those of you with dc's that have birthdays around xmas..

[mumineedapooooo]

do you feel they don't get as much attention as they would if they had a birthday at a different time of year?
i feel quite sorry for ds because he seems to get forgotten about. eg.no visitors,cards or presents.I've done a tea party for him every year and no family turn up.

im planning to do a party this year on the 22nd and im worried no one will turn up.

[WingDefence]

My birthday is on the 13th so I was lucky in that in was usually at the end of term and friends were quite happy to celebrate a birthday. But I hated the fact that I'd get Christmas cards with 'Happy Birthday' written in them

DS's birthday is the 30th Dec. It's not too bad as most people are over Christmas by the 27th and don't mind something to do in between then and New Year. I'm assuming your DS's birthday is just before?

[mumineedapooooo]

i find presents wrapped in Christmas
paper very annoying.this is what i mean,its like theres just no effort.its just an inconvenience for people.
ds' birthday is on 22nd.
i feel for those on Christmas day.
maybe i should of crossed my legs and had him full term

[FlobbadobbaBOO]

DS is at the beginning of December and from the very start I made it clear that there was no way he would be getting joint birthday/christmas presents or cards and I know some of the In Laws thought I was being precious about it. I'm quite stroppy about it though, some of my family have Christmas birthdays and would never dream of mixing the two together, you wouldn't buy a present for a birthday in March and say "it's for Christmas as well" would you?
It's just rude and lazy.

[cq]

Yep, DS is on 17th Dec and we always made a point of not putting any Xmas decorations up until at least 20th Dec so he would not feel overlooked. Until he was about 8 or 9 and he wanted to put them up on 1st Dec like everyone else!

Hardest part seemed to be finding birthday party plates, balloons etc in the shops in December when everything's been shoved out the way for Christmas stuff.

Now he's a teenager, he quite likes having joint presents as he can get 1 thing with a larger price tag

So it is getting easier as he gets older.

[FreddyMcKruger]

DD is on the 10th and I'm on the 11th. I always had the tree up in time for my birthday and still do now, my birthday and Christmas are so intertwined it would feel weird not to acknowledge the season iykwim, DD will be 2 so she doesn't quite know yet.

I agree about the whole birthday/Christmas present though.......no way.

[shinybaubles]

Ds2 is 3 on the 24th December and so far it's not been a problem, he gets birthday presents and a little party complete with all birthday decorations, yes the Christmas decorations are also up , but that is the season. When he's older and needs a proper party etc, we'll just have it at a conveinent time in December/January but we'll still celebrate with him on the day at home.

[LadyofWinterfell]

DD1 is 28th Dec, and we always celebrate her birthday by having a family meal out and a cake, then she has a party with her friends in January when everyone is a bit bored less busy.

We haven't combined birthday/christmas presents yet, but our DCs get the expensive gift for their birthday, and cheaper stuff for christmas.

[gazzalw]

Yes our DS's birthday is just after Christmas. We always go out for a nice meal etc... but we've never even attempted a birthday party during the holiday season.

DW does always say that she feels he does miss out a bit on pressies because she can't get into birthday mode until Christmas is over and of course then the shops aren't actually open... DD however seems to think he gets loads more pressies (not sure what are rationale is for this but she's onlyl 7!).

[sausagesandwich34]

DDs is the 13th and I always held off the christmas decs until after her birthday until she was 7 and she wanted them up

every year without fail she will get birthday presents wrapped in christmas paper and my MIL always gets her a christmas book or craft which I think is a bit mean -the other grandchildren get the christmas crafts and it's not their birthday

I'm just pleased she wasn't as overdue as DD1 because then she would have been born on Christmas day! -eek

[olibeansmummy]

Tbf ds got a birthday present wrapped in Xmas paper in may! I can see how it would be annoying if it happened every year though

[BeaWheesht]

Ds will be 6 on 23rd December. Tbh we always make an effort to make it special - I suspect maybe too much! We have a party second week in dec though to avoid clashes. I felt bad last year as he was at school in the morning and then we were travelling to family in the afternoon - he didn't seem bothered though and thinks he's special because he gets birthday presents whilst everyone else is waiting for Christmas!

