Christmas Baby Birthday Ideas

[mra]

I know my LO's first birthday is a long way off, but the other birthday threads got me thinking. My LO was born on Christmas day. Which means her birthday is forever going to be more about Christmas for family and friends than about her birthday. I want her birthday to be meaningful and special and not forgotten or made to be just another part of Christmas by family and friends. 

My brother was born on Dec. 30th. My uncle was born on Christmas as well and these are the things they/I remember about having birthdays at Christmas time.

1. The birthday/Christmas gift that wasn't any better than anyone else's regular Christmas gift. (Not that we put a high value on gifts - I don't even give many gifts, but that's what we all remember.)

2. Friends and family couldn't make it to parties because of the craziness of the holidays or because they were traveling during that time.

3. They felt that their birthdays weren't that important because everyone else was just too excited and preoccupied with Christmas.

4. Birthdays often got forgotten by all but the closest family members and friends, again because Christmas is a hectic time.

5. The Christmas decorations were still up for their birthdays, so again it didn't quite feel much like a birthday.

So, I'm trying to think of a tradition to start to make her birthday more about her and less about Christmas. Any ideas? I want to do something that I can continue doing through at least her childhood. I thought about having "Christmas in July" in our house, but it's still Christmas for everyone else. Or celebrating her 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 etc. year birthday instead of 1, 2, 3 etc.

[hhmomma72]

Being a Christian, Christmas is all about a birthday for me.  Our LO was born on Dec. 24.  I've always stressed a lot over the gift part of Christmas and try to make my family members' birthday the real gift day of the year.  But I've thought about when she has friends having a party the first day out of school.  She'll be baptized on May 29 and that will be a big annual celebration too.

[NikonMama]

Thank you.  I mean for being aware of this.  My birthday is Dec 13th, and even now as a 30 some year old woman, I can tell you that one of my biggest pet peeves is having my birthday as part of Christmas, and especially receiving Christmas related/styled gifts for my birthday.  It may seem petty and childish, but I don't care. 

[P.J.]

Honestly, this is a tough one. I always pitied people whose Bdays were around Christmas.

Maybe you could start a tradition where you do something really special for her every year either after the holidays (like the first half of January) or right before (like the first week of Dec...although that is still holiday time). Maybe take her someplace special, or plan a special weekend away wherever she wants to go, or let her pick out a gift at that time.

I think other people who have lived this will have better advice than me, but I wish you luck and hope you can find a way to make your LO's Bday special for her.

[my kidlets and me]

Here are 2 scenarios - do with them what you will!

My sil was born on Christmas Day - we always have a cake and separate birthday presents for her on the 25th, none wrapped in Christmas paper.  

My sister has 2 kids born close to Christmas (the 17th and 19th) - she makes them a cake on their birthday and they sing, but they do their birthday party on their half birthday in June.  More kids can come then, and the weather is usually great.

HTH!

[HopefulJo]

My DS has a Dec 26th birthday, so I'm in the same boat, wondering the same things.

My birthday is a week after Christmas & my sister's is a week before, so I've grown up used to dealing with holidays and birthdays.

- For us, we always made one Christmas list, and what we didn't get for Christmas, we got for our birthday.

- It was a pet peeve of mine to get a "christmas/birthday" gift, or to get a birthday gift wrapped in Christmas paper, so I'll be avoiding both of those for DS.

- I had a couple friends with Christmas birthdays, and their family had a smaller "Birthday tree" where the birthday gifts sat separate from the Christmas gifts. I thought that was a fun idea.

- Parties around the holidays are always hard- I typically had just a couple friends sleep over for New Year's, or took just one friend on a special outing. With the number of family events in DH's family around Christmas, I have no idea how we'll fit in a birthday party for DS, too.

It feels so early to be thinking about this, with our not-yet-3-month-olds! 

[Dichotomy]

Im glad this got posted.

My daughter was born this past Christmas and Im already dreading her first birthday, and thinking it will likely be kind of forgotten amidst the chaos of the holidays.

Im looking forward to hearing others' suggestions.

[Knitting Mama]

Maybe when she's older you can let her choose how she wants to handle it? Like, celebration before or after Christmas, or celebrate half birthdays, etc. Earlier on, I bet she'll just love the attention with whatever you choose.

[glamerin]

My little boy was born on Christmas Day (although he was 7 weeks early and supposed to be born in February!)  My mom brought a little artificial tree to the hospital which we brought home with us.  We are planning to use it as a birthday tree - decorate it with all sorts of birthday things and put his birthday presents (separate from his Christmas presents) under that.  We are also planning to do a little celebration on his half-birthday - just something small.

[MrsHin2002]

My birthday is Dec 30th (and shared with my twin sister at that) and even at 40 I remember very clearly getting bday presents in Christmas paper or one gift for both events (sometimes to be shared with my sister). We didn't hardly ever have parties (which suited our mother I bet) and would have loved a birthday tree or half birthday celebrations and I'd think that anyone with a Christmas Day birthday would appreciate them even more.

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