Baby born 2 days before Xmas. Birthday ideas. HELP

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Just that really. My dc will be turning 1 on 23 December. I am so stuck for birthday ideas so close to Xmas and even gifts.

Do people with kids born at this time give one big expensive gift for birthday and lots of different for Xmas. Or loads for birthday and then loads again 2 days later.

Do you also do a Xmas theme birthday or not? I'm stuck. Help! Any inspo appreciated

My sons birthday is on the 21st, we literally treat it as a normal birthday just like we would his sister
I don't specifically buy for his birthday , I buy for Christmas . Then I take some presents out the Christmas stuff and wrap them for his birthday if that makes sense ?
Just so I'm not stressing more about buying for 2 events .
We decorate the living room with birthday ballooons and have his cards up like we would a normal birthday.
We also try to find a non Christmas themed activity to do for his birthday

My friend moved her child's birthday - so she's a bit like the Queen and has an official birthday (24th Dec) but celebrates and has parties with her friends on the 24th June! I thought that was rather clever.

My godson is the 23rd Dec. I always do two similar size/value presents as I think children with birthdays that close to Christmas can lose out otherwise.

My DD's birthday is a week before Christmas, she's only had one so far but I've thought about similar questions. I know some people with a child's birthday in the run up to Christmas don't put decorations up until the birthday is done but it wouldn't feel right for the rest of the family to miss out on the festive build up. I do feel strongly that they shouldn't get joint presents as it usually works out less overall (though DH disagrees, for the same reason!). I feel like a Christmas theme birthday would be a bit of a cheat too and make it less special, unless it's what DD wants when she's older.

One idea I've had is to make a bit of a distinction between birthday type presents and Christmas type presents - so maybe birthday more educational / practical gifts and Christmas more fun or silly ones. That way the days would still feel a bit different. The same distinction could be applied to any future children too to keep things fair.

I have 2 kids, one born a week before Christmas and one two weeks after (I have heard all the jokes, trust me).

They get a normal birthday present on their birthday and a Christmas present, which would typically be the bigger gift regardless of when their birthday is, on Christmas. I start shopping really early to spread the cost - Amazon may be a corporate bastard but prime day is also great for things like big Lego sets etc when they get older.

Do not let anyone pull the ‘one big present’ crap, I’m constant reminding people that their other nieces, nephews etc get a present at Xmas and one on their birthday so my kids shouldn’t be treated any differently. If you set this out now (don’t tell people outright, just shut it down if it gets mentioned) it won’t be an issue later when their old enough to notice.

DD is 26th, so the other side of the Day.
We always give her something for her birthday, on the day, wrapped in birthday paper. And a proper card.

As I nearly always had to go into work for a couple of hours in town on 24th and DH was off, we had a tradition of all going in together and DH getting coffee while DD came with me to the office (very normal in our place). Then we'd meet up, go to M&S for a few last minute things and let DD choose her birthday cake, have a nice lunch (coffee and sandwich type) and head home by early afternoon.

Christmas Day had the usual presents and turkey, and visiting family.

Stephen's Day started with a long walk on the local beach, lighting the fire at home and opening the front door for neighbours and local family to drop in whenever it suited them for a drink, party nibbles, a catch up etc. We usually had cake in the early evening.

If she wanted a party for school friends (which wasn't every year), if was normally the first saturday after they went back to school in January. Or an activity she wanted to do outdoors so we would organise that (as a "non-birthday event") in the summer. And she would bring in her birthday treat for the class the week of the Christmas holidays (they used to be allowed bring a small treat for everyone in the class on their birthdays until Y4 when there was a coup on the PTA and the "healthy eating" policy was changed to no sweets/treats ever).

Sorry, yes, separate presents for both Christmas and birthday - it does get noticed! (DD is now 16).

I know 2 people with that birthday. We're always really careful to make sure we don't do anything Christmas related gift wise. One lives a distance away and we even make sure to put a normal stamp on the envelope, not a christmassy one!

The upside is there are loads of things you can do on the 23rd, like steam train rides and stuff, so I'd start looking into those things now. Ice skating, hot chocolate, illuminations can all make for a memorable birthday at that time of year.

My husbands birthday is early January when everyone is fed up with partying or still hungover.

He has a birthday on August Bank Holiday. Perfect as it's always a day off!

More difficult with a babe I suppose. Can hardly celebrate being 1 when only 6 months old! Make sure when they do know though that they get their party and presents just like everyone else.

Interested in this as my baby was born 13/12 last year so her 1 year birthday is yet to come and was wondering how to differentiate.

Same Birthday as my DS who is 15 .
family have always been very good at giving separate presents wrapped in birthday paper . We decorate tthe house with birthday declarations around the Christmas ones . When he was younger parties for friends were usually in January , when back at school.
when I was pregnant ( due on Christmas Day ) I said I would do an official birthday for him in June , but tbh once he was here it never seemed that important and he’s happy with his birthday being part of party / good / celebration season

One of my children has a birthday very close to Christmas, and the other is a bit later but still firmly in winter. We do presents and cards on the actual birthday, and have a small celebration with family, then we do a bigger joint birthday celebration for both children in June, to which friends are invited. It's working well so far, but they are still young.

