I do remember one year friends coming over on Christmas b/c no one had traveled out of town that year. My mom wasn't in town yet(she hates other company around). But we did Feb parties when he was younger. And once we pulled of Dec. People are so busy in Dec. But again, we chose to set the day apart and be home. And we are happy with this arrangement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommymilkies Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 I have a kid with a Christmas Eve bay and another with an Epiphany bray. I keep them separate. My family is good about that. My in-laws see it as a major inconvenience to their secular holiday plans. :glare: I keep those days entirely separate, but we still do things like cookies for Santa, etc. they like that. My Christmas Eve kid has huge holiday spirit and likes her bday. It's all about your attitude about it. I would never make my kids feel like their bday is inconvenient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 Thanks for the replies! We still have a few months, so I'm hoping to plan well and be prepared for both events! The birthday on the day is important to me, so I'm going to try to make sure dd has a big day like her brothers and sister do. My nephew's bday is Dec 25. My sister has always made a point--since his first bday--to celebrate Christmas on Dec 24 and nephew's bday on Dec 25. I have one dc with a mid-Dec bday and we used to wait until after her bday to put up our Christmas tree. Last year she asked if we could have the tree early. She loves Christmas more than the rest of us put together (she listens to Christmas music year-round!) and since it didn't bother her to have the tree up before her bday we did it. I think she likes that her bday is so near Christmas but it's long enough away that we still celebrate it as a separate day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted September 26, 2012 Share Posted September 26, 2012 My dd's BD is 2 1/2 weeks after christmas (mine is within a week of mother's day, my son's within a week after. It's the pits.) - I learned to always buy her presents before christmas, as toys would be sold out and not restocked until at least a week or two (or three) past her birthday. I always had a seperate party for her from christmas. one neice celebrated her dec. 17th birthday in the summer (so she could have pool parties like her warm weather born siblings). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sctigermom Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 My bday is dec.31 and my dd's is Jan.2. We always make sure my bday is a small at home celebration with the kids and hubby and I go out for the evening. Dd's bday is always a party wherever she likes with whatever theme she wants. Last yr her bday party was on her bday (it snowed so bonus). We went out to the restaurant of her choice and went home and had cake and gifts with some family. This yr she wants her bday party at the ice skating rink so I'm planning to buy both big kids ice skates and lessons for Xmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisamarie Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 I've learned from her - never, ever combine a Christmas gift with a birthday gift. Two seperate gifts, please. Do not wrap birthday gift in Christmas paper. All of this! My bday is Dec 28th, and I agree with this completely. Separate presents, separate celebration. While I appreciate getting both Christmas and birthday gifts, it was annoying that "present time" was only once a year. :iagree::iagree::iagree: Mine is Dec 16. I hate that I get all of my presents only once a year 9 days apart. I would really like to switch to my half birthday but so far that hasn't happened. I told DH up front before we were married to never buy me a joint gift unless I specifically asked for it. And I'd better be getting it for my birthday at not Christmas. No matter how worn out from Christmas you are, make a big deal about the birthday because your child will remember for the rest of their life all of the combined gifts, overlooked birthdays, lack of cakes, parties, etc. Or they can remember how well you did at making them feel like having a birthday near Christmas wasn't a bad thing but exciting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluemongoose Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 I have 3 kids with close to Christmas bdays: a Christmas Eve, a 5 days after Christmas, and a 3 weeks after Christmas (the 4th kiddo is 1 month after Christmas!). We also do the no Christmas paper, and no combining gifts. I have had people say that they would like to combine the expense because they would like to get a bigger gift. I am fine with that if they bring something small to the birthday as well. My mom got my DD a play kitchen for her Christmas/bday one year, but she brought a box of crayons and a coloring book to the birthday party. This way DD got something to unwrap on both Christmas and Birthday, but the real gift was the kitchen. Another thing we do since we have 3 birthdays to celebrate right at the holidays...we have one big birthday bash for all three the weekend after Christmas. We make sure all the Christmas decor is down before the party and birthday decor is up. In the future we will probably break it to two parties one earlier in December for the December kids, and one late Jan for the Jan/Feb kids. But for now the Feb bday is a baby, so we will keep the big bash for the older 3 for now. Another thing I have thought of, but so far my kids are happy with our arrangements, is to let them celebrate on their half bday instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted October 4, 2012 Share Posted October 4, 2012 A college friend whose birthday was close to Christmas would often recieve "coupons" for things which would happen later. Theater tickets, a shopping trip, girls weekend... The things changed over the years as her interests changed, but they made for a fun celebration with family and sometimes friends at a later date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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