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Original poster

Christmas Day baby

102 replies

Mushroo · 04/04/2024 08:59

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!

OP posts:
FlibbertyGibbitt · 05/04/2024 20:10

My mum and her mum - my gran both born on Christmas Day. What were the chances of that eh ? Anyway always gave two pressies to them both

Greentomatoes21 · 05/04/2024 20:15

My DD is 28th - know it isn't quite the same as 25th but one thing we do is have her birthday party with friends the first weekend in Jan. She always so looks forward to this and it doesn't get eaten up in the crazy run up to Christmas. Highly recommend. Also, I usually make the kids' cakes but I was ill last year so bought a lovely big m&s chocolate cake and added all sorts to it. She loved it! No need to pay 50+ quid for a professional one.

kcchiefette · 05/04/2024 22:01

If I had a Christmas Day child, I would probably do the below:

Christmas Eve - their choice of takeaway or meal cooked and one activity they would like to do (e.g. cinema, bowling etc)

Christmas Day
Morning - Christmas pressies
Lunch - dinner around 12/1pm
Afternoon - birthday pressies after dinner and some Christmas desserts
Evening - once dinner and dessert settled, bring out birthday cake to have some before bed 😊

I feel bad for Christmas Day babies that they cant choose their birthday meal so I would make a point of letting them choose the day before.

I would also have a few birthday banners etc up on the walls, balloons amongst the chaos 😂

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Christmas Events & celebrations Families
Original poster
Mushroo · 05/04/2024 22:40

kcchiefette · 05/04/2024 22:01

If I had a Christmas Day child, I would probably do the below:

Christmas Eve - their choice of takeaway or meal cooked and one activity they would like to do (e.g. cinema, bowling etc)

Christmas Day
Morning - Christmas pressies
Lunch - dinner around 12/1pm
Afternoon - birthday pressies after dinner and some Christmas desserts
Evening - once dinner and dessert settled, bring out birthday cake to have some before bed 😊

I feel bad for Christmas Day babies that they cant choose their birthday meal so I would make a point of letting them choose the day before.

I would also have a few birthday banners etc up on the walls, balloons amongst the chaos 😂

That’s a really good point about choosing dinner, I’ll make sure to factor that in and let her choose the Xmas eve menu!

OP posts:
PcBassoon · 05/04/2024 23:14

My birthday is Christmas day! It didn't bother me as a kid. We always had a special birthday celebration in the evening after Christmas was over (birthday presents were ALWAYS wrapped in birthday paper and NEVER Christmas paper.) I usually had a birthday party before Christmas with my friends and my mom always put in extra effort to make it special. It annoys me a little as an adult because people will make a fuss over a child, but not a grown woman, but my husband still takes me out for a nice dinner on the 26th and gets me a cake. What your child will find, is there is a little club of us with Christmas birthdays and there is a camaraderie between all of us. It just means you are special!

boymamaof2 · 05/04/2024 23:33

Has to happen to someone doesn't it. But I think better Christmas Day than Boxing Day. Best friend's mum is a Christmas Day baby. They split the day and make the morning her birthday and afternoon/evening Christmas. Different presents with different wrapping paper. This works for her as an adult but can imagine as a child it may not be so easy.. magical Christmas morning stockings etc and especially if siblings/cousins/etc involved. Love the idea of 25th June half birthday party too. As a June baby myself it's a lovely time to have a birthday and as I child I loved having my birthday halfway to Christmas as I only ever had six months to wait for big gifts (priorities ha)

babyno2isdue · 05/04/2024 23:52

With having a Christmas Day baby myself I really don't get June celebrations (each to their own) but how do You split presents I wouldn't want friends/family to think we expected twice for her ACTUAL birthday and in June but I know they wouldn't turn up empty handed to either

Obviously different ways work for everyone but I just couldn't celebrate dd birthday another other day than her birthday

NewName24 · 06/04/2024 00:12

Why would it involve two presents ? Confused
I would be very clear that wasn't expected.
Say that Grandparents / Aunts / Uncles could do whichever they preferred (sometimes, putting together what you would spend for a birthday plus what you would spend for Christmas, would mean that you could buy something for a person that wasn't otherwise affordable), but when they got to school and were starting to have 'friends' parties, then the friends would just bring their presents to the party, in the Summer.

I mean, when they are babies / toddlers they wouldn't be aware, and when they get older, you can offer them the choice.

Needanewname42 · 06/04/2024 00:22

I think the summer birthday thing just sounds like an expensive PITA. And once you start these things they become expected and hard to stop.
Kids will look for presents at both birthdays regardless of what adults expect.

As kids get bigger in fact even as babies it's easy to say to family - look we're out of ideas, can you give money for birthday and we'll get him something later in the year.

Seahawk80 · 06/04/2024 07:49

I am 19 Dec and my younger child is 23 Dec. When I was pregnant with him I knew I’d be having a c section and I was adamant I wanted him to come before Christmas rather than after even though it had the risk of being in hospital that Christmas. I think anything up to Christmas Day is great, everyone is in a good mood and excited. I’d much rather that than the days between Christmas and New Year or early January. I wouldn’t change their birthday to summer but you can always do a party in summer to celebrate with their friends as that opens up the option to do things outside etc. and then you can make Christmas Day the family birthday. We may well do that when DS is older as 23 Dec is hard to get people together.

tammie49 · 06/04/2024 07:51

I mean it's not ideal but it's by no means a disaster!
My DS was born on Christmas day. I was induced at 42 weeks so by that point it wasn't a surprise.
We always do Christmas first as he's little still and believes in Santa, then after Christmas Dinner we have birthday cake (which I make) and birthday presents. If there's nothing specific I can think to get him then I wait a while (he's had a new bike or scooter in the summer) but he always has something to open for his birthday. Then we do his party in January as nobody has much on. I actually find more people remember his birthday as it's such a special date.
We're always together which is nice. He's happy and healthy and loved- it really isn't the worst of fates. He thinks it's really special.

ilovebagpuss · 06/04/2024 07:56

I would def split the party with friends part as she is growing up. Just do that a month before on a random Saturday.
My DD is early Jan still in holidays so we always waited until late Jan for the friend party or outing as they got older to cinema or whatever.
Then the day was family tea party and banners which you could do Xmas Day Afternoon.

