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!

DD was due on Christmas Day but was eventually born on New Years Day. We have given her the option of having her birthday in June but she is happy with NYD.

Like others i make sure she has birthday presents in birthday paper. Its quite handy as i buy all her presents in one go and then split them into either Christmas or Birthday.

One downside was that her dad (my ex) was too hungover on NYD to do much with her and most pubs had limited or no menu available so even going out for a meal is tricky. But she loves always being off school for her birthday.

DC1 is Christmas Day. We have all the family round and do their birthday on Christmas day, complete with separate presents in birthday paper. Then we do Christmas day on Boxing day just the 3 of us. Means they get their own day and get to see everyone. We did a party in January this year, and will think about a summer celebration when they go to school, depending on what they want to do.

One of my best friends I grew up with had her birthday on Xmas day, her mum managed it really well. She insisted joint Xmas and birthday presents were not allowed by family. On Xmas morning they used to all come downstairs and open Xmas presents in the living room, then they would go into their dining room which would be kitted out with birthday decor and no Xmas stuff to keep it as separate as poss.

Cake wise you would just need to collect Xmas eve, which tbh you would prob be better off doing the day before for any birthday anyway to ensure you have it in time.

The hardest bit will be parties, as everyone always seem so busy in December in general, so you may want to plan any parties for early January instead x

I have relatives and friends in this position and they've dealt with it in the following way:

• one family was catholic, so they chose to celebrate name day instead, in the summer. This worked really well for them as the children had parties etc
• my niece has a Christmas birthday and they celebrate in term time, about 2 weeks' earlier. That way she gets a party and special time.

My birthday is Christmas eve and I always loved it- noone ever forgets my birthday.

When I was younger my mum made a lot of fuss- Christmas cards would come down for the day etc and I got to choose what we did- I always got separate presents too.
As an adult a lot of people lump my presents together and it's just one really but I don't mind at all.

As an adult with kids christmas eve can be a bit hectic now so often we just have a quiet night with a nice dinner to celebrate and it's really lovely.

I'm a Christmas Day "baby". My advice would be when you wake up on Christmas morning don't make the 1st thing you say to your DC "Happy Christmas"...always say "Happy Birthday" first.

When they are old enough ask them what THEY would like for lunch/dinner rather than trot out the usual Christmas fayre. Imagine eating the same thing every year on your birthday and not being able to have a choice in the matter.

Never allow anyone to do the "This is your joint Christmas/birthday present". If your DC was born on any other day then they would have both Christmas and birthday presents every year. If you're not prepared to tell a child who was born in September, for example, "well if you have that expensive gift now then you will not have a "main" Christmas present" then don't do the same for a December 25th born child.

If you want to do banners and balloons, you still can by leaving a wall/ area free of Christmas decorations and use that space purely for birthday stuff.

Finally just be mindful that when your DC is older they may feel a little annoyed that they are expected to get presents for other people to hand out on their (the DC's), birthday but it will never happen the other way around.....but that might have been just me. 😁

I think you will be fine getting a cake, there’s plenty of bakers around and a lot of them (near me anyway) bake cakes / treat boxes for Christmas Eve. I’m sure you could collect a cake on the 23rd which would be fine for Christmas Day.

Id either celebrate their birthday Christmas Eve / Boxing Day or celebrate on Christmas Day with a separate pile of presents and birthday balloons / banners by that pile.

I’d have their party in January as it’s something to look forward to and people are often busier in December. I know someone who celebrates their Boxing Day birthday on the 26th June so you could do this. Personally I’d go with the January party.

Your DC won’t know any different and it sounds like you will make it special for them whichever way you choose.

I have a good friend whose birthday is Christmas Day. I really like the way her family handled it when she was growing up. "Christmas" ended as soon as Christmas lunch was finished (around 2 pm) and then birthday began. The evening meal was a birthday dinner, with presents (all wrapped in BD paper not Christmas), and there was a birthday cake. After she married and had children, they have followed the same plan. We make sure to send BD greetings via text after 2 pm.

But I should mention that they are in the States, where Christmas is not as all-consuming as it is in the UK. No issue with getting a birthday cake from a bakery, but my friend's mother usually made it while she was alive, and after that her husband or a friend made it.

Many years ago, my nextdoor neighbours’ son was born on 25th December and until after lunch it was his birthday not Christmas Day. All Christmas gifts stayed packed away/under the tree and there was no talk of Santa etc while it was “xxxx’s birthday”. The family typically hosted Christmas lunch so both sets of grandparents would be there and aunties, uncles and cousins etc would come and visit/stay. The parents enforced a strict rule that their son was not to be fobbed off with one gift for “birthday and Christmas” because his siblings would always get a separate birthday and Christmas gift. Any guest coming to visit their house on Christmas Day was obliged bring two separately and appropriately wrapped gifts/cards for the boy. One year his uncle arrived and handed his nephew a gift wrapped in Christmas paper saying “happy birthday and Christmas lad”, and not even a birthday card. To everyone’s surprise, the mum made her brother apologise and leave. This particular uncle was known for his birthday gifts being a fiver in a card, so when he returned with a card from the corner shop with fifty quid in it, the family were gobsmacked at his generous gesture of apology. And they knew the parents were serious about their “don’t come here without separate birthday and Christmas gifts for xxxx” rule!

