DD birthday sooooo close to Christmas....what should I do?

[CrackopentheBaileys]

Hi all,

My dd will be 1 on 3rd Jan. What a rubbish birthday for her, didn't think of that when TTC!
I have asked friends and family not to buy her presents for her bd, but to give her toy vouchers instead. I figure I will get her some outside toys in the summer.
She will still get presents from me and grandparents, but am I being mean?

And what do I do in future years?

I don't know if my house can withstand two present loads in one go (very large families on both sides)

Would love some advice

my ds2 will be 1 on boxing day so even worse timing on my part.

He'll get birthday pressies as normal to be honest - but we don't have huge families and i have lots of outside toys as have an older child too.

Vouchers sounds a good plan though.

my sisters ds has his birthday on christmas eve but she always makes a point of celebrating it and I always make a point of having two presents for him - one for birthday and one for christmas. It doesnt seem fair to make them miss out on a proper birthday just because of when they are born. Your lo will not be aware of what goes on for the next couple of years so you could get away with what you are suggesting this time but I dont know how she will feel about doing it that way in the future.

p.s. dh's birthday is on the 27th December and all he remembers is crap birthdays with hardly any presents and his parents going out on his birthday to get a birthday card for him.

I have vowed to NEVER get her a joint xmas and bd present that is just outrageous!
My big concern is this.... my ds is born July, nicely sat in the middle of the year, so he gets a lovely new load of toys twice a year.
I think it may feel to her like it only happens once. I mean, xmas lasts a few days anyway right, so it will just feel like an extension of that.
I want to still celebrate, i;e friends with babies and family round for a cake and sing song.
Maybe I am thinking it through too much and should just take it for what it is?
I can't help but feel a bit sorry for her that she has to wait a whole year though!

A friend in school had her birthday on 23rd December and was always disappointed that people didn't mark it, giving her a joint birthday/christmas present etc. You don't need to do big piles of presents, and the vouchers idea is good to use for summer toys. But why not start up some birthday traditions to make sure it's her special day, and not just a continuation of the Christmas season.

I like the idea of special birthday tradition thanks AMIS, I'll think about what that could be

My friend's DS has his birthday on 27th Dec. Last year she hosted an informal 'at home' for friends and their kids - kids loved getting together just after Xmas and having a 'party' (racing around plus party food!); parents liked something relaxed and informal just after Xmas stress!

This year she's booked tickets for the cbeebies show on the day and he's having a soft play party next week. She always makes the effort to make his birthday celebrations completely separate from Xmas, which I think is what's important.

I will be shot down in flames for this but...at that age they don't know what the date is, just move it by a few days to fit your timetable

BTW, my DS is 5 and has just started to really appreciate vouchers, money, book tokens, etc as presents because he gets such a thrill out of choosing exactly what he wants. We make a special shopping afternoon of it - cafe visit as well - and he loves it. So I wouldn't worry about going down that route.

DD1 is 17 Dec. DD2 is 19 Dec
You have my sympathies.

I don't buy them joint presents but while they are young and especially from people like MY friends, I encourage joint presents. Then they get a slightly bigger pressie rather than 2 small ones and takes pressure off friend.

You could have her birthday party, once she is at school, on the weekend once they are all back at school in early Jan after Xmas.
OR
You could think about celebrating her half birthday? Then you could have a party in July? Everyone but you could buy her pressies on her real birthday but in July you could give her pressies from you then?????

When ds2 is at the having a party stage as opposed to just family for cake i think we're going to do a halloween party.

Not his actual birthday but will be fun for him and his friends hopefully.

And agree definitely no joint pressies.

A special birthday tradition could be to take her to a show every year on/ around her birthday.

I think it's important to make the 2 seperate affairs.

So once Xmas is done, start talking about, oh and now it's nearly your birthday and replace some, or maybe all of decorations (?) for balloons etc.

no worse timing than me
DD1 is 16th dec and dd2 is 5th jan.

My b'day is Jan 1st and it wasn't a problem. Of course in those days kids didn't get so many presents anyhow. It was nice that it was always holiday time and - best yet - I only had to write one set of 'thank you' letters!

My sisters twins are Dec 24. My daughters is 26 Dec and mine is 3 Jan.

Nunk you and by dd are bd buddies. She was born on my best friend bd and she was downstairs waiting for her 2 scan as dd came into the world... how random!
The decs is a great point Thomcat, I will make sure that the xmas decs are all down by then so it feels different for her.
And a show is a nice idea, shall have to save money for after xmas!
I know how this is going to be though. I was in staines yesterday, and this bolt of lightning thought hit me, I hadn't got her anything for her birthday, not even a card! I mean, when did I think I was going to get it?!
How bad is that, I'm forgetting already and it's only her 1st one

ds born on christmas day so will never get to have a proper birthday party on his actual birthday, poor thing. Last year we had birthday cake at teatime & opened his birthday pressies then too. Made sure he had seperate pressies & proper birthday (not xmas!) wrapping paper. Thought it was good to set a precedent for future years! Will do the same this year, but not quite sure what we/he will want to do when he's a year or 2 older

my brother's bday is christmas day. he varies between hating it and loving it. He's the boss of when he has his birthday and we have at least an hour (usually more) of only birthday presents. No one is allowed to mention christmas and all focus is on him. we always said we'd celebrate his half bday but i don't think we've remembered a single time yet.
the rules are.. no joint presents, no christmas wrapping paper and birthday cards are not optional!

My DH's birthday is also on Christmas Day. The only way we've been able to celebrate properly is to go away at Christmas so 4 or the last 5 years we've gone somewhere hot, we celebrated Xmas on Xmas Eve and Xmas Day is just about his birthday.

We weren't able to go last year as DD was only 4 months old but we are already planning to go somewhere for Xmas 2009.

I always buys birthday cards really early (as the selection available in December is rubbish) and he's never had a joint present.

Ds1 was born on Christmas Eve and we always celebrated his birthday with a small party, cake, separate presents etc.
He is an adult now and said that on reflection the only thing that ever bothered him was the fact that none of his friends could stay for a sleep over.

DS's bday is 29th Dec so the tree comes down boxing night and as of then xmas is over. We try and do more in the build up to it instead, just the usual stuff, xmas lists/xmas cards/making a calendar/tree, decorations, baking etc. Then for DS's bday we do something, go somewhere special. I don't do parties for the DC's birthdays though as DD's is 24th nov and DS's is 29 the dec they are both quite close to xmas so we have a massive halloween party instead. They are cool with that, birthdays they do something special with one or two friends, and that is part of their present, plus they get a nice outfit to wear and one thing they've asked for.

And NEVER EVER do joint presents.
My birthday is jan 9th and I HATED joint presents. Much prefer two small ones, or when I got older, money/vouchers so I could combine them myself.

I was just about to post that my DS is 29th Dec and we take the tree down on boxing night... but VS beat me to it!

We will be taking him out for the day too, sealife centre I think, so that there is no doubt that it is his special day and unrelated to christmas.

I think I'd go for the half birthday idea in the summer.

My ds is one on the 3rd january too! My ds1's Birthday is on 25th November I can see the future being very expenisve thank god dd's Birthday is 3rd April as it gives us 2 months to recover.