[Strawhatpirate]

Ds is due 1st of jan so I'm watching this thread with great interest

[Teamthrills]

There's a little girl on my road with a birthday on 24th dec. She has a half -birthday on 24th june too, to make it a bit special!,

[phoebechicken]

DD will also be 6 on the 23rd December. At the moment she LOVES having a Christmas birthday and thinks it's really special, and has been bragging to her Summer-born sister that she gets extra presents! I have thought about celebrating her half birthday but it doesn't feel quite right to me (although I can totally see why people do it). We tend to have a little family party on 23rd which doubles as a pre-Christmas get together with grandparents and a chance to exchange presents. She's only had 1 party with friends so far, and we had that a bit early on Dec 11th (I think!), although to be honest a few people were still booked up with visits to Santa and dance school Xmas parties and so on, which was a shame. This year we're going to Disneyland Paris for a weekend about 3 weeks before her birthday so will have a cake at Cafe Mickey instead of throwing a party at home :)
I do tend to get her 1 decent present in the Summer - this year was a scooter - from her birthday budget, otherwise it's a LONG wait and an awful lot of presents all at once!

[gazzalw]

I think it is probably easier having a child with a birthday just before Christmas than either on Christmas Day or shortly afterwards. At least before Christmas their birthday is the focus rather than just being an after-thought....

[MrsDeterminedandSpecialMum]

My DD2 was born 22 Dec last year so will be interesting to see how people react with her birthday being so close to Xmas.

[oooggs]

Ds1 complains about having a december birthday (11th) because it is so close to Christmas (mines the 24th!!!) we do make it special and this year (he will be 9) he would like the decs up for his birthday, have always put them up after.

I don't do joint presents (for either of us). He should have waiting the further 4 weeks instead of coming early

[missnevermind]

DS2 is 7th Dec. He gets the choice of when the Christmas decorations go up before of after his birthday.

DS3 is 28th Dec. he will be 4 this year. It hasn't bee a problem yet but might be this year as he is at nursery and learning about birthday parties.

[magentastardust]

Well I am the expert on this
DS birthday is 18th Dec , DD1 is 30th Dec and I am 21st Dec!
It is mayhem and a very expensive time of year!
We always celebrate the birthdays separately and have birthday parties and try and make a fuss of the birthday . It is difficult trying to arrange parties etc at that time of year and trying to buy cakes and birthdays cards in a supermarket can also be tricky as there is such a small selection to make way for Christmas stuff.

The children don't really know much different and are used to us celebrating twice around Christmas -infact we feel a bit sorry for their baby sister who is the odd one out and is a summer baby !

[magentastardust]

Oh and one year when I was little I got a birthday card from my mums friend with a verse all about how Christmas babies are extra special -so I always used to say that to my two aswell (until DC 3 summer baby came along )

[KinkyDorito]

DS is 16th and his party will be on 16th too (He will be 4 and is in a school nursery so is having first 'real' party).

My DD's birthday is 16th of August, right in middle of summer hols. I had a friend whose child had an August birthday and whenever she did parties, only a couple ever turned up - people forgot/went away through summer. So when DD was little, I always had her parties in July before school finished for summer. If my DS' birthday fell right next to Christmas after the close of school, I would probably throw an early party for him too.

I'm surprised if family don't turn up on the actual day though - that's pretty rubbish.

[hellymelly]

My dd is the 16th, but her party is usually the following weekend, so can be up to the 22nd. I do find that we either get loads of people or hardly any, and also that as its peak illness time too, often several friends are laid up with bugs. It can be hard to judge how many to invite,Last year I did the
whole of her year, but not the younger ones in her class, and then so many had Christmas stuff going on and couldn't come that I could have invited the whole class after all. My birthday is the 9th, just about far enough away.

[saffronwblue]

See you and raise you magentastardust !
DD is on 12th, I am on the 20th, DM is on the 25th and Dsis is on 31st. We just accept that December is an insane month and I just laughed when I realised DD would be born in December too.
My mother being a Christmas baby has always had two distinct presents. In fact we always start off the day focusing on her birthday and giving her birthday presents. Then we roll on into Christmas.