I have a bunch of family born all around the calendar, and we were sort of odd that since teh 40s we were all over the country. We started having a giant everybody birthday party on the 4th of july weekend. Was fantastic! usually the shindig was at my granparents house on the lake, so we had a huge picnic, with sailing, fishing, boating, swimming, tennis on the tennis court, generalized mucking around on the rest of the property and LOTS of presents for everybody. My best memory was at hte age of 7 getting a shetland monster anad it taking off for the hinterlands with my cousin Lori on his back … apparently he would tolerate only me =) Viscous buggers, I dont understand why anybody gets a shetland for a small girl, the most nasty beast in the world. Get them a welsh cob if anything!
My stepson’s birthday is November 17. When he was small, I always did separate presents. Now that he’s older, I just ask him when his birthday is approaching: "Okay, you c
Post submitting itself? That’s a new one.
Anyway, I ask him, “You can have two small things, or one big thing. If you choose the big thing, you’ll get it on your birthday, but you need to understand that when Christmas comes around, you’ll get zilcho. Do you understand, and you won’t be upset at Chistmas?”
He invariably tells me that yes, he understands and won’t be upset at Christmas, and yes, he’d prefer the one big thing.
I also think giving him the option is a good lesson for a nine year-old in personal responsibility, managing money, etc. So far, he’s cool with it, and if he ever tells me he would prefer two smaller presents, I’ll be happy to do that too.
Holy cow.
I understand how this can happen, but I would never rip off a person’s December birthday. {Confession: Of course, I am still trying to overcome my horrible oversight in forgetting a niece’s early January birthday about ten years ago when she was 2. :smack: Believe me, I have never again forgotten it!}
Birthdays and Christmas are totally separate and should be treated as such.
A birthday party should be SEPARATE.
One of my brothers and I had very late October birthdays and my mother, several times, melded them all together with Halloween. I am sure it was kind of fun (and not a little convenient) for her. I don’t think my bro cared all that much, but I did–it bothered me.
Hah, you December birthday people. How about late November? Right around Thanksgiving time? So not only do you not get the family birthday party, because we’ll do it on Thanksgiving, but then you get told, well we’re giving you a combined gift for Christmas and you’ll just have to wait. But, then when Christmas rolls around you get the same thing as the other kids, who also got birthday presents. 
Then how about a November 22 birthday and the President gets it on your birthday and you have to cancel your kid party and you only get one every other year because that’s all your family can afford? (Boy does that sound selfish 43 years later.)
However, I had the best birthday ever just last week. My husband who was working out of town got to come back for TG at the last minute. My son came home from the left coast for the first time in two years. And my daughter and son-in-law came over and stayed for several days. I got the Firefly and Pinky and the Brain DVD’s from the kiddies (we’re talking marathon TV watching here). We played 5 handed cut throat hearts and I ran them all twice in a row. And we went to see Spam-a-lot. Woohoo life is good!!!
Beat this: twins born on Dec 24. Not only do they get one gift for Christmas and their birthday, sometimes they have to split the gift between the two of them.
My birthday is December 27. I’ve received birthday gifts wrapped in Christmas paper, and the lame combo gift, but now I usually just get a birthday card handed to me along with my Christmas gifts, if anyone remembers.
My husband’s birthday is December 30, so he understands, and he and I make a special effort for each other’s birthdays.
December 28th chiming in 
I’m getting ready to celebrate my 47th birthday, and I’ve certainly experienced my fair share of birthday “short-changes” over the years. When I was a kid, this held more relevance and my parents took the steps to make sure I had some sort of birthday celebration every year.
I can’t deny it is a tough time of year with regards to timing, weather and finances. I’ve come to the conlusion, however, that people are mostly just tired by the time my day rolls around. People are resting up between Christmas and New Year’s Eve and I happen to be in the lull. As I’ve gotton older, I’m usually worn out from the holiday pace by this point as well 
My husband, Hakuna Matata, and I have have hit on the perfect way to celebrate our birthdays! We exhange gifts of “experiences”. The tickets I get on my birthday are usually for a play, concert or some other fun adventure to occur in February or March. So, I get a couple of months of anticipation and excitement to build. It’s a great way to get my biggest birthday excitement to occur independently from the holidays!
December 23 here and the SO is 12/24.
Yup, got ripped off lots as a kid. Never could get a party with more than maybe two kids 2 days before Christmas.
My SO understands, so it’s all better now.
I think China Guy also has twins born on that date. He’s posted some lovely threads with lovely pics of Audrey and Serena.
