Does your DC have a birthday within 2 weeks of christmas?

[MrsJamin]

DS was born just after New Year this year, so his birthday is just after Christmas. I can imagine this might be an issue for years to come (know a few people as adults who still have issues with it!) so would like to gather tips on how to handle it! So:

• do you get or encourage others to get just one present between birthday and christmas?
• do you wait until the sales to get DC's birthday present if after christmas?
• do you do another celebration at another time in the year as it's just too close to christmas?

Any tips from mums already been-there-done-that, please!

Dd1's birthday is early Jan.

Never ever joint presents and i would be annoyed if any family/friends ever did this. I really don't think they ever would though.

I do, however, try to get a bargain in the sales for her birthday, and i must admit she tends to get a lot of relatively expensive birthday pressies (compared to the pressies that dd2 and dd3 get) so i think that everyone else takes advantage of the sales too

I am a Dec 18th bday, so would say No to joint presents (until he asks for them, as I did from about 12) and make sure your relatives do separate presents too. Never had another celebration at another time in the year.

My birthday is 5 days before xmas.

I always had a party and separate gifts and would do the same for my DC. I also got a small non-birthday gift on my sister's birthday in May.

We would always put the christmas tree up the weekend before my birthday party. My school friends still talk about Superbunny's birthdays with the christmas tree

My brother, and his son, both have December birthdays. Always treated Christmas and birthday as completely separate.

One of DS3's friend was born on Christmas Day, and he always celebrates his birthday on 25th June instead.

my ds1 has b'day in early Jan and dd has hers in December
did it twice!!!!!

DS1 has had his 'birthday' prezzie which is a big bike (he's going to be 8) a couple of weeks ago, as it's pointless waiting to the christmas rush and we are going on a cycling hol in the october half term. better for him to get riding it now imo!
DD is going to be 3, she still has her stuff on the day, but as she gets older like ds1 she can also have 'outdoor' prezzies during the summer and just small stuff on the day. They really do understand this. Who wouldn't - it's like having two birthdays

We do birthday as the big event, main prezzie, esp if it is a bike or whatever. Christmas is smaller as there are three of them, and lots of relatives turn up with bits at christmas as well.

My ds has his birthday 4 days after Xmas. the day before mine I should have known better!

Needless to say, when ttc dd, i put an embargo on sex in March!

Def don't do joint presents, unless ( when much older ), it is useful to do so (i remember getting driving lessons for the xmas/birthday i was 17).

My mum always used to make out that parties for my sister in june were also for me. It is NOT the same.

it is hard trying to think of double the presents, but i have found lots and lots of little things are great, as it gives him lots to open. (but he is just coming up to 6, so just getting the idea of 'lists'!)

DD1 birthday is 14th, she still gets a present for both birthday and Christmas. No-one has ever suggested buying a present to cover both events. She always has a proper party like her siblings although it is harder to organize around other things in the run up to Christmas.

My niece has a Christmas Eve b/day and has a lot more joint presents and less interest shown in her birthday as it is overshadowed by Christmas, according to my sil, poor girl

DS1 is 18 Dec. Absolutely no joint presents. You wouldn't do it for people's birthdays at other times of the year.
I HATE it when people (usually sil) give us 3 presents wrapped in xmas paper and say one is for his birthday and the other two for his and ds2's xmas pressies.
Last year this caused him to go into complete and utter meltdown for the WHOLE of xmas day...

16 Dec his birthday party. 18 Dec cake at nursery and presents at home from relatives. 19 Dec xmas dinner at nursery. 20 Dec childrens entertainement and santa (and therefore pressie) at the sure start centre. 21 Dec ils arrive with his late birthday present and some xmas presents to leave under the tree.
25th December. We got up ready with camera to get pics of our two darling ds's opening all their presents with glee......

After several hours of tantrums and not allowing his brother any where near the presents we realised... he thought the full 9 days of events and exiting things was ALL FOR HIS BIRTHDAY and now here were mummy daddy and brother trying to open HIS presents...

On the other hand, his party I hold at a soft play area in the middle of a massive mill shopping complex. Leave the kids with me and go and finish your xmas shopping. The mums love it and we have full attendance

dd1 's birthday is 4 weeks before.
dd2's is 3 weeks after.
Always seperate birthday and christmas presents.

dd's is the end of january so thankfully noone is daft enough to suggest joint presents.

one thing i would say though is NEVER EVER try and buy in the sales, i tried the last few years and the toy shops still hadn't gotton the stock back in by the week of her birthday as they were trying to get rid of everything in the sales so the things i'd planned on getting her i couldn't get.

this year her birthday present is being bought before xmas.

am due my third around her birthday so it's going to be busy enough without a devestated little girl who didn't get what she wanted for her birthday.

My dts will be two on 30/12 so I'm interested in this for the future too. They're still young enough to not really bother either way but I can see loads of issues arising out of it as they get older, esp as they often have to share pretty much everything already.

This year they'll get a toy each for xmas and some clothes each for birthday. I've co-ordinated with my mum so she'll give them a toy for their birthday and money for xmas. As they all get older they'll likely get less for xmas and we'll spend more on birthdays.

I have no idea as they get older what to do about decorating the house, is it better to take down all xmas stuff or just add even more the chaos? I guess I'll just see what they most feel happy with.

My DS is 2 weeks after Crimbo, doing separate presents, am considering doing a summer party for him but other than that will just treat it like anyone else's birthday at whatever time in the year.

dd2's birthday is just a few days after xmas. hasn't really been an issue as she's only 3 now and hasn't yet had birthday parties (outside of family). I would say no to any joint presents ( I used to get them and my birthday is first week of Dec!) I don't think I'd celebrate at another time during the year, that would be odd.

