If you have a Dec Birthday...

[kacaju]

What do you or did your parents do to make sure your Birthday was special?
My *baby* is 10 year old today and I always heard/hear how horrible it is to have a Dec Birthday because it is so close to Christmas.
I have always tried to make her Birthday a special day and so far I think it has worked because she LOVES her Birthday.

So far over the last 10 years I have...

always held a party for her either on her Birthday or as close to it as I can. Today she is having 7 friends over from 5-7 for her party.
We blow up balloons and stick them in the tree for her *Birthday tree*
Take her out to eat, we did that yesterday since she is having friends over tonight

What do you do?

 

[joyjoy]

When I was in college I dated a guy whose birthday was Dec 23rd.... and he was a TWIN. They often got the combo Christmas/Birthday gift that they had to share. Bummer.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Since my ds birthday is so close to christmas I always had his friends party the lst week of december. Lots of moms like it as they did some christmas shoping then and I found out towards the end if I had the part too close to christmas people were less likely to come due to family committments and usually everyone at school ended up sick then.

And never wrap the birthday presents in christmas paper, he always hated that.

 

[HsvTeacher]

My DM, DMiL, and I have birthdays in December and January. Here's what we do:

• Never give a combination gift.
• Never give a Christmas-themed birthday present.
• Never wrap the birthday gift in Christmas paper.
• Always acknowledge the birthday in a special way.

My birthday is after Christmas, so when I was younger I always received really good toy gifts. I'm sure it was because everything was on sale the day after Christmas.

 

[brasswillow]

My birthday is two weeks before Christmas, my sister's is two weeks after Christmas. When we were little we would pick a day in June or July and have a Half Birthday Party for both of us. We would have friends over or go to a park, with cake and one present.

Now that we're grown up we don't have Half Birthday any more. On our birthdays we have cake and presents just as if our birthday was at any other time of the year.

EDIT: Oh yeah, please don't warp my birthday present in Christmas paper!

 

[PK Disney Dork]

My youngest daughter's birthday is December 17th. We normally will have a small get together with a few of her friends and the family (this year she requested Chucky Cheese) but since it's tough financially to really have a party party that time of year what we do is throw her a "half birthday" in June every year. It's normally a big outdoor party with lots of friends and family and this way it's easier on the wallet and it's not as hard getting people to come to a party when it's not around the holidays.

 

[Darcy03231]

My sister's birthday is December 27th. My mom opted to have her party with her friends in June each year. This made it completely separate from the holiday. It also made it so that she was able to get stuff for her birthday that could be used right away, like a bike, pool toys, etc. (we live in New England).

 

[NHdisneylover]

My birthday was earlier this month. DS is 11 today and DD will be 13 Saturday.

Like you we try to make the kids birthdays very special:

we never combine gifts or use Christmas wrap on birthday gifts

each child gets to choose a restruant to go out to for dinner on his/her birthday and we open family gifts there

each child gets to pick a (reasonable) activty for on his/her birthday. DS wanted to rent TWO movies of his choice today (it was a half day at school so their is time) and DD wants to go ice skating on Saturday.

we throw a party for each child (never combine those either) within a week or so of the birthday. Normally we would have had DS's already but many of his friends will be out of town until Jan 6 so he will have it late this year (his choice) to be sure his two best friends can come.

I make sure I do not run any sort of Christmas errands or have Christmas tasks (wrapping, etc) to get done on the birthdays.

I have always given them the option of celebrating a half birthday in June but both prefer sticking with their real birthdays. One aunt does send a half birthday gift instead (which they enjoy getting from just one person) and I tend to go a bit overboard at Easter getting "summer" toys in.

 

[PlainJane]

Had my parties in January

I'm not even kidding. It is just to much of a nightmare to schedule around everyone's Christmas pageants, vacations, Christmas parties, and family dinners.

For my actual birthday, I would go out with my parents and one or two close friends.

 

[Laura]

Basically, I had my birthday celebrated just like my siblings did. Don't use Christmas paper to wrap presents, no Christmas log for a birthday cake, etc. Treat the birthday as you would if it were August or some other random time of the year.

 

[MAKmom]

My DD15 is Dec 16th & we never put up the tree until after her birthday party. This year we had 12 girls for a sleep over.

We always had a party when she was younger we always made a Christmas type craft item at her partys. She likes that she still sees them at her friends house every year!

 

[momrek06]

My DS' bday is December 30th!!! He is going to be 24yo this year but as a kiddo, I always did it up huge.
I always rented a special place for the party; a skating rink, a bowling alley, a hall, a gym, a restaurant, whatever the trend was that particular year.
I invited my entire family and his entire class right through (I want to say) 8th grade! (He attended a small private Catholic school through 8th grade.) All his friends always looked forward to his parties as they were during school vacation!!
His 16th, 18th, 20th birthday we celebrated in WDW!!
For his 21st birthday, we took DS to Paris, France to celebrate!!