I’d be tempted to celebrate Christmas on 24th December. Many Europeans do it - gifts and meal. We used to do the meals as kids.

Do the birthday on 25th as you normally would have. Adult DC will want to be celebrate being 18 on their 18th etc.

Then I’d think about a half birthday parties while school age - that way baby gets their special day, you still get a Christmas, they get a party that lots of people can attend.

My sister is a Christmas Day baby (now 31). She used to get 1 birthday gift on the day, and then a proper "birthday" on the 28th with cake, etc where she was the full centre of attention. I remember her having birthday parties, they were just normally a couple of weeks before or after her actual birthday.

There's been a few exceptions. Once she had a half birthday party (was difficult to do often as my birthday is 26th June), for her 16th we celebrated her birthday on the 25th and did Christmas a day later, and for her 18th we went out for lunch on her birthday/Christmas day as a special treat.

Id either celebrate their birthday Christmas Eve / Boxing Day or celebrate on Christmas Day with a separate pile of presents and birthday balloons / banners by that pile.

Move it by all means definitely not a bad plan. But not to Christmas Eve, arguably a worse day for a birthday than Christmas.
People who are hosting are busy, people are often travelling, lots of places close early.
How do you give a child a bundle of birthday gifts and then get them excited again for the next day?
You want to get them to bed earlish on Christmas Eve but Granny won't budge and go home.

And when they are really small 2/3 they are still grasping the idea of Santa so it all becomes a bit mental.

Move it to 23th or earlier or 27th or later have some breathing space between birthday and Christmas.

My daughter is a Christmas Day baby. 10 this year. We make memories the whole of December. We pick a weekend in December she has friends over or we take them out or a party (whatever she chooses) we have cake, games ballons etc. Christmas Day is all about Christmas only Christmas presents are opened this day it’s all about Santa. We then pick a day inbetween Christmas and new year and surprise her with her birthday gifts and another small cake/banners/ballons etc. she loves it. It will always be what you make it 😊

I dated a guy with a Christmas birthday and he HATED it. But he was a narcissist and I think didn't like sharing the limelight with Jesus.

😂 this made me laugh

My dd born Christmas Day, was 2 just gone, we do birthday cards and presents in bed for the whole family anyway and works well for her as means celebrating her birthday is priority before seeing if santas been, then down stairs for Christmas presents, lounge with tree is decorated for Christmas dining room and table decorated for birthday, eat a traditional Christmas dinner but with happy birthday and birthday cake for pudding after Christmas dinner this year we moved the table and the rest of the day had a party with Buffett food on the night and what turned out to be her favourite birthday present of a spinning disco ball (she loves a boogie) which we will continue as long as she thinks we're cool enough

It's only been 2 years obviously as the first year I didn't make it out until boxing day( we then hosted for whole family 27th and pretended to me then 2 year old ds it was Christmas Day) but I already love the extra celebration and I too was worried for dd and myself as selfishly I love Christmas.

For when dc is older the major positives are no school, family day, a very unique birthday and I've actually found extra fuss and presents from family and friends

Forgot to add we have also for the last 2 years booked our local restaurant (very much in advance) for tea on Christmas Eve as her birthday meal, means no messing about cooking for the adults and she gets a proper celebration/meal just for her. Have found if you say on booking it a Christmas Day birthday they will make extra fuss

I really wouldn’t worry about a cake from a bakery kids love the supermarket ones with characters full of icing anyway! It’s not what you planned but it’s not awful.

This strikes me as a better/easier to implement idea than moving Christmas. I can imagine that other siblings would greatly resent having to celebrate Christmas out of synch with the rest of the country. It would kind of suck out the fun.

Your version sounds lovely.

I definitely think moving birthday has to be easier than moving Christmas.

Moving Christmas might work at 2 but I think you'd struggle once they hit 4 or 5 and kids are counting down the sleeps, and advent calendar, Norad tracks Santa 🎅 and keeping them away from all media outlets TV / Radio for a good few days before Christmas.

My son is the 22nd. Most of my NCT group was within a week of Christmas.

He’s still a toddler, but we’ve had no big issues. It’s all he’s ever known. I feel guilty for him, but he seems to like it. I think celebrating it in June would be a bit odd for him… but perhaps that’s because I know a decent amount of December babies and no one does. We will struggle with birthday parties, but we’ll figure it out!

I once dated a guy (for like 8 years) who was born on Christmas Day. They did his birthday in the morning and Christmas in the afternoon. He got separate presents and got a bit annoyed if people used Christmas wrapping paper for his birthday presents, but otherwise no harm done. All he’s ever known; I guess; and at least there tends to be lots of happiness/jolly atmospheres/family and friends at Christmas!

I also think doing birthday in June would be a bit weird - what age card do you buy? The one before or after?

Yes you could go all fancy and moonpig but reality people buy cards with the milk at the supermarket.

I also think doing birthday in June would be a bit weird - what age card do you buy? The one before or after

This. I honestly don’t get it. Happy 10th birthday although you are only 9 and a half. Ridiculous.

Then working at the church I baptished a Christmas Baby girl on a warn spring Sunday morning. She was lovely.

Parents told me they were going to celebrate that day and not her actual birthday andI saw the point.

Yes, that is such a good idea. My friend always celebrated her son’s Xmas birthday in June too. So he could have a party in the garden and not miss out, as families are so busy at Christmas it’s pointless trying to arrange a party.