Christmas Day baby

[Mushroo]

After being adamant all pregnancy that I wouldn’t give birth on Xmas day of course that happened!

Im feeling a bit sad that her birthday will be overshadowed and won’t feel special. (And that it’s going to be a nightmare to find a bakery that will do a birthday cake!)

can anyone give me any positive stories of Xmas day birthdays, or tips to make sure she still feels like she gets a proper birthday?

I have lovely memories of waking up to birthday banners and big piles of presents and want her to have the same nice memories!

My nephew is a Christmas Day baby. He’s 16 now and has always had a cake. Usually as a family around tea time all the birthday banners and birthday table cloths come out and then party food (spring rolls, sausage rolls etc) is cooked and laid out.

DN says he likes having a Christmas Day birthday as he gets to see all the family including grandparents, aunts, uncles etc.
Which is generally loud chaos as there is so many of us.

DC2 was due on Xmas Day but came 23rd. Means she's always on school holidays for her birthday and we had her party on a Thurasay just before Christmas this year which gave lots of other parents a nice respite from having to keep overexcited DC busy in the Xmas lead up.

Everyone always does proper separate presents. When she's older she might want joint ones if there's something really big but that will only be if it's her choice.

Never gone in for the banners and piles of presents thing but there's no reason you can't still do that. DD does have her own Christmas tree. A 3 foot pink one that goes on the landing and her birthday presents go under that while the Christmas presents go under the Christmas tree. All presents appear when they are wrapped though, no big overnight reveal. So there's the same excitement about seeing them for a few days beforehand

I was at school with a girl who was born 26 Dec. Around the age of five they gave her the option of celebrating her birthday on 26 June and that's what she's done all her life.

My DS is Christmas Eve.

He gets an advent calendar of little gifts so he essentially gets his birthday presents from us over 3 weeks. Nothing big from us on his birthday but a big Christmas present the next day. Then we do a big summer birthday present (so a new bike or a sandpit or scooter). I find it spreads things out for him. This year we did a party in January, so did a special cake then and just had a shop-bought one on his actual birthday.

You could always learn to bake? My kids always preferred homemade anyway.

And have a June 25th half birthday party - my friend does this for hers and it's lovely.

I am a Christmas day baby and when I was a child I loved it! I thought it was really special and that Christmas was basically about me. I always had my party with school friends the week before, and my mum would stick a candle in a vienetta or similar on the actual day.

It doubled the excitement for Christmas day, and nobody ever forgot my birthday.

One important thing is to give separate presents. Two small things is better than one big thing.

I'm a Xmas day baby!

No need to worry- it's great. And your child will never know any different anyway!

My parents always made sure they made a big fuss of my birthday so it didn't get lost in all the Xmas celebrations.

I always had a separate pile of presents for birthday - so 2 big piles! My sister used to be so jealous!

Mum made me a birthday cake every year which we'd eat for Xmas lunch pudding - much nicer than Xmas cake. You don't have to be paying people to make cakes.

I used to have my bd party the week or 2 before Xmas - and my parents made sure it was never Xmas themed.

People are always surprised and interested to hear about Xmas day birthdays

There's always family around on Xmas day to celebrate with you and you never have to go to school on your birthday!

As I got older, people are always out on Xmas eve so I'd celebrate then as well - easy to get people out for a drink!

It's much better than having a birthday in dreary Jan/ feb when it's cold and wet and no one's got any money or the motivation to do anything!

my friends celebrate their Christmas day baby on the 25th of June and treat it as her proper birthday. she's 16 now and that's all they've ever done.

One of my DC is around Christmas time - loves it and is thoroughly spoilt. My other DC have just had their birthdays and I would say 75% of the people that would normally send a card / gift forgot until the day so cue lots of IOUs which is a shame and definitely an upside for a festive birthday as its never forgotten

My dc was born within 2 days of Christmas day. I haven't had a problem getting a birthday cake. When he was younger, I made my own. You can always order in advance. I do tend to buy his birthday card a bit earlier in the year, around October, as I do find there is a limited selection due to Christmas cards. I take down as much as I can of the Christmas sidenof things, so the side board is clear for his birthday cards. Change the light box from merry Christmas to happy birthday, make sure he has birthday presents, that aren't joint with Christmas wrapped in birthday paper. We do something for his birthday, so a trip to the cinema, birthday meal in the evening. I know your dc birthday is Christmas day, so I would pick another day where its all about them, a treat day. On Christmas day, maybe the 1st part of the day should be singing happy birthday and birthday presents, then move on to Christmas a bit later. In our house who's ever birthday it is, gets happy birthdays all day long. So "Hey, birthday boy dinner is ready," or I sing at them randomly, or "hello my 10 year old" if they walk into a room. So basically, just make them feel the centre of attention and important all day long. Just do the same on Christmas day.

