December birthdays

[eldadeedlit]

Hi all.

My DS is 4, birthday is December 30th. My birthday is December 21st, and I actually always liked getting buried in gifts at the end of the year for birthday and Christmas. People were always like "Doesn't it stink to have a birthday in December? People must forget because of Christmas/you don't get presents all year/etc." but I never minded.

THAT BEING SAID... Now I kinda hate getting buried with stuff at the end of the year. : And when DS wants some sort of summer/outdoor toy, and basically we have to say "wait until your birthday," IDK... it just seems like a long time to wait.

Does anybody do something where they celebrate their kid's end-of-the-year birthday in say, the summer? My parents used to contemplate doing that for me but we never actually did. I'm just curious if anybody does this.

Veronica

[annekevdbroek]

I am wondering about this two. DS2 was born in January and DS1 was born in July. The 6 months between xmas and birthday for DS1 is really nice - and we do say often "we'll put it on the birthday list....etc." After 6 months he is developmentaly ready for some new toys....

I was sort of thinking of doing a half-birthday for DS2 when he is older. I'd be really interested to hear what others do.

[Houdini]

I have heard of the half bday idea too. We have a Dec. 23, Feb. 23, and two June bdays (2 and 11). We have actually combined our Dec/Feb kids (boy/girl) together and done a skating party in April, but they were older when we did (9/8). I think the idea of half bdays are neat, but we already have two summer bdays, so we don't do them.

[hottmama]

My kids are Jan. 31 and Dec. 21. For my little December baby, we had his birthday party a week early so there was more of a break between it and Xmas. But we don't really do Xmas-- we give them joint presents (last year, a Radio Flyer wagon) but individual presents are for their birthdays. And I do buy things in the summer, like last year I got my son a new bike in July because it would suck to get a new bike in January.

[pixiepunk]

i actually purposely avoided having kids at that time of year because my birthday is Dec. 22nd. I was raised Jewish and Hanukah isn't that big a deal compared to christmas as far as presents go, but it was hard to have birthday parties because all my friends were going out of town, my university teacher parents were giving finals and getting grades in, etc. and as i got older my birthday did get totally ignored by friends - in fact we even coined a term "Hanubirthamas" combining Hanukah, birthday and christmas for my friends who were too cheap to buy me more than one gift of course, like an idiot i got married on dec. 30th, so now it's "Annihanubirthamas" and DH takes total advantage

i think if you don't ask for presents from the other kids at the party, a half-birthday would be a cool celebration. but i think some people might think it was an excuse for present, kwim? maybe do something fun that they wouldn't be able to do at their birthday, like go swimming or camping?

also, to avoid some of the inundation at the holiday and actual birthday, do you think some family members would object terribly if you put their gift up for a few months before you gave it to your child? our families go so crazy at birthday and christmas and hanukah that i do this anyway, just to space things out a little bit. they don't get all their presents at birthday or holiday time. it might not fly as they get older and wonder "where's my present from grandma?" but it works well when they're little.

lastly, you might consider asking for something other than toys/traditional gifts for their birthday since they're already getting so many. like donations to a charity that the child helps you pick, supplies for a local animal shelter, etc. this might also include plans to do something fun later in the year - like an IOU of sorts for a trip to an amusement park or zoo or something like that. the giver could make a little "brochure" with some pictures or something so the child would be able to open something and get excited about their gift, but it would be something they could enjoy around their half-birthday time.

[Chug-a-Pug]

DS and I have December birthdays and DD was born early January

I think what we're going to do is budget birthday gift money all year, then spend half of it in winter and save half for the summer toys and maybe have a half-year birthday celebration. As they get older and outgrow the half-year celebration we can just lump all our birthday gift money into one day. But if my 18 year old wants a half-year birthday, I wouldn't have a problem with it

[marieangela]

Ds1 has an early January birthday and ds2 has a late August birthday. It seems this year (ds1 is 4) more than ever, we feel like ds1 needs more age appropriate, season appropriate toys. So far we've just gone ahead and gotten him some summer and older boy type toys as we run into the need for them. My dh is against the whole half birthday idea. If we did it for both of them it would be like having a regular birthday for one and then having a half birthday for the other the following month. Still not sure how we'll work it out.

[A Boy's Mama]

I don't think we'll ever do a half birthday for my son because knowing how we are (and let's face it, grandma and grandpa! our kiddo is the first grandkid on both sides), he'd end up with 2 full birthdays and it would be total overkill. He already has too much stuff as it is. With that said, I don't deprive him of getting a few new things throughout the year like during summer because 12 months is a loooong time to wait to get some new toys.

His birthday is in the second week of December so there's a little more seperation between it and Christmas but he's still received a few double duty gifts. Ah well, there are worse crosses to bear!

