To worry about my child being born around Xmas

[hnbnb]

I am pregnant and due right in between Xmas and NYE, so a baby born between let’s say 23 Dec and 2 Jan is looking like a very real possibility. I know how due dates work, I know baby might come November or might stay in till later in Jan but… likely scenario is those dates.

for those born on Xmas Eve / Day or Boxing Day or NYE / NY Day, or perhaps if you know people well born on those dates, how bad is it? Is it an issue at all? What did you like or dislike about it as a child? Adult?

I just worry that the baby (once they’re no longer a baby, obviously) will dislike that their bday party will always be far from actual birthday, that it’ll inevitably mean less presents as people will clump bday and Xmas gifts as one, or that people are never really celebrating their birthday, more celebrating Xmas or NYE if they’re born on 25 or 31st.

I just can't believe how priveleged this woman is. Instead of praying to have a happy healthy baby whenever God plans it, this is what is the stressor in her life. Talk about being disassociated from 99% of the world.

Is it your first? It’s very unusual for a first to come early or on dates. Statistically you are most likely to have an early January baby. Which, I won’t lie to you, is shit. Everybody is poor and partied out, and grumpy. But it is what it is!

Ds is between Christmas and New Year. Sometimes people double up on presents but they double the value so it's the same difference. In fact I think he does better out of it because people who normally wouldn't remember a random birthday will remember his because there is lots of visiting and meeting up that week, so for example friends of mine might bring a little gift for him but wouldn't be seeing our other kids around that time.

He is an outdoor kid and resented that he couldn't do outdoor activities for his birthday. That's the same for anyone born October to April so he's not alone there.

My dd is Xmas Eve, she hates it so far but… we’ve tried to explain now she’s getting older that as a grown up teen everyone goes out Xmas Eve ans she will have a blast. She does tend to get forgotten by classmates as she’s never at school but we always did her birthday parties first weekend in December. We don’t do joint presents ever it’s the one thing she insists on. It’s her birthday right up to 6pm then we start to get Christmassy.

Both my sons were Christmas babies (23rd and 26th December) and they love it. They were never at school on their birthdays and their uni friends were always at home to go out celebrating. They've always enjoyed their Christmas birthdays because it's a full week of celebrations. Don't overthink things is what I'd say, they might enjoy it! It is an expensive time of year for us, but we have all year to save.

I am a NYE baby! Absolutely loved it when i was younger because there was always a party to go to or someone up for going out. Now days i don’t love it as much. Its hard to book anything decent to do, i don’t really enjoy nye and presents are usually crap that people were gifted for xmas or got in the sales!

You Are Not Being Unreasonable. I was born 23rd Dec….I had 0 birthday parties growing up at 7 my parents tried to throw a party on my birthday the whole class was invited not a single kid came. Even now no-one ever celebrates my birthday no matter what I plan/organise everyone drops out on the day. Everyone is too busy with their Christmas….they have no wish to celebrate someones birthday. Boyfriends complaining how “expensive” I made Christmas because now they “had to buy me double presents”. And if I did get anything for my birthday it would be wrapped in xmas paper… I have and had lots of friends and lots of family but everyone gets wrapped up in their own special Christmas. So yeah, sorry but as someone who has a “Christmas Birthday” it’s genuinely horrendous. I don’t tell anyone now. I don’t plan anything or try to celebrate. I get a text from siblings and my parents and thats it. So stay off the trampoline, keep your legs locked closed and don’t eat curry until at least New Year.

why worry about something you have no ability to change ?

you could avoid sex in Feb/March next time?

My birthday is new year's day and I have loved it all my life. Never had to go to school or work on my birthday. Always celebrated NYE with friends and then meal on new year's day with family and close friends. Admittedly when I was younger only the chinese was open on NYD but there's much more choice nowadays. Not sure how much fun it would be if it wasn't a "special" day.

My birthday is the 22nd December so although I do celebrate then,I
have a special half birthday celebration on 22nd June!
Works for me!

Ds (15) was born on 13/12. It's never even occurred to me to be remotely concerned about anything other than how expensive December is. He's never actually mentioned it either. Maybe I should ask him!

It’s the best - a whole month of people in the holiday spirit- it feels like they’re celebrating YOU 😄

seriously, don’t over think. I honestly don’t know any negatives, except maybe it’s a bit hectic but you could always celebrate earlier/ later, it really doesn’t matter!

