My son's birthday is in December. How can it be special with everyone focusing on Christmas?

Question

This past December my son turned 1. I kind of through together a party last minute, I had really been caught up in the holidays. I don't want this to ever happen again. How can this be avoided? People with December birthdays especially, what should I do or not do?

Answer 1

im sure it has to be tough having a birthday right around a holiday, but its gonna be up to you to make the focus be put on him, just remember its all about the kids

Answer 2

My birthday is 28 December. My parents made the day special by having the kind of celebration that they would have had if I had been born at a different time of year. And the nice thing was that, if I wanted something too expensive for Christmas, I could ask for it as a joint Christmas/birthday gift.

Some people with December birthdays feel that their birthday gets overlooked in the midst of all of the Christmas celebrations. However, I've found that my birthday is more likely to be remembered because it is so close to Christmas.

Answer 3

both of my boys were born between Christmas and shortly after the New Year, when everybody is out of town and couldn't attend any birthday parties. what I have done in the past is have their birthday parties for friends on their 1/2 year birthday, for example: My eldest son's birthday is 1/4, so I had a family party for him on his actual birthday, but threw him a huge birthday bash on July 4th for all of his friends to attend. They all thought it was cool that he actually got to celebrate his birthday twice!

With kids born around Christmas, you have to think outside the box to make sure that their special day doesn't get missed or rolled into the holidays.

This year will be the only year that I have ever combined a Christmas and a birthday present for either of my boys and the only reason I am doing it this year is the requested gift is very expensive. My son has already been told that should it be fulfilled, then it will have to be a combo present, amazingly he is ok with it this year; most likely because there will be a dirt bike under the Christmas tree this year.

Answer 4

Around here we never used christmas wrap for birthday presents, always made sure to have a party, but, NEVER with Christmas as the theme, ie cowboys, clowns, dinosaurs, etc . Also birthday gifts were never related to what Santa was bringing that year. If you are still uncomfortable have a party towards the beginning of December when the holiday parties, etc are not in full force. My daughters' b-day is right before Christmas and she said she always knew the difference, it just depends on how you want to start your own traditions--your son will know that you love him, but don't stress to much on the birthday parties yet, you have many to go and he really won't remember this one as well as you did except for the pictures he'll see when he gets older
so save yourself some guilt and relax, he will know that you love him and that is all that really matters.

Answer 5

My birthday is in December. My family always took time to make my day special. My cousin's husband was born on Dec. 25. He never had a single birthday party or extra presents when he was growing up. So, after they were married, my cousin started throwing him a special party on Christmas Eve and the first time she did I thought he would cry cause he said it was his first party ever! How sad. Don't let your son have those kinds of memories. Toss him a party, invite your friends, buy balloons, a cake, get him a couple great presents. He will remember that forever and have great birthday memories and how awesome his mom was for making him feel special.

Answer 6

I think that the best thing to do is keep it in December until he is old enough to be convinced to celebrate it with a party at another time in the year. It would be best to have his birthday party thought of before Thanksgiving. You are right, December birthdays are really difficult with Christmas. Whatever you do, don't combine his birthday and celebrate it with Christmas. If he for some reason doesn't want to consent, he will be upset.

Answer 7

Well, I'm lucky because my birthday is Dec. 4th... When I was little, I had a few presents, but not like Christmas. Usually we tried to plan birthday parties in November to keep away from the holiday season.

My sister's birthday, however, is Dec. 23... She always had the hardest time, because she would get maybe 1 or two things, maybe a party.. and then Christmas happened.

I would suggest maybe having the party in November or something. But, by celebrating on a different day every year might confuse your son when he gets a little older. But you have to remember - this is his special day and you want to make it his. Maybe throw a party earlier, and remember to recognize his birthday when it actually happens.

I hope that helps, sorry it jumped around a little bit, I was trying to remember what my parents did for me.

Answer 8

My son has a December birthday too. And it hurts me a lot that some family members 'combine' both his birthday and Christmas gifts so that he gets only one gift at Christmas.
What I have started doing is to put the Tree and decorations up on his birthday, almost as though it is a little celebration of his day.
And I buy him a couple of extra presents during the summer to cut down on expense, and put them away for him, so that he still has something to open, as his sister does.
One of my friends in primary school had a Christmas eve birthday and her Mum used to give her a 'special' day on June 24th, so that she had a day to be spoiled and to enjoy. She would have a sleepover and a cake and in most sense of the word it was a birthday, but it was a 'half birthday'.
It was your son's first birthday so he won't remember the same thing you do, and you have lots of years to prepare and plan for his other birthdays. Plus my son finds it really exciting to have a birthday so close to Christmas now he's older because there's so much going on

Answer 9

My birthday isn't in December, but I know some people who have birthdays in December. They said it was a drag. Sometimes people bought them one present for both the birthday and Christmas. I can understand this if the present is nicer than if they had bought 2 separate presents. But the people I know said this was not the case.

What some of them would have liked would be to have a birthday celebration earlier, perhaps in November. That way they didn't get left out in the frenzy of Christmas. Another person I know had a very early celebration. His folks let him have a summer party with his friends. Worked out great. You might wish to discuss these types of ideas with your son. They do work.

Answer 10

It sounds as though YOU were the one that got "caught up int he holidays." I guess it will be up to you to plan something ahead of time and put the holiday on the back burner for you child. My daughter-in-law's birthday is the day after Christmas and we celebrate it separately. Whatever you do, don't EVER wrap his gifts in Christmas paper! You should just plan a birthday party as though it were in any other month. My son's is on July 4, but he always enjoyed all the extra activities that went along with it.

Answer 11

I liked the idea about moving the celebration to November or January. That time of year is often difficult for gift-giving since most people use all their money for Christmas (and if you're American, using it for Thanksgiving meals too).

Another idea is to celebrate his half birthday (which would be sometime in June). There seem to be more options when people aren't spending all their money on family presents. This isn't a perfect solution either. People go on vacations. But the upside is that your son wouldn't get a combination gift (meaning, people wouldn't count his birthday gift as his Christmas gift too).