How do you handle kids with birthdays close to Christmas?

[eeyorefan74]

My DD's birthday is Dec. 27, and we're still trying to figure out how to make her birthday special since it's so close to Christmas. She'll be 4 this year, so I'd like to have a party, but last year we had a hard time arranging it because so many people were traveling. I hate to ask out of town cousins who might normally come, when they've just gotten home from their Christmas travels. Just wondered how others handle it. Do you wait a couple of weeks or just do a family party?

 

[pooh4evr]

I have a DD turning 4 on the 27th too! We usually have a party somewhere- we had it at home when she turne 1 and it was too much 2 days after christmas, so we have done Chuck E Cheese, Pump It Up(inflatable jumping place) and I think this yr she wants an indoor soccer party. It os hard to separate the 2 I have thought of doing a half birthday party on June 27 Dh bday- maybe when she is older... I just make sure her gifts are all in bday paper, and they are different that her christmas stuff.

 

[Duchie]

For all of our birthdays, we have a "family party" on the actual day with just us - birthday person chooses dinner, cake, presents, etc. Then we have a party with their friends another time. Usually we do that within the same week, but sometimes we do go longer. My birthday is close to Thanksgiving, my brother's is mid-December and my sisters is New Years Day, and this was how my mom handled it when I was growing up and it worked well.

 

[holden]

Our DD's b-day is right around Christmas too. She ususally has her "friends" party the week b/w Christmas and New Year's. It's nice because we can have it on a weekday. Plus, many kids don't have much going on that week anyway. We have also celebrated it during the 2nd week of Jan. That's nice because sometimes the winter can drag on and it's fun to have a party to go to.

The family celebrates her b-day on the actual day. Nothing Christmasy is involved!

 

[bas71873]

This thread makes me laugh because I have a friend whose middle daughter (she's in 3rd grade) has a close to Christmas birthday and so they celebrate her 1/2 birthday each year. I just found this out this year when she had her at the pool in early June during the day when all the other kids were at school. She lets her miss a day of school and they go to a movie or lunch or do whatever Ava wants to do that day and she gets one gift. Then on her "real" birthday, I think they just do cake and have the grandparents over (who of course bring gifts)!

 

[Duchie]

Whoops - duplicate post

 

[Mickeypooh99]

My DS who will be 9 this year was born on Christmas day! My DS who will turn 10 this year was born on Dec. 12.

We usually have a combined party for them 2 weeks before Christmas. They invite friends and family. It has usually worked out fine. We always have it at our house because I'm afraid if we planned it at someplace like Chuckie Cheese we would have a snowstorm and no one would come.

We usually give them 1 small gift on their actual birthday (for DS 8 that means one thing not wrapped in Christmas paper on Christmas day. We set it on the fireplace away from the tree.) The rest they get at the party.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Our DD's birthday is always Dec. 27th. Every year we ask her if she wants us to take down the Christmas decorations before her brithday. She doesn't care.

Every other year we have a "friends" party. The other years is family only, and all of our family is nearby to begin with and don't go elsewhere, or if they are coming from a long way they stay until after her birthday, so travel isn't a problem.

 

[Bren's Mom]

My birthday is 12/22. Very early on, my mom decided that we would celebrate my birthday the first weekend in December. She would never, ever put Christmas decorations up until my birthday was over with. We'd usually do the kid's party on Saturday, and a family party on Sunday. Birthday wrapping paper only, God help you if you showed up with a 'joint birthday/Christmas' gift OR wrapped it in Christmas paper! LOL (Obviously this refers to family, she wouldn't have been rude to my little friend's parents...LOL).

My sister's b-day is 1/18 so she didn't want to make it in late January as that then made it so she had to do parties 2 weekends in a row...plus we're in CT so snow/ice can always be an issue in January. Not so much in December.

So the first weekend of December it was! I'll be 40 this year , and I never, ever felt 'birthday deprived'.

 

[RMulieri]

My daughters Birthday is Dec 26th.We do a small family party around then and we do a big party in January .She doesn't mind the Christmas decorations, in fact she says she is special having a birthday so close to Christmas.

 

[NBFUN]

My DD will be turning 4 on Dec. 18th and we have always done her birthday that weekend, however, this year we are doing it Sat., Nov. 20th, so that it will be a month before Christmas.

We really wanted her to have a special day for her birthday, before all the Christmas decorations went up. She is so excited and we explained to her (as much as you can to a 3 year old) that we are having her party before her birthday.

I'm very excited about doing it this way, so her birthday presents and Christmas presents are separated.

 

[Mom2KandK]

My daughter is turning 4 on December 27th too!
We just moved to Florida a few months ago, so we don't know anyone yet.
So we're braving the crowds at Disney and made an ADR at Crystal Palace for that day.