DD just after Christmas.

Absolutely no to joint presents, and always shop in the sales for the stuff I eyed up whilst Christmas shopping or that I know she wanted but didn't get from anyone on the 25th.

We do a family party on her birthday and the last two years we have done a 5.5 and a 6.5 party in the summer - that way the weather is (theoretically) better and we can have it in the garden, it is not such a long time between presents, and I don't have to spend December worrying not only about Christmas but also about inviting kids who will only lose the invitations in the snowstorm of Christmas cards anyway.

My wonderful child was born on the 22n of December. She enjoys hsving her birthday this close to Christmas. She was 2 weeks overdue. She just says it's luck

She goes to the pantomine every year, and also has a slended party. Sadly last year she was in hospital on the 23rd-24th. So best of luck this year

My birthday is 10 days after Christmas and the good thing as a child was that it extended the excitement of Christmas. We also used to go to the pantomime or sometimes it clashed with a children's 'Christmas' party that the Council put on, so that made it more special as my name was read out. I always got separate presents but the WORST thing was that my mother always said - and repeated it just the other day (and I was 50 this year!!): "It was hard getting you birthday presents as there was nothing in the shops"... Why on EARTH didn't they remember this from one year to the next and buy both presents before Christmas?? - or what about the January Sales??? The worst things now are that people often forget (eg at work we collect for everyone's birthday but because of when mine is it tends to be overlooked), and I do have one friend who has been known to give me what are obviously unwanted Christmas presents (eg the pits was one year when I got a Christmas-tree-shaped box of chocolates, and I don't even really like chocs!!!). Also it's hard to put on celebrations because everyone's so busy, and my 40th & 50th birthday parties never happened for this reason, with the plans to have them in the summer instead not being carried through.

My dd's birthday is 10th December, so we don't tend to think about Christmas until that's over. However, she quite often has school Christmas dinner on her birthday, which she doesn't like, and it's happening again this year. The worst thing about planning parties is that you have to book entertainers, halls etc and send out invitations really early as people have so much else on, but we live near the centre of town and parents have really appreciated the chance to do a bit of girl-free Christmas shopping during the party! We tend to round off with mulled wine and mince pies for the parents and can then officially turn our minds to preparing for Christmas. She's always had separate presents as I think that's essential. The thing she doesn't like is never being able to have outdoor parties, but this year I've decided that we'll do a treasure hunt for them in the surrounding streets as they need soemthing a bit more adventurous and they can all bring coats & wrap up warm if necessary.

My birthday is less than two weeks before Christmas. When I was little, I got seperate birthday and christmas presents. I didn't get a summer present, though - I guess my parents thought I should learn patience (not an easy lesson - I remember working out one Boxing Day how long it was 'til my birthday and being really depressed).

As I got older, and able to understand, I did get the option to have a single present, if there was something more expensive that I wanted. I particularly remember a lovely pair of boots that I got when I was 14 (I think). We joked about me getting one boot for my birthday and having to hop until Christmas.

If you do decide to get one big present for either Christmas or birthday, you can still give some little, inexpensive presents on the other day - a trawl round the pound shop for crayons, colouring books, bath foam, toy cars etc means a nice little pile of gifts to unwrap - and younger children don't evaluate gifts by cost so they'll be just as happy.

dd is NYE
she'll be 17 this yr,but we always take down the xmas tree etc the day before her birthday and decorate the house for NYE.
Separate presents and yes we do get some of them in the sales.

When she was younger we did buy he a summer present for the garden just because all her presents are at the end of the yr.

My birthday is on 2nd Jan and I never got joint presents, at least not until I was a lot older and asked for something that was too expensive for Xmas alone. I still got a token gift to open on my birthday though.

I think that my paretns bought my birthday present before Xmas, I know DH does not. I don't mind though as he has often got really good presents in the sales.

We never celebrated in the summer, birthday is birthday.

As an adult I stopped celebrating my birthday with friends as they were always still hungover from 1st Jan and went home at 10pm. Not worth the effort. We always had good parties from when I was about 10yo, on 1st Jan and celebrated into 2nd Jan. Lots of pissed Uncles pressing fivers into my hands

worst thing is the crap unwanted presents that people give her for her birthday

ds is very fond of chocolate spread
lemon curd is also popular

I would think marmite is univerally disliked

dd1 and 2 both in first two weeks of Jan i am getting their pressies with xmas ones and will keep some back.
Def seperate celebrations although considering doing a joint birthday party for them!
Don't wait for sales if you want something specific chances are it will be out of stock. Althoughi got dd some lovely gifts in disney store sale for her birthday last year as i wasn't looking for anything in particular!

DS has his birthday 21/2 weeks before Christmas. He always has a party, and separate presents. We don't start christmas until after his birthday (in terms of decorations etc, although obviously Santas little helpers have been hard at work behind the scenes for many weeks! What I would say though is get cards and wrapping paper well in advance because they disappear fairly soon (now-ish actually) and he has had to have birthday presents wrapped in Xmas paper before now!. DH has his early January and I have to buy his cards etc about now as well as the shops are full of sale crap bargains at that time.

I haven't read the whole thread so sorry if I'm repeating something here.....

My ds's birthday is about 2 weeks before xmas and I have a policy that the decorations must not go up until after his birthday so there is room for all his cards and stuff - I guess you could apply it by having all the dec's down by the time his b'day comes around.