Christmas Birthdays

[Peony87]

DD will be one on 28th December.

Obviously she won't know or care for a few years, but i worry that I've accidentally given her a crappy birthday! No one will be up for a celebration, and presents will be all crammed together.

If you or a DC have a Christmas birthday, how do you make it special?

Have a tea party for her friends on June 28th each year and celebrate with family only on her actual birthday.

You can make it special. I have a DD born on Xmas Day and every birthday has been celebrated no differently from my other kids who are summer born. Yes we may do different things. We split Xmas Day, we have Xmas first and then Birthday although we decorate for both. Last year for her 4th birthday, we had a party with friends the Saturday before Xmas and a family party on Xmas Day. We chose 11-1 on the Saturday following the last day of term and everyone made it. I personally do not like the half year birthday celebration and for now she loves sharing her birthday with Xmas. We all make a big deal of it tbh. She gets seperate presents from family and close friends and no birthday gifts in xmas wrapping paper.

As she gets older, let her choose a theme for the day. Whether it’s animals, superheroes or something else, make the day all about that theme with decorations, wrapping paper, activities and games. For one day only, it won't be about Christmas, instead, it will be all about her birthday. You might have to create a dedicated spot in your home away from the Christmas tree to celebrate. Cover it in balloons, hang banners and stack the presents high. You can even play her favourite songs – avoiding the Christmas ones, of course.
Try doing a family outing or activity on the actual birthday (dinner out or a visit to the zoo, for example).
Create a rule of no doubling up on presents.

DSC has a birthday on 30th Dec for now they feel "super lucky" to have both so close together because they get so many presents.

We make sure birthday gifts are wrapped in paper that's definitely birthday & put up banners & balloons. DSC loves the tree so we keep that up but always make sure they have a special helium balloon to make sure it's different to Xmas.

The hard part is getting all the toys played with & often we've still been opening things to be played with for the 1st in June! They get quite loads from DPs family.

They are getting a little older now so we've asked people (& we are running out of space) so DP has asked his family to get a bit less & either put some money in the bank or contribute to a outdoor summer gift... DSC won't exactly now it's a birthday gift but we feel it'll break up the year a bit. Soon enough I'm sure they'll be wanting expensive consoles/trainers/tech so then it'll be back to all money spent in December & trying not to do too many joint Xmas/birthday gifts.

My child is an early January birthday and we always had problems arranging get togethers and parties due to it being too close to Christmas and New Year.
As a family we celebrated the birthday itself then had a party or days out in the middle of the year [ July ]. It was much easier to arrange for others to join in and the weather was better :)

Also make sure your daughter doesn't get "joint Christmas and birthday presents" as her birthday is so close to Christmas. This was the one thing I always insisted on as it wasn't fair to just get the one present when others birthdays are at different times in the year get two.

My son is 20th December, I’ve always insisted on no joint Christmas and birthday presents and family have respected that, he’s older now and says it’s quite nice having a birthday near Christmas as everyone’s in a happy mood and ready to celebrate, I think it’s us mums that make it a bit of an issue 🤔

My DD is 1/1 and NO WHERE other then pubs (possibly not this year) are open. So on her birthday for the last couple of years we have had. Family meal at a local pub with a soft play, needless to say its exceptionally quiet every year as no one seems to want to be in a soft play with a hangover. Then we have had a party with her friends on the closest weekend.

Shes 7 this year and while charging round the soft play is still appealing its not really what she wants to do now and that soft play hasn't opened back up and may not. So I have no idea what we're going to do on the day this year. Also a big party is out of the question but hopefully we can do something nice with her friends.

For a 28/12 birthday you have many more options lots of places are open and you could to do something nice, I would recommend anything with friends, especially when they're nursery/school age, is done the weekend before or after they go back. The ones in between Xmas and New Year are often missed/forgotten as no idea knows what day of the week it is. DD has had great attendance at her parties on those weekends as I think people are more aware of the date.

Best of luck planning x

All of the kids in our family are December babies (14th, 15th, 18th & 22nd - my DD and her cousins)

DD turns 1 this year and we were just planning a family get together with cake and a little snacky buffet type thing. With a day out just the 3 of us - aquarium or something like that

The older kids have had parties though, the oldest (7) had a cinema part last year with a few friends and then back home for pizza & playing.

Birthdays are what you make of them, whenever in the year they are. This year will also be very different to any other for most!

Dd has a Christmas birthday. At first I thought a half birthday may be the solution but as she's got older I realise it doesn't work for us. She knows when her birthday is and loves it, she doesn't need to have a 'pretend' birthday.

What I do is put some of her birthday money aside until July so that she can treat herself to a few toys mid-year. Otherwise she gets lots in December and nothing for the rest of the year.