[Justmee]

I had friends growing up who had a big 1/2 b-day party in the summer. Near their actual birthdays they had small family things, but the big fun kid party was in the summer.

My twins have a Feb. birthday and as far as buying them winter / summer toys, I try to buy them things when they need them, or would be most appropriate, even if it's not an acual birthday. We are pretty low key as far as birthdays / hanukkah anyway, so it's not like they are getting 20 gifts / year. I am getting all 3 a sand / water table this summer, and next year they will prob. get bikes. For their b-day they got 2 board games.

HTH

[Mom2Madolyn]

lots in my family

[kawa kamuri]

My son was born on Dec 30 94. We celebrate on that day. I do know what you mean about Chrsitmas and bdays being jammed so close together - I have four kids all born between Nov 19 and Jan 19

[Earthy Mama]

I have a friend who was born on dec 24...every year when her family would sing Happy Birthday, they would sing "Happy Birthday, L and baby Jesus..." needless to say, L became kinda resentful towards "baby Jesus"!

Anywho, dd1 was born the week before christmas, and dd2 jan 27th. We def. are on present overload. We didn't get them too much this past year for xmas (mostly art supplies) and am going to tell everyone this coming year not to buy ANY toys because they don't play with them anyways!

[Katie Bugs Mama]

DD's bday is Dec. 19, so I feel your pain. We kind of go back and forth between having a party during the post-holiday lull in January and having a "half-year" party in the summer. The half-year party is nice because it opens up a whole range of fun, outdoor events (like a pool party) that just aren't on the table in December.

[annethcz]

I have a December birthday, as do two of my children. We celebrate birthdays on the day.

We do try to think ahead, and sometimes my kids *do* get summer presents for their birthdays. Last year, my DD got a scooter for her birthday, despite the fact that we live in MN and the sidewalk was covered with ice. And although I rarely buy toys for my kids, sometimes I do decide that because it's now summer *everyone* would appreciate something new, so I buy something for all my kids to share. Occasionally, I buy something just for one child- for example, last year I bought DD a new bike *just because* it was summer, and she was the only child that didn't have a 2-wheeler, and she was finally big enough to ride one.

[Cujobunny]

Originally Posted by pixiepunk

i actually purposely avoided having kids at that time of year because my birthday is Dec. 22nd.

Me too - dh's birthday is Dec. 25 and he is so bitter about it. He doesn't want a half birthday party. So we celebrate Christmas in the morning and have a birthday supper for him. He didn't have many birthday parties growing up, like a pp said, all the friends are usually busy with their own stuff. When he turned 30 I threw him a big surprise party about a week before his birthday. He loved it.

[witchbaby]

my kids' birthdays are december 20 and december 28. so we've managed to sandwich christmas with their big days! currently, we have a joint birthday party a week before or a week after christmas so enough people can come. our entire family (including grandparents, etc.) does a great job of dividing up presents so the kids don't feel they're getting shafted with birthdaychristmas presents.
on top of all that? my father's birthday is december 6 and my mom's is january 9. wooo!

[AbbieB]

DD's birthday is in October, and so are mine and DH's and it looks like the baby will be early October (or late September). While not being the same kind of issue as being around Christmas it is hard having so many special days crammed into the same month. Oh, and about half of both of our extended family's birthdays fall in October too!

What we have done in the past is plan a fun family adventure to celebrate our birthdays. Last year we went to Sea World on DD's birthday (her choice) then came home and had a cake and a few small presents. (We live about 2 hours from Orlando, FL...makes it easy to plan adventures to theme parks )

I had been considering Disney for this year, but with a month old baby it might not happen. We shall see.

I really like the idea of having a summertime party for kids that get kind of robbed with a holiday time birthday. You don't have to make it birthday related at all. Just a party with friends and even the traditional cake and ice cream stuff too.

I also see no reason why kids should only get presents on their birthday or Christmas. It's fun to get a cool summer toy in the summer. Last year DD got a sandbox, this year we bought a blowup pool and lots of small summer toys like bubble toys, sand box toys, pool stuff and sidewalk chalk.

[momma of monkeys]

We have over a dozen b-days between nov-march that are all close friends or family (and our family's are=me, 12/30, dd, 12/13, ds,01/10, dp, 03/07).
I have been thinking about the half bday thing as well...

[4evermom]

Ds has an end of summer birthday. I'm not going to waste the best playing outside time of the year by holding off on giving him outside toys until then. So if he needs a new bike or something, I'll just get it in the spring. I know he would be upset to get something at Christmas that he couldn't actually use until spring, also.

When he was younger, I got him things that were developmentally appropriate when he reached the right age for it. It was kind of annoying to get things at his 1st birthday that he wouldn't be ready for for another 6 months. In theory, they could be packed away but in actuality relatives wanted to see him using them and he would WANT the item (never was an out of sight out of mind kid).