I have a question for all of you out there who have birthdays near the winter holiday season.
I have a daughter age 4, whose birthday falls on January 5th. After all the buildup and brouhaha over Christmas, the whole birthday celebration and new stuff sort of falls flat. Others that I have spoken with who have birthdays in this time frame say that their birthdays have always been sort of blah.
Any advice on how to make a kids birthday more special when it falls this time of year?
1st of January birthday checking in…
My parents always used to take down most of the Christmas decorations (leaving the tree) and all the cards so the cards on display were all mine. That made it feel like it was my celebration.
Other than that, it was just a normal birthday except nowhere was open on my birthday.
But I agree with the other people you spoke to in saying birthdays that close to christmas are blah.
My birthday is December 1st and yes, between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it always felt like it was a little overlooked.
I used to date a woman whose daughter’s birthday was on Christmas day and she had Half-year celebrations. The girl got a part on June 25th with all the gifts and even got one small gift on XMas day. I like this idea.
My B-day is the 10th of December and it is sort of a pain in the butt. If you want your daughter to feel special on her day, YOU have to make a big deal of it, even if other people don’t.
My mom always had a big party for me - it wasn’t until I got older that it really became an issue for me. Also, try to get a non X-mas themed party - that makes it different too.
And folks - if you have a B-day in May, yer gonna get 2 gifts from me. I’m going to take the care and time to find something that you will really like, twice. I will hand knit 2 sweaters. Paint 2 pictures. Purchase 2 CD’s, etc. etc.
Deciding that you get to do the “Combo” gift is totally obnoxious.
If I have to take the time and put the thought into you twice, it’s sort of nice if you could return the favour, SVP.
That is all.
My dad’s is Dec 19, and according to him, he always got the combo Birthday/Christmas party and absolutely hated it. Just don’t combine the two things, and it’ll be better.
Mine is Nov 30, and my parents won’t even start with the Christmas decorations until Dec 1. That’s nice, too.
Just make sure you treat your daughter’s birthday the same as you would treat it at any other time of the year, with regards to amount of presents and so on. Taking down all the Christmas decorations a few days before would be a good step as well.
Mine is the 14th, which was far enough away from the Christmas season that my parents generally had the tree and decorations down and away before.
You could ask her if she’d be OK with having a party later in the month, a little farther away from Christmas. She may be a little young to make that decision now, but in a couple years she might be open to the idea. Her actual birthday could be celebrated with just the family, and then her party with friends would be another day. It’s almost like having two birthdays! 
My brother’s birthday is Dec. 20, and we always tried to make a point of keeping it separate from Christmas - wrap the gifts in birthday paper, not Christmas paper; don’t make a holiday-themed cake, etc.
Another 12/10 birthday here. Pretty much everybody has it right. Make sure you acknowledge that it’s someone’s birthday, not just an inflated Christmas.
At least for kids. As you get older, it’s less of an issue.
I dutifully send my nephew whose birthday is 1/10, his birthday present separately from his Christmas present.
My son’s birthday is New Year’s Eve. He just turned three and we’ve had a party for him evry year so far. My wife’s plan is to have a big party for him in the summer. That way he has a special day all for himself apart from the big holiday shin digs.
Whe got the idea from a friend, I think, whose parents did the same thing. It worked well for her.
My brother’s birthday is New Year’s Eve. We go out to dinner, and open his presents and have a cake at home. The next day, we have a separate Christmas celebration. He gets a party with his friends sometime in January.
My birthday is on Dec. 25th. When I was little, my mom tried the mid-year birthday party, which, worked pretty well, but, made me feel guilty cuz it wasn’t really my birthday. At other times, we would hold the celebration in the kitchen. This room was usually devoid of Christmas decorations, and with presents wrapped in actual birthday wrapping, so it made it feel like a birthday and not an extension of Christmas. And she always made a special cake. This was usually held in the evening, when some of the Christmas excitement had died down.
Since you’re looking for advice, I’ll move this thread to IMHO.
Thanks to all of you for the great advice. We already do some of it, like having the Christmas decorations down early, a cake, party etc. Having the 6 month birthday might be fund, since my oldest is a June birthday, we could give her a 6 month birthday and show her how “lost” the celebration can get…
Thanks to all of you!
My sixteenth birthday is in two weeks, on January 20th… which doesn’t sound so bad, but I still get combined presents from my friends. What makes this worse, though, is the fact I don’t celebrate Christmas with my family, as I’m not Christian.
Incidentally, my GCSE mock exams are on my birthday, too.
Huh.
My b-day is Dec 2, and I’ve had my share of those “Christmas-themed” Birthday presents… I think the santa claus cookie jar was the topper. It kind of gets melded into one holiday. But the good thing is, everyone is in a shopping mood around that time of season so I usually make out good with the gifts 
My birthday is Dec. 31, New Year’s Eve. All I can say is make sure that the child gets a seperate gift for both days, don’t combine them into one larger item. And DO have a cake, take pictures, etc, on har own day if possible, but not as part of a family holiday celebration.
December 24th here and let me reiterate that you should always buys two seperate gifts for your child. Never, ever combine your gifts.
An idea:
When I was in grade school, my mother would bake sugar cookie for the last day of class before the XMas break. That way the kids in school would would get a treat and I would get a “Happy Birthday” as well. As the years went on the kids would start asking if my mom was making my “Christmas Birthday Cookies”. Felt good that they remembered even if only for the cookies.
I think you should aways try to have a party as close to the actual day as possible. If you have a party I think you could include in the invitation to not combine any gifts. To the people who you expect to give both that is.
My family has a lot of Xmas Bdays (18-cousin, 22-uncle, 24-me, 27-dad, 29 cousin and 31-aunt) so we are well aware of what it is like.
Dec. 28th checking in…
Mom figured out when I was around 9 or 10 that I hated the combo gifts and x-mas theme when I began telling people who asked that my b-day was in June. So she started throwing the actual party (cake, ice cream, gifts and friends and the like) on June 28th. On my actual b-day in Dec. the family would get together and go out to eat or go to Chucky Cheese or miniature golfing or what have you. It made me feel like I was special and I have no regrets.
Most important is to treat the actual day with distinction and not blur the holiday/b-day line.
Best of luck and happiest b-day wishes to your little cricket!
My Birthday is December 9 and my brother’s is January 4. I’ve never felt like I was missing out on anything with my birthday, but my brother has said he does. I think there is a difference with being before or after christmas.
I’m another New Year’s Eve birthday.
As a kid, I used to get a lot of “combo” birthday/Christmas gifts. I hated that. Birthday presents usually got wrapped in Christmas paper, too. That was less annoying.
As an adult, I’ve realized that it always seems like the world throws a party on Dec 31 but never invites me - that’s also kind of a bummer.
A couple of times we’ve thrown a combo New Year’s/Birthday party & that’s OK although since baby-sitters for us family types are hard to come by we usually say “bring the kids” and we ring-in the New Year for Newfoundland.
I know lots of people who are completely obsessed with celebrating birthdays (even for one-year-olds) and anniversaries on The Exact Day. I think this is a mistake. Move the birthday to some time more convenient.
My daughter’s birthday is in July – no friends around to invite to a party, sob, sniff. We’ve held the party anywhere from mid-May to late August. But we have a family birthday, with a cake (but not necessarily presents), on the actual day. Prior to about age 5, we didn’t even bother to tell her we were having the party on a day other than her birthday.
I shamelessly move my wedding anniversary to a convenient weekend, too.