Sharing a birthday with such a famous man can't be that bad surely?

I know a few Christmas Day babies, from children though to adults.

The children do parties earlier in the month. Not sure when they get their main birthday gifts.

The adults all seem to do Christmas up until dinner and then produce the Birthday Cake 🎂 and gifts. I remember a guy talking about the first time he had Christmas Dinner at the ILs the future MIL after dinner produced banners and balloons 🎈 for his wife to be!

I have a Christmas Eve baby first few years his birthday was 'Sunday before Christmas'.
One he hit school we felt we needed to be a bit more honest, so he gets family gifts on the Sunday or Friday depending when Christmas falls and just our stuff on his actual birthday.
Partly I don't want a house full of people on Christmas Eve and partly I don't want him being hyper and trying to get him into bed.

So I think for a Christmas day baby I'd do birthday, a couple of days later for the first few years when they don't know anyway. Then you might want to experiment and see what works for you.

I'm a Christmas day baby and had separate birthday and Christmas presents and a birthday cake on the day baked by my mum. Had a biggish present in the summer as they said it was along time to wait when you're little.

When you get to teenage years it's nice being able to combine the two for something special.

I echo the suggestion for the half birthday celebration in June. My mum used to do that for me, and told adult me that it meant she could make presents more appropriate for my development, as they were not all chosen at the same time. And I agree with the comment that you see lots of your favourite people on the day or thereabouts. .

My Christmas Day baby (now 18) loves it! Have always kept Christmas and birthday presents and cards completely separate. Never had a problem getting a cake to collect on Christmas Eve. It’s just a lovely special time of year with so much nice stuff happening, good food and family around. Plus he has never been at school on his birthday!
It’s all what you make it. When he was little we always made a fuss of how special it was and it has never been a problem.

DS is a Christmas baby- it’s fine. We do a birthday morning and Christmas afternoon. And of course bakers will still make birthday cakes in December!

My tip would be to watch how you talk about it around DC- they will pick up on what you say and how you say it so if you present it as a bad thing that’s how they will take it. Why not decide that a Christmas birthday makes it extra special?

My eldest is Xmas day baby. Loves their birthday, super exciting, we do Xmas on the morning & after Xmas dinner we then do birthday celebrations, with cake & picnic tea with balloons and everyone's come rounds and makes a huge fuss.
All gifts seperate & wrapped in birthday wrapping.

Now they are slightly older (9) they get a party week before with school friends

Certainly don't miss out and we have such a wonderful Xmas period because of it!

It is what you make it - albeit very expensive in my house as we probably overcompensate a tad 🤣

And to add - my child thinks they are super special having such a 'rare' birthday

Thank you so much everyone, you’ve made me feel a lot better and it’s nice to hear from Xmas day babies who really like their birthdays.

Also definitely noted that I set the expectation so I’m going to really embrace it as a ‘special’ birthday and lots of fuss.

I also like the idea of a birthday present in June to break things up a bit!

I think we’ll do her party this year on the 28th as it’s a Saturday, and then see what works best for future school parties. The day itself I like the idea of a birthday afternoon and kind of solves the usual dead time on Xmas day when no one really knows what to do!

lots to think about!

I don't like idea of "half" birthdays.
Partly how many candles do you put on the cake, age on the card, etc etc?
Partly because half my immediate family is at Christmas and few cousins And nobody else does it.

I don't need birthdays as an excuse for family days out or to go for dinner.

But I do have a habit of holding onto birthday / Christmas money and buying outdoor toys in spring / summer.
Because I agree 12mths is a really long time for little kids to go with nothing new.

Personally I'd change her birthday to either 2 weeks before or 2 weeks after. I've known a couple of people born this day and it's miserable for them. They don't know any different.

Dd was due Christmas Eve.. Held on until NYE... Keep telling her this year she turns 18 she will love it!!
Have a ds born 5th November but the poor lad hates fireworks! (asd)..

It'll be as special as YOU make it 🤷‍♀️

Supermarket birthday cakes have long dates too.

My SIL is a NYD baby and she always had a party in June growing up from school age. Now she's an adult she doesn't mind so much as everyone is up for staying out past midnight NYE to see her birthday in!
Slightly different from your situation but the June option is a good one.

Two close adult relatives have Christmas birthdays and as a teen/adult that's worked really well as it's meant the family is normally able to celebrate together, though we do the birthday celebrations on a different day. There are so many summer birthdays in our family that it never felt right to do a half birthday celebration, besides, they've always wanted fuss on the day itself.

We now have a young relative with a birthday around (but not actually on) Christmas and we make sure we get a separate present and birthday card and use non-Christmas wrapping. Her parties have been during Twixmas and have been well attended by her friends.