My bday is 23rd Dec, it does make me a bit sad when people wrap birthday present in xmas paper, or forget as it's a busy time. I have a twin so actually sometimes one gift covered four bases. We had a party in June, it was our mum organising it but all the kids were on board and we had a good party! It helps if you like christmas lights/ songs/ tree, so I get a Christmassy birthday. Enjoy your xmassy birth :-)

PS, my mum's is xmas day not great as she does cook the xmas dinner and can't really do much, everything's closed. I don't think that's a brill birthday!

It depends on your priorities though. I know someone who deliberately avoided july/august babies as they were so concerned about it and ended up with two Christmas babies which they say is great.

As a person with a birthday a few days after Christmas I would say generally it is fine, you very much accept the situation you have been given in life. I always had birthday parties as a kid with the usual bouncy castle (indoor), presents and cake and plently of kids attended, I certainly didn't feel like I missed out. I found it more frustrating as a teenager when friends inevitably were doing other things around your birthday and Grannies drifted into PJs that "would do for birthday and Christmas". This was in contrast to my summer baby siblings who always got something nice for their birthday. I say that as that is a time when you don't have a lot of money or agency and look forward to Christmas and birthday gifts.

To be honest it is harder as an adult, especially around big birthdays as it is harder to organise events and you can feel a bit forgotten about in that inbetween time between Christmas and New Year. It never feels like a separate event, but rather part of the general Christmas festivities.

That said I have never had to work or go to school on my birthday. I work in a job where we are always off at Christmas so that is a nice little bonus.

My birthday is 28 December. Im now in my 40s and always hated having a Christmas birthday. My parents always made sure my birthday was separate to Christmas. Got separate presents.

I’m only going to echo what others have said really. My DS is mid December but was due on Christmas Eve. I was so happy to be pregnant as it wasnt instant that I didn’t mind.
This year we are doing his birthday on 20th December and I checked with a few friends and they were all happy it wasn’t too close to Christmas/would be happy with a afternoon of non Christmassy stuff.

My DD is xmas eve we always make sure that day has always been about her birthday xmas wasnt mentioned until bedtime when we did santa cookies
I used to say how lucky she was to have presents a day early while we had to wait a day . The one thing we were lucky with was nobody brought a joint present and everything was wrapped in birthday paper i stocked up early. Parties with friends were done about the 15th parents loved leaving them to do some shopping

I've got a Christmas baby and I hate it but not much o can do about it now he's 5!

For some reason a heck of a lot of family and friends were born in December, including me!

It is a bit of a pain for them and us as dates include Christmas eve, boxing day, NY eve, but you just get used to it.

Personally I love my December birthday, it's always felt a bit magical and the date we put up our Christmas decs. Not easy fitting in all the celebrations so close together along with other parties but hey, t'is the season to be jolly 😆

There's nothing you can do if baby is born at Xmas. If baby wants to put in an appearance at Xmas he/she will, so no point in worrying about it!

Congratulations op. I think it would be lovely to have a snuggly newborn over Christmas, (and would probably name them Robin or Holly or something😊)

If they do end up with a birthday where you think no one would come to a children's party, you could do early Dec or late Jan parties for when they're at school.
My son is the first week of September so I once did a party in October for him, so we could hand out invitations with enough notice to his class at school. He was fine.

I can't comment on actual Xmas day etc, which I think would be difficult, but my daughter is 22nd December and says she quite likes it. People who would give presents usually still give 2 (or it's genuinely bigger if joint) and if anything I think more people remember my daughter's birthday than my son's because they associate it with Xmas. I think possibly we give less for Xmas than some families do because frankly we struggle to think of enough presents for 2 occasions and it seems a lot, but she still gets plenty and I'm quite glad we've been prevented from going as over the top as some do!

She likes that things are festive around her birthday, more often than not off school.
We've never had an issue getting people to come to a party, although we sometimes did it a week or so early or late if a few closest friends were going away or something. But lots of people do that for availablity reasons at any time of year. My son's late may birthday has had more issues with people being away than hers has!

We have another relative who is between Xmas and New year and a friend on Nye and I think they'd say similar.

We've never done the half birthday thing because it never felt right - like we'd be saying it's too inconvenient to fit her in on her actual birthday! But maybe I'd feel different if it was actual Xmas day! And from my son I know summer birthday aren't necessarily that great - it's not like you can plan anything in advance that relies on outdoors in British weather anyway!

DS was a week late and arrived on 23 December. It's always been fine. When we did parties we did them in the summer, people still brought presents.

I once apologised to him that it was so close to Christmas and he was dumbfounded. He didn't care at all and he said he loved his birthday.