DS is 12/22. This is the first year we're really doing Santa, so there will be a bit more emphasis on his birthday vs. Christmas. Our plan is, if he wants, to have a birthday party on his half birthday. Right now all he cares about is that he gets "happy birthday cake" and he can open his presents.
Do you buy presents for the entire following year and spread them over the two occasions?
Yep. To help with cost since it's back to back-I also buy up to 2 years ahead (generic stuff-puzzles, books, big hit toys like Stomp Rockets). We have envisioned Christmas remaining small, probably 3-4 gifts, and his birthday having a "big" gift and a couple small gifts. This year he's getting a train set, which I found at a garage sale when he was 1 for $10. It is a pretty big set, complete with all the Thomas trains. To keep his interest throughout the year, we cycle toys between upstairs and downstairs (he plays downstairs more) so things seem new. We've gotten a couple things here and there this year to give to him immediately (garbage truck, tool bench), but try not to do that on a regular basis.
We are also trying to convince family that if they insist on a gift, have it be a check for his 529, an experience/membership, etc. We are at the point where we are tired of all the stuff around the house (even though he's not even 3 yet) and trying to focus on doing things that are memorable-his 4th birthday will be a cruise, 5th will be Disney. He'll have a couple things to open, but we're trying to develop the idea of the mystery surrounding the place we'll go/event we'll see, if that makes sense.
Post by chickadee77 on Oct 3, 2014 11:38:25 GMT -5
Mine is the 18th, and H's is the 23rd, and we both love having Christmas birthdays. Growing up, our parents made sure to celebrate with a birthday cake (mine was usually Christmas themed, though, because I liked it) and a separate birthday party. Honestly, I think if you present it as fun, an extra celebration, etc., you'll be fine.
H and I are actually chuckling, because with L's birthday being in June, we're like, "Weird. What do we *do*?" We're both so used to our birthdays feeling like a month-long celebration that a random day in the summer seems kind of like a bummer to us, lol.
Post by rootbeerfloat on Oct 3, 2014 11:42:06 GMT -5
DS is 12/27. We make a point to have separate occasions/gifts. At school, he celebrates before break; this is the first year he's asked for a friend party, so we will do it the weekend before, if we do. Since we're traveling for the holidays this year, he's lucking out b/c we're probably taking him to Universal Studios. So far, it's just the most awesome time of year, lol.
Post by chickadee77 on Oct 3, 2014 11:42:47 GMT -5
Oh, and my mom tried the half-birthday thing with me once and I was all, "But it's not my birthday. Does this mean we won't celebrate in December? This is dumb." I think I was maybe three or four.
My birthday's a few weeks before Christmas, in December. When I was a kid, we didn't put up the Christmas tree and decorations until my birthday had passed. Obviously this isn't practical if the birthday is really close to Christmas, but I liked having that separation. Joint birthday/Christmas presents suck, until the kid is old enough to understand that it is truly a joint-occasion gift (e.g., it's clear that the "value" is greater than one or the other). That may sound crass, but kids compare and remember, especially with siblings.
Otherwise, obvious things like not wrapping the birthday present in Christmas paper just because you already have it out, and if you do birthday parties try to plan well in advance to lock down friends' schedules.
I had a friend growing up whos birthday was a couple days before christmas and instead he would have his birthday party (with friends) on his half birthday in June. Ive always thought that was kind of neat!
DD's birthday is on December 21st, so when she's in school, we're going to have her friend birthday party around June 21st and then have a family party for mine & her birthday the beginning of December (my birthday is usually the week of Thanksgiving)
ODS has a birthday on December 2nd. I tend to do his birthday the weekend after Thranksgiving so out of town family is able to come, so it ends up being more of a "big deal." Also, I make sure to not short change him and split his Christmas presents into a birthday or Christmas pile. I try to keep the amount the same for both his and his brother's Christmas/birthday presents even though it is tempting to cheat a little.
A big thing is to not turn it into a holiday party and keep a birthday party. Even though I don't WANT to have people at my house on X mas, Thanksgiving, and his b-day all with in weeks of each other, I do. He gets to pick his theme/decorations, get a cake (and not some variation of a holiday treat), and all the same treats he would have if his birthday were at any other time.