Lovesocks · 06/04/2024 11:52

NewName24 · 06/04/2024 00:12

Why would it involve two presents ? Confused
I would be very clear that wasn't expected.
Say that Grandparents / Aunts / Uncles could do whichever they preferred (sometimes, putting together what you would spend for a birthday plus what you would spend for Christmas, would mean that you could buy something for a person that wasn't otherwise affordable), but when they got to school and were starting to have 'friends' parties, then the friends would just bring their presents to the party, in the Summer.

I mean, when they are babies / toddlers they wouldn't be aware, and when they get older, you can offer them the choice.

Why not two presents? Why should the 25th December birthday child, or even adult, not a receive a separate gift for their birthday and for Christmas from family and close friends like pretty much every child (and some adults) whose birthday falls on one of the other 364 days each year (that isn’t a leap year) do. It’s not their fault they were born on the same day as a major seasonal/religious celebration.

Ideally people would spend the equivalent of two gifts on the one gift if that’s a practical/logical solution, but we all know that life isn’t ideal and there are plenty CFs who’d fob the birthday child off with one gift to save money/effort. If my child was a Christmas Day baby I’d absolutely insist on two separate gifts unless they discussed buying one larger gift with me prior. As a parent it would be my priority to arrange the day to ensure my 25th December child had a birthday experience that’s as equally celebrated as their siblings birthdays would be, and that all of my children had a fantastic Christmas too.

Kateeeeuyyy · 06/04/2024 14:58

Mushroo · 04/04/2024 08:59

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!

I had an ex whose birthday was on the 28th. His birthday was always overshadowed by Xmas and his mum always felt a bit robbed of the usual birthday stuff.

so, at the age of 4, she decided that he’d always have a half birthday party on June 28th! He’s in his thirties now and still celebrates it. I think it’s a lovely tradition

pontipinemum · 06/04/2024 15:07

I also have a friend who celebrates her Christmas birthday on 25th June. She still does. I think thats what I'd do.

Needanewname42 · 06/04/2024 15:53

@Lovesocks she's replying to the poster who questioned how does half birthdays work presents wise.
Do they get whole & half birthday gifts, just whole or just half?

Personally I think kids would expect both And I think half birthdays is just making life more complicated than it needs to be.

Gilead · 06/04/2024 15:59

Best friend is Christmas Day. It’s always been his birthday from wake up until Dinner is ready and then it’s Christmas.
we’re 65 and 70 now but still work it like this.

S0ph1a · 06/04/2024 16:04

One of my kids best friend used to celebrate their half birthday instead . Everyone at school thought it was cool .

Celebrating at Cristian’s doesn’t work for school aged kids, no one will turn up to their party. And they don’t get their own day of feeling special at school.

NewName24 · 06/04/2024 16:22

@Lovesocks I was replying to the pp who said that family and friends would be expected to cough up for 2 birthday presents. ie 3 in total (Christmas present, birthday present at Christmas and birthday present in Summer), and saying they wouldn't - they would choose to either give birthday present on the actual day (at Christmas) or choose to get something for the "official birthday" when the party was.

For someone like me who struggles to think of things I want for Christmas, I would find it challenging to think of another list of things I might like for my birthday on the same day, I'd rather people asked me a few months down the line.

Needanewname42 · 06/04/2024 16:30

@NewName24 Half my family have December birthdays and I can tell you present lists are a nightmare.
But I still think half birthdays must make life more complicated than it needs to be.

PopandFizz · 07/04/2024 08:39

I have a friend who does her daughters birthday party 2 weekends before. Doing it in twixmas would mean it's still overshadowed by Christmas still because everyone is in the Christmas spirit and people may be away and not able to celebrate. She always goes all out and her daughter loves it and her friends can attend the party.
It also means she always get a weekend birthday!

Eze · 07/04/2024 08:49

I have a Christmas DC and used to pull their birthday party forward to the first weekend of December as I found a lot of kids couldn’t come if we did his actual birthday as they’d be away.

As he got older I gave him the option and he was fine celebrating on his actual birthday. I make sure there’s no combined presents and he gets birthday banners, ballon and cake.

Triplecheesepizza · 07/04/2024 13:33

Daughter’s BFF is a Xmas baby. She does something with family around Xmas and huge party with her friends towards end of Jan every year so she doesn’t miss out x

1adycr0w · 08/04/2024 00:31

My little sister was born on Xmas day and it honestly the best day of the year because of this. Now that we are all in our 30s we as a family get together on Xmas eve and have a massive birthday party for her and bday cake a midnight, she absolutely loves it! Xmas day is great but our real fun is Xmas eve. We have some this since she was 18. Before that she wanted a separate celebration so we would throw her a bday party in June, coz why the hell not! It was just another reason to celebrate her.

Just make it special for them! Never give one present for both bday and Xmas and celebrate separately so that they feel special.

PiggieWig · 08/04/2024 00:35

Actual Christmas birthdays are special because everyone is off work and happy, you get to see all your family, mums make a big thing of your birthday, and there’s all the festivities. I’ve had friends with Christmas Eve and Day birthdays and loved them. I’m mid December which is a bit crap but it is what it is.
If you do half birthday, be prepared to have to do it for any subsequent children - hopefully not born on June 25!!