Well, my birthday is on the 31st, so that’s pretty close to Christmas, but I’ve been lucky all my life and never gotten one present for both events.
Incidentally, my late Dad’s birthday falls on the 26th, and he used to get the dual presents. However, being that he was born in 1928 into a poor Georgia farm family, one can understand why that might have been the case.
In our adult years, we’d kid around telling people what a “fast worker” he was, having had his son on the 31st!
Dad was a jazz drummer in WWII and on his birthday, we’d set up our kits facing each other and have a “drum battle”. He’d always put me “in the dirt” because he knew his rudiments, and I didn’t. He had such great left-hand independence, he was a joy to watch.
Sorry! Nostalgia attack. 
Q
Argh, I hate this.
December 20th is my birthday. December 21st is my Grandfather’s birthday.
So! Not only have I gotten combo presents (understandable when I was little as we didn’t have much money), but as a child I had to share my cake and celebration with my grandfather, too. I’ve had, quite literally, three birthday parties just for me in my entire life, and it wasn’t until I was an adult that I got seperate presents, or even an acknowledgement that I could have my very own party.
And the cake was always the one he likes (not bad, a nut cake) but never what I wanted - chocolate with lots of frosting.
I’m a bitter, warped old bat now skidding into my 38th year, and I blame him.
The other problem, of course, is that when you’re a kid school is out for Christmas either by then, or on the day, so all your little friends are off doing Christmas things and you never get to have the kid party anyway.
Now that I am a grown up, however (thought that is open to debate), just do not wrap my present in Christmas paper. I’ll strangle you. We are no longer poor, and I get my own presents for my own birthday, thank you. My husband understand this is just How Things Are.
Cheers,
G
OK, this is the part I just don’t get… is it considered somehow illegal, immoral or even merely fattening to celebrate one’s birthday not precisely on the day of birth? I ask, because here in Israel kids (and their parents, of course) will celebrate their birthdays as much as a full 2-3 weeks, sometimes more, away from the actual date, for any of a variety of reasons – because their birthday this year is during a school vacation; because it’s during summer vacation, or right up at the beginning of September, if this is a new class and they don’t know everyone yet; because they want to do an outdoor activity on their birthday and early March is just a lot safer bet on good weather than mid-February… whatever, as long as there’s a big-ass party with lots of presents 
Is it different other places? Is there really some strict adherence to the actual date?
Oh, and happy birthday, everybody!
Dec.20th here.
As a kid I never got many presents, hell we were so poor I thought knives and forks were jewels until I was about 7 years old.
Anyways, as the family got richer due to dads working like a Trojan day and night and mum also doing her bit all this changed.
At first I used to get separate gifts but as the years rolled by they gradually merged into just one prezzie.
Much the same as now
Friend is December 6th - Actually her birthday party is this weekend, on the 1st, last year it was slightly after the fact because we were still at school. I’d never thought of combining her presents, it’s just not fair, not to mention far apart.
Cousins are January 12th - and though they’re only about to turn three, they’ve never had combined pressies.
If I was buying for someone who was five days either side of christmas and I was close enough to them to buy them a Christmas present, I would ask if they had something large on their wishlist that they’d like as a combined. If not, I’d get them two small things at their choosing. I would hate to be stiffed like that so I won’t do it to anyone else.
We always celebrate the birthday itself by letting the person who’s having the birthday pick the dinner menu. But the party for the kid is often a week or two later, or earlier if that works out better. I like doing mudgirl’s that way, because I like to have her party after school’s back in from Christmas break. That way. she can get the invitations to all of her friends at school, and not have to deliver them so far in advance that her party’s forgotten about.
Thank you!
In most families? Probably not.
In mine? Yes, because of the proximity to my Grandfather’s birthday and the fact that I was (and probably still am, except that I’ve gotten him to stop calling me, in public) his “special little angel” (yeah, I know, shut up, its not the most embarrassing thing he calls me) and therefore he was determined that we would have our birthdays together and there would be drama and so forth if this did not occur.
So there you have it. Its because my Grandaddy loves me.
Cheers,
G
December 25th birthday here and I’ve never felt quite right having my birthday on a different day. So I grew up not having birthday parties, in fact I’ve really only had one with-friends birthday party, which would probably have something to do with my somewhat antisocial nature.
As for the presents thing I’ve always had a mix of combo presents from my extended family and girlfriends but my parents have always been really good about separating the two. Like a previous poster, Christmas in the morning and the rest of the day is my birthday. I usually seem to fair better present wise than my brother whose birthday is in February.
That’s “special” like in “Special Olympics?” 
Look at my handle – I’m allowed to do this, since I’m “Special” too!