23rds fine for a birthday treat it like any normal birthday.

I've a Christmas Eve birthday, now that is a PITA everyone is too busy getting organised for Christmas. I move it to the Sunday before Christmas which can mean that one year we moved to the 23rd.

I don't like the idea of moving birthdays to summer. But if people give them money I do put it away until summer so they have a chance to buy then.

Mine and my DD’s birthdays are the week before Christmas. Don’t do a xmas themed birthday whatever you do, and don’t wrap her presents in Christmas paper, I hated that!

just treat it like a normal birthday as it is, it just happens to be near another big family event.

Dd is the 23rd. We just treat like a normal birthday. We don't get loads and loads of gifts though, we get them all 1 present for birthday and 1 (plus stocking) for Christmas, other relatives the same. When she was small we would try to think for the full year ahead and so maybe get something like a sand put to put away until the summer for example as there would be gifts from relatives too. Now she is a teen she is very in to combining the Christmas and birthday budgets to get something!

I've heard of 'half birthdays' similar to the 'moved birthday'. I think it can be useful to allow for activities or things like McDonald's parties that often are not done in December.

Thanks everyone this is all really helpful!

I definitely want to treat it as a seperate event. Its good to know that January when the kids go back is the best time to celebrate with school friends.

Dh suggested the half birthday summer event and although a lovely idea not sure I could pull it off. I think a winter event like ice skating etc is such a good shout. So wintery but not Xmas themed.

Just hate the thought of him missing out or not getting the two gifts like some have mentioned. Birthdays are huge to little people. I also want to be mindful that his older brother who is 2 doesn't feel put out that he's getting two sets of presents at 'xmas' and him just the one (his birthday is in April) it won't be like that but you know what kids that young can be like... They don't get the finer details they just feel like they are getting less :(

Just a suggestion OP

My brother and I both have winter birthdays.

One year we were both given new bikes at the start of the summer holidays, we knew this was our birthday present and that we would only get a token gift on the actual day.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with ice skating, but lots of 'big' items are better in Summer eg trampoline, roller skates, bikes, paddling pool, go carts, pedal cars - you get the idea. Not a problem now of course.

Then as they get older they might like things like taking a friends to a theme park or festival (yes your beautiful baby boys will one day be old enough to pitch a tent at a festival).

Another thing to consider is 'unbirthday presents', I did this with my brother's children, I couldn't remember their birthdays (they live 100s of miles away) and it would be awful to forget the first birthday in the year and then remember the second so once a year I sent them all a present in the same parcel.

Anyway all families are different and all find their own solutions.

My ds's birthday is on the 28th Dec. Definitely separate birthday and Xmas presents. It can be hard to think of two sets of gifts, so Ds misses out compared to his siblings. As they get older, pre Xmas parties work as parents are delighted to be able to ditch their DCs for a couple of hours to do last minute Xmas shopping. Parties in between Xmas and New Year, in the other hand, are a bit rubbish because everyone is away.

My daughter has a similar birthday, she's in her twenties now and loves it as people are excited for Christmas and her friends are in the mood for birthday drinks!

As a child she fully embraced Christmas at her birthday, often had a cake shaped like a Christmas tree! She just had a normal child's party but for serviettes etc. she had Christmas ones - her choice, she liked the fact none of her friends had this. For her it just added to her birthday. When she was at school the days around her birthday would be fun and people were winding down.

We never had an issue with presents.

My daughter is 27th and I’ve always made a point of her birthday being separate and different from Christmas. It wouldn’t seem fair to roll it into one, especially when I had another children with a birthday at a different time if the year (worth considering if it could be a future issue!)

My nephews birthday is the 24th Dec and his brand new sister was just born on 23 Dec last year.

In previous years we've done separate presents, but sometimes make one of them an outdoor toy/something a little older that can get kept until the summer and his mum puts it by for him. Otherwise it's overload in December and not much new stuff for the rest of the year

This really isn't that hard. I have a Christmas birthday. You just treat it like a normal fucking birthday, which coincidentally happens to be followed quite swiftly by Christmas.

So many threads about this and yet nobody seems to grasp that people born within sniffing distance of Christmas should have a birthday like everyone else does.

DS is the 28th December. We go to Center Parcs every year for 27-30th so it makes his birthday very different from Christmas.

My birthday is around Christmas. My parents always made sure it was just as much of a birthday as my siblings had - big separate present, birthday card/wrapping/decorations and not just Christmas leftovers. I liked it as it meant it was always during school holidays and would usually coincide with family getting together.

My parents has agreed that if I was born on Christmas Day I would have had a celebration in the summer. That made sense for Christmas Day but if they had still done that for my late December birthday I'm not sure how I would have felt - adult me thinks it might have made me feel a bit rubbish and overshadowed on my actual birthday, but maybe child me would have felt differently.

I'm the 23rd, as a kid we did panto for my birthday . Now it basically gets forgotten by everyone. I had separate presents unless I wanted something bigger. Please wrap gifts in birthday paper and don't get the crap birthday in December card, one year I had 4! Give up the idea of ever having a party. It never works as everyone is on Christmas panic mode.