I never gave DS his biggest/best gifts on Christmas. I always gave them on his birthday so that would be a memorable birthday! Like if we were getting him a bike....he got it for bday....if I was getting him a game system, he got it for his bday....and on and on.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My birthday is late December and my sister's is early January. We were just razzing our mom the other day about how she used to handle our presents. My parents would buy each of us (we also have a brother with a June birthday) 10 presents and put them under the tree. Then she would ask us which 2 we wanted to open on our birthdays. Those would go away and return on our birthday, still wrapped in Christmas paper! My mom said she doesn't remember doing that but we kids never forget! My brother with his June birthday would get to open all 10 of his gifts on Christmas and then get more for his birthday. I'm not complaining. We still got plenty of presents. It just would have been nice to have them wrapped in birthday paper once in a while.

 

[jen0610]

My DM, DMiL, and I have birthdays in December and January. Here's what we do:

• 
  [*]Never give a combination gift.
  [*]Never give a Christmas-themed birthday present.
  [*]Never wrap the birthday gift in Christmas paper.
  [*]Always acknowledge the birthday in a special way.

My birthday is after Christmas, so when I was younger I always received really good toy gifts. I'm sure it was because everything was on sale the day after Christmas.

I am a Christmas Eve Baby. This are things I remember that didn't go over well.

My mom did this once. I got this very pretty blue sweater for my birthday. The one gift we always go to open on Christmas Eve, was the matching skirt. It was a set that she split up, because she was running out of time and couldn't find me anything else. Dad was not pleased with her for that

Never get a "birthday cake" with a Christmas tree on it or poinsettia on it. Also, stay way from having them pipe on words or trim in green and/or red.

Also, don't add Happy Birthday inside a Christmas card and vice versa. I would rather have two 99 cent cards, then 1 $4.99 card for either with the other greeting written in as an after thought.

Growning up, the week leading up to our birthdays, it was that kids week to get the mail outta the mailbox. Both of my brothers always got all of their cards from the grands, aunts and uncles this way. Not me on my dads side, who really were the only ones who sent cards. We spent Christmas at dads side of the family and they would just wait and give me the cards when we got to Grandmas for Christmas. So while my brothers got the excitment of receiving mail, I didn't.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I have a DS just turned 9 with December 12 birthday, DH has January 2 birthday. My DS 7 years will turn 8 on Christmas day!!!! So our house is very busy this time of year!

We always do a combined party for the kids early in December. If we waited until closer to DS 7's birthday I'm afraid no kids would be able to come. Also we always have it in our house since the weather around here can be very bad I don't want to book a party place and have no one show up!

Birthday presents are always wrapped in Birthday paper. We don't skimp on birthday presents just because Christmas is coming. Each boy gets most of their presents at their party, and we save one for their actual birthday. Birthday presents go by the fire place. Not under the tree. On DS 9's birthday he gets to choose where we go out to eat. On DS 7's birthday we go out either Dec 23 or Dec 26th since most places are closed on Christmas day.

By the time we get to DH's Jan 2 birthday we are so tired of birthday cake that we usually have cookies or something else. I do make sure to get him a decent birthday present even if we have overspent on the boys birthdays and Christmas. I guess I'm lucky my birthday is in the summer!

 

[worm761]

Thank you for this thread. Our daughter was just born on the 7th. Now I will know what not to do in the years to come. DS's birthday is in May so I have never had to think about it.

 

[arkansas mom]

I'm a Christmas day baby. We've done my birthday two different ways.
One is that Christmas afternoon-after all the presents and dinner, Christmas comes to a screeching halt and it's my birthday. Clear distinction between Christmas and birthday gifts, cake, decorations, etc. --lately my DH and DM have been setting a separate room with Disney themed decor for birthday time!
Also, we've done it where we embrace the fact that I was born on Christmas (cause that makes me special you know).

 

[Chicago526]

My FIL had the poor luck to be born ON Christmas day! I don't know what happened as a kid, but as an adult they'd celebrate his half birthday on June 25 rather than trying to do it on Christmas day.

My DB1's b-day was last week. Growing up we didn't do much for b-days in general, just cake after dinner and a present or two. My parents of course did the same for DB1 as what DB2 and I goth, and made sure they didn't skimp on the presents just because Xmas was around the corner. Since it was plan to see that DB1 had the same b-day "celebration" that my DB2 and I did, he really couldn't cry "foul".

My mom did the same with my DB2 and I. Our b-days fell only four days apart (different years, of course! ) but she made two cakes and we had two seperate b-day celebrations. She did not think it was fair to combine the two just because our b-days were so close.

 

[kacaju]

On the subject 1/2 Birthdays... I thought I would like the idea, but with dd10 being my last, all I thought of was the nightmare of remembering another date, plus she already had two older sisters.. I was afraid... would they too want a 1/2 Birthday? Then I would have to do 6 Birthdays!! No way....plus doesn't that send the whole message... we are too busy for your Birthday right now. I never wanted my dd to feel it was not a good time to have a Birthday.

 

[tazdev3225]

My DD was due Christmas Day but was born on January 4th. We always celebrated her birthday then, whatever weekend fell closest to the dat. As she got older she asked for half-birthdays with her friends. We would then have a pool party to celebrate. She always had birthday paper and a birthday cake. I still make sure she has something special on her day. She has a DD who is Dec 3rd. She just turned 1 and they had her party while I was in WDW. I was lucky that my other kids understood the 1/2 birthday concept and let her celebrate that way.