Another birthday question - Celebrate early?

[Kayleebug]

We're going to WDW about 2 weeks before my DD's 5th birthday. Have any of you ever celebrated a birthday early? I think I might feel weird saying it was my DD's birthday 2 weeks early, but it's so close. ??????? Granted, we're having her real birthday party at home early , too. That, for some reason, doesn't feel weird. Any opinions on this?

 

[Kayleebug]

bump-anyone?

 

[KimberlyC]

We are celebrating DS's 2nd b-day at WDW a week early. It is the purpose of our trip but we can't go on his real b-day. His real b-day actually falls on a weekend and I can't take him away from the grandparents on his real b-day weekend (he's having a party at Jeepers close to home). Our choices were to go to WDW for a long weekend trip the weekend before or the weekend after his real b-day. We chose the weekend before. He's little so he doesn't really know when his b-day is, but I had a t-shirt made for him that says he's having a Tiggerific 2nd b-day and I'm ordering a cake for our dinner at CP. I think its close enough.

If it makes you feel better, don't say its your DD's b-day; instead say you are "celebrating" your DD's b-day. If your DD is comfortable with the extra attention she might receive I see nothing wrong with celebrating a bit early.

 

[liquid]

We celebrated my daughter's 7th birthday a week or so early at WDW last fall. Her birthday was actually 10/8 and we were there 9/24-10/4. So, I chose one day (I think that it was 9/30) to *be* her birthday and made ADRs (for the whole family) for the Princess Storybook for breakfast and the Crystal Palace for dinner. I also made an ADR for lunch at CRT for 2 days later, just for my daughter and myself.

When I made the ADRs on the phone, I explained to the CM that it wouldn't actually be her birthday but that we were celebrating a week early and she told me it was perfectly fine. All three restaurants brought out a special birthday dessert and sang Happy Birthday, as well as giving her a birthday card or certificate.

I asked for birthday buttons at the MK and Epcot in advance so they would be ready first thing and those CMs were also fine with it.

IOW, I made sure that I asked the CMs if it was ok when I made the arrangements and then we just enjoyed ourselves!

One more thing - because she is older, I made it clear that because we were celebrating at Disney we were not also going to have a party at home. A birthday cake on her birthday, presents and the traditional (at least in our family!) outing with Dad- sure. But no more, as I didn't want things to get out of hand! She was fine with it and the other children (especially my youngest) never felt badly about her birthday being unusually special - they were just happy for her! Then again, this wasn't a trip to celebrate her birthday - just to celebrate Free Dining !

 

[tink too]

I wanted to make one day of our vacation a "birthday celebration" for DD but was unsure if it would be frowned upon as it would be a couple of weeks after her birthday - I think I will go ahead now!

We are from the UK and had to fit the trip in with school holidays, so we couldn't be in WDW on DD's actual birthday.

I think that one special character meal should be ok though - I'm certainly not going to celebrate all week!

 

[Dimples]

Now wait just a minute....did I miss out? I am going to Disney for my birthday and I am turning 49!!! Should I get something special and all that attention too? he he. Actually we are going 9/17 thru 9/23 and I wont turn 49 until 2 weeks later but he what the heck....I don't want to miss out on that button! Ha ha! I think it is fun for the kids as my granddaughter celebrated her 6th birthday at disney last year and the other one will celebrate her 4th birthday this September while visiting WDW. Fun for All and Happy Birthday to ALL! If anyone knows if they do anything special for us OLD LADIES let me know.

 

[Hunnybee]

You think a week is early -- we're going 2 months early!

DD will turn 3 in July. I really don't care to go to Florida in the middle of July. I was thinking May sounded much better. So, we're doing a family vacation (12 people all together) in May to celebrate her birthday. At first I wasn't going to get her a button, but we are celebrating her birthday then and many people told me it would be a shame not to do the full "birthday" thing. They didn't think it would be out of line to get the button. So, we're going to get her the button and everything. I did order our personalized shirts from Disneyshopping.com saying we were celebrating her "3rd Unbirthday" -- so, true Disney fans will know what that means! If anyone asks, I will totally tell them when her "real" birthday is.

 

[Luv4Mickey]

We always make it the "birthday trip" in our family. All of my children (3) were born within 3 weeks of one another. So, we generally go in June closest to the middle childs b-day. However, I always let them know that we are celebrating all three. Last year we even had a basket of goodies sent to the room with 3 balloons, one for each. The IL come up sometimes to join us, so this year the MIL's b-day is the day before we arrive, and Fathers Day falls during our trip so we will be celebrating all! Disney doesn't mind, they love the celebrations and it doesn't matter how old you are! The MIL wore her button proudly for her 60th last year and soaked up as much attention as she could get. So, celebrate and don't feel guilty. With so many blended families, and everyone having special circumstances who really celebrates on their actual day anyway??

 

[KimberlyC]

You think a week is early -- we're going 2 months early!

DD will turn 3 in July. I really don't care to go to Florida in the middle of July. I was thinking May sounded much better. So, we're doing a family vacation (12 people all together) in May to celebrate her birthday. At first I wasn't going to get her a button, but we are celebrating her birthday then and many people told me it would be a shame not to do the full "birthday" thing. They didn't think it would be out of line to get the button. So, we're going to get her the button and everything. I did order our personalized shirts from Disneyshopping.com saying we were celebrating her "3rd Unbirthday" -- so, true Disney fans will know what that means! If anyone asks, I will totally tell them when her "real" birthday is.

Thats ingenious! She gets to have her 3rd Unbirthday at WDW AND her admission is still free!