We've always had a party in early jan which everyone has come to. She gets the odd present in Christmas wrap and a few people are less generous as they are buying two presents at the same time at an expensive time of year.

We still have balloons, birthday breakfast, family celebrations on the day just like any other time. I would prefer a summer birthday but you can't always plan these things so don't feel bad!

DS is a Christmas Eve baby. I decided early on to do a half-birthday in June, where he gets a big present from us and other family and we have friends/family round for a BBQ or similar and/or he has a get-together with friends. On his actual birthday he gets a cake and a few smaller presents with just family round.

It just seemed too tricky to try and get people together on Christmas Eve. People are always doing other things. I have a summer holiday birthday and never had parties, really, because all my friends were away. So I didn't want DS to be in the same boat.

Our Xmas DC has the same name as one of the saints so we celebrate his birthday on that saint's day every year (eg but not, St Patrick's Day, St George's Day, St Mary's day for a Megan etc etc) - presents, cards, treats, party/activity with friends, gets sung to at school and takes sweets in. We have told everyone not to buy presents on his birthday (just an empty card if they really must mark it). We get him one birthday present for the day and cards from us and siblings and birthday cake for dessert but otherwise, it's all on the separate date. We found this to work v well for fairness to all DC (everyone gets a Christmas dedicated to Christmas and a birthday of their own to celebrate with everyone's full attention, with no double or shared presents). Works for us and DS tells people he's like the Queen, with 2 birthdays! We chose the saint's day as it had meaning, but may not have done if it was in August or another time when it's trickier to arrange celebrations because of school hols etc.

Ooooh, but if you're going to do that, I'd start early as it takes a few years to train overgenerous rellies/godparents etc!

DD born a couple of days before Xmas. As she’s only 3, most of her “friends” who she’d invite are family, neighbours, a couple of pre-schoolers anyway. So what we’ve done so far is to have an open house the Saturday before Christmas. I’ve made a big ham, loaded potato skins, vats of hot chocolate and mulled wine. People pop in to wish her Happy Birthday. The kids dance around and play with balloons. When there’s a good number and she’s happy, we roll out the cake. I don’t know how it will work as she gets older (never mind this year with the plague). So she still gets presents, but isn’t overloaded with “stuff”, family have been very good at buying her experiences for later in the year - such as theatre tickets, zoo passes etc. DH and I also don’t buy her a lot for Christmas- but instead buy her toys during the rest of the year guilt free.

I'm the 21st and growing up it always felt special, we celebrated on the day/weekend before and I was always made a fuss of. Despite the tree and decorations my mum always went overboard with birthday banners etc.
Some family members wanted to give a joint Xmas and bday gift but my mum didn't allow it.
Now I'm an adult I plan my birthday celebrations well in advance before people get booked up with Christmas events.

I have the same birthday as your daughter. My mum always took the tree down on the 27th and packed everything Christmassy away so that the balloons and banners could come out. I never had joint presents, and all presents had to be wrapped in birthday wrapping. My party was usually held on The Saturday closest to my birthday, with family/close friends all coming around for a tea party. You really can make it special despite all the Christmas hype.

I now have an early January DD and she thinks her birthday is great, as she gets two lots of presents. So try not to overthink it.

Oh and buy her card before the Christmas cards fill up the shelves, as I know people have always struggled to fine me a "nice" card.

DDs bday is mid Dec (was due on xmas day though!!) we ask everyone that buys for her to give a gift for one and a voucher for the other just so she doesn’t get a whole years worth of toys in one go! She is usually bored of her toys by the summer so we use those vouchers to top up with some new things (and send a second thank you to the voucher giver when she has used the voucher so making thank you cards is a fun activity!)

Have found December parties tricky (both in terms of some venues suspending their party packages in Dec, and other people’s availability)so tend to have a day around her birthday where we just spend the day at home and invite family to drop in to suit themselves for cuppa and bday cake and to see the bday girl, and then we take DD and her cousins (similar age) for a day out ie soft play and lunch or something xmas themed like santa train ride, xmas at Thomas land, breakfast with Santa etc.

Just like my DS, there was a blizzard on his first and no one made it to the party, his own dad got snowed out... it took us a few years to figure it out

top tip, go away for a few days, mini holiday and go to a zoo or museum and a meal... most babies/toddlers dont need parties anyway

once school age, send invites out with xmas cards around december 1st and have the party on the saturday closest to school returning (but not new years day/eve as people often have plans) and remember to get RSVPs - one year we got 22 kids show up but most often its 6-8 that attend many parents already have holiday traditions/plans but my DS never suffered, 6 guests is plenty for a child to have fun