I think in the future I imagine he will be "stiffed" as far as gifts go. I like the idea of a half birthday party.
Post by undecidedowl on Oct 3, 2014 14:53:54 GMT -5
DH's birthday is a few days before Christmas. The only thing I do is make sure Christmas does not creep into the birthday fun at all. So, even though we have way too many Christmas sweets around I always make a birthday cake anyway. And I have to fight the urge to use Christmas wrapping on his birthday presents. We celebrate his birthday the weekend before Christmas and usually try to get together with at least some family even though we will be seeing them again in a few days for Christmas.
Post by purplecow0206 on Oct 3, 2014 15:15:11 GMT -5
My birthday is 12/27 and A's is 1/7.
Growing up, my parents were very good at separating the two days. It was a pain at school, simply because we had ALL the December birthdays celebrated the week before break, so we didn't get our own "special" day that was our actual birthday, but the summer birthdays had the same issue.
We never did big birthday parties, but the family birthday celebration was the same for me and my sisters (one is near Thanksgiving and one is near Easter, which was a big deal in my family) so we all had something to "compete" with.
Some years Hannukah falls right on DD's birthday, so it can be hard to separate. We always do a birthday party for her the week before and give separate presents. My birthday is in June so it was nice that every six months I got gifts.
Post by dragonfly08 on Oct 3, 2014 15:29:51 GMT -5
My birthday is two days before Christmas. My parents always made sure to celebrate it separately. Nobody ever gave me a combo birthday/holiday gift (I'm Jewish, with my maternal relatives being Christian, so I had both Hanukkah and Christmas to reckon with).
My niece's birthday is 12/26. My sister makes sure to celebrate away from the holiday. The family party is typically in November, and my niece has a party or something with her friends in January. We all refrained from combo gifts until she was old enough to realize that combining the two got her a bigger present and she started requesting them. And if she doesn't request a larger combo deal in any given year, we still make sure to do two separate gifts.
My brother's bday is 12/25. We always did christmas breakfast with presents under the tree from Santa, then that night my mom would make his favorite dinner (Tacos) and we'd have bday presents and cake for him. My grandparents often came over that night for the tacos too.
I'm 12/26. My parents were always careful to have separate gifts, no "extra big, so it's for both" presents. The 26th was a special day with family, wrapping paper was NOT holiday, it was birthday. I got to eat sugar cereal that day, and we often went shopping for post-holiday bargains and had whatever I wanted for dinner.
Once I was a bit older, I was allowed to choose whether I wanted to have my party around my birthday, or celebrate my 1/2 birthday. I only did my 1/2 birthday once, I really wanted a pool party in junior high, and those are hard to have in December in Canada. Otherwise, it usually worked out well. I tended to have my party either the first weekend of Christmas break, or the last, so if people were traveling they maybe hadn't left yet, or were home before school started.
A few relatives would just give me one gift or card, but it wasn't ever a big deal. I didn't really know any different.
Post by teatimefor2 on Oct 3, 2014 22:34:13 GMT -5
My birthday is usually the day after thanksgiving, if thanksgiving is late. Celebrating with family wasn't hard, it was usually the first weekend in December, but parties were hard. We celebrated my half birthday a lot and it was great because we had a pool. I had a lot of pool parties.
When I was ten my grandparents became snowbirds, so we celebrated all the winter birthdays in September. It felt like I was always celebrating my birthday. June with friends, September with grandparents and nov/dec with my parents and local family.
My DD's birthday is 12/15 - we always waited until 12/16 to start christmas. No tree or decor until then. Part of our tradition was to go after her birthday dinner on the 15th and pick out our tree so that we could decorate it on the 16th. It was always important to me to make sure she didn't get slighted. It worked well, she will be 21 this year and we've changed traditions a little as she got older (not due to her birthday but in general) but she's always commented that she appreciated "holding off the holidays" until after her birthday.
This is almost exactly what my family did. My birthday is 12/13. Now that I'm an adult, my birthday wish is for the family to take time together and decorate my tree.