For her past birthdays we had the parties a few weeks early because of the holiday craziness. On her actual birthday we went out to dinner and had cake.

One thing I always make sure to do is to never use Christmas wrapping paper for her gifts.

 

[RooRach0906]

My DMom birthday 12/10 and DSis is 12/21. My mom always had us put up the decorations on her birthday. This was her idea and it was her day we did what she wanted that day and normally took her out to dinner. As for DSis, mom always tried hard to make sure she felt like it was her day she did occansionally have parties with friends but not very often mostly because the kids were no shows and she choose not to anymore. We as a family tho would always do what she wanted that day. Now that we are older my DH and I still try and do something with my DSis and give her a present outside of our Christmas Eve Family Party. She is a single parent and doesnt have much money so we normally take her out to dinner.

This is a little off topic but our next Disney trip trip is Dec of 2012 and my DSis with the Dec birthday and my DNiece are going with us. Im planning on having us go to a special dinner in her honor that year. Shhhh she has no idea!

Also I have a friend whose son will be 1 on Dec 24 so I look forward to giving her some ideas on what to do since she is already wondering.

 

[cm8]

My birthday is on Christmas eve, and as a child I used to feel cheated out of my day. Now that I've turned 21 ( Forever 21), I throw myself a house party complete with all the fixings that I want and invite my friends over for karaoke and drinks . This is usually held the day before Christmas eve so that it won't interfere with other plans that people may have. My Nephew was also born on the 24th and he doesn't like it. My niece was born on the 26th and she couldn't careless who did what when it is her birthday as she gets what she wants all the time now so it seems like her birthday everyday

Every child deserves to have his or her day celebrated no matter what the date is. Some grow older and never forget

I say give them the option of celebrating before or after the big date and that way they will still feel celebrated not left out . I liken it to being born on a leap day, you get to decide when you age and how fast

 

[Mummy2Sydney]

We have 2 daughters born in December, 13th and 31st. We have always done seperate birthday parties for each until this year. We are doing a big party at a gymnastics facility on the 5th.

 

[wbarkhur]

My son's birthday is Dec 30, he will only be three this year, but a friend of mine who's daughter has a dec 26 birthday gave me this awsome idea that we are going to do for my son from now on. We will have a small tree, (his is a fake one with lights already on it that i got really cheap after christmas last year), and decorate it with small presents that I found at a craft store(nothing in them just decorations), and use a party hat for the topper. We are going to put it in a different area (not sure where yet, either his room or the living room) than the big tree, and then his birthday presents will go under his special tree. This has always made her daughter feel special, and not like her day gets over looked, because this was just for her.

 

[Ariel on Land]

Now I haven't read all the responses... but wanted to add a perspective an adult w/ a birthday close to Christmas. My suggestion would be to either have an early or late party with friends and extended family. Your nuclear family should still recognize the 27th with a family celebration: cake/balloons/gifts/etc... but throw her a real party say a month or so before or after the big day. When I had parties growing up, only a very small amount of people would ever come due to all the hub-bub of the holidays. My brother and sister, nowever, born in mid January always had a very large attendance to their parties, and admittedly, I was a little jealous!! (and for that reason, when we TTC, I ALWAYS skip the month that would bear a December baby!)

 

[grafxgirl]

I am 35 years old, and was born on Christmas Day. My parents always celebrated it with the family by having a cake, and giving me my birthday presents. As far as birthday parties with friends, I never had actual parties, but my parents would let me have a group of friends over, for a slumber party, sometime in January after the holidays have passed. The only thing I hated was that most of my friends had pool parties and I couldn't!!

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My birthday is Dec. 30 and my sister's is Jan. 6. The worst thing is the combination Christmas/Birthday present. And definitely don't give b-day presents wrapped in Christmas paper. Some of our friends and relatives would do this for my sister and me. But our brother, whose birthday is in June, would always get a new set of presents for his b-day. As an adult, I couldn't care less as I know there are more important things in life. But as kids, my sister and I felt a huge sense of inequality!

 

[VAfamily1998]

My DS(age 9) has a December 14th birthday. He doesn't have cousins that live close enough to come to his birthday parties (closest is over 3,000 miles away) so we've just had "friends" parties, and then a family celebration (DS, his 3 brothers, Dh and I) at home. We do the family celebration on his actual birthday--he gets to choose the dinner, then we have cake and present opening.

For the friends parties, we always had it the Saturday before or after his actual birthday (or his actual birthday if it happened to be on a Saturday). We've always found that we have WAY more positive RSVPs for his parties, than his brothers parties in the spring! By mid December, a lot of the soccer/T-ball etc. have died down--plus parents are grateful for a chance to drop off thier child at a party so they can sneak in some extra Christmas shopping!