Kids with Birthdays near Christmas.

[ghosty]

How do other Mumsnetters find this? It isn't too bad for us but bad enough ... DS is 30th November and DD is 3rd February.

I find the 11 month gap between the birthdays and xmas hard. Especially as we have the whole NZ winter to face (long and boring and wet with no Christmas to cheer us up, whereas summer has lovely weather, Christmas AND school summer holidays all rolled into one ...) Usually around June/july time we go away for a little holiday to break up the monotony and we get the children each a 'mid year' something to keep them going ...

But my problem is: I spend most of November focussing on DS's birthday .... then on the 1st December I panic thinking, "$hit, it's only 4 weeks to Christmas!" Now, obviously neither date changes ... his birthday has been the same for 7 years and Christmas has been the same for 2000 year ... so why can't I get organised (or, at least I AM organised but have a big panic in December).
Then I am so worn out after Christmas that poor DD has so far had pathetic celebrations ... (she has had 2 birthdays so far) a cake is all I can manage.

If you have kids' birthdays near Christmas what do you do to get through?

[bettythebloodier]

dds b'day is Christmas Day, she'll be 4 this year. It's sooo difficult, I've tried new things each year to make it special, but there's no escaping the fact that she's missing out!

We have bought her an 'outdoor' present (ie a slide) and given it in June, to spread the presents (and the expense!) out a bit.

[arfishymeau]

DD's birthday is the 16th Dec. I have finished my Christmas and birthday shopping, I always start in Sept or Oct. It spreads the cost and stops me getting caught up in any inflated Christmas prices.

We don't send presents back to the UK, just either transfer money for gifts or order stuff online from UK shops.

We don't put up the tree until after her birthday to keep Christmas and birthday separate. It's all a bit of a blur for those few weeks before Christmas and she ends up with heaps of stuff all over the space of one week.

I remember going into labour with her when I was decorating the tree . I also managed to force down a HUUUUGE Sunday dinner during the contractions.