Christmas babies and birthdays

MiniMoo

My birthday is the 19th Dec and i love having a 'christmas birthday' because i find 90% of people are happier around christmas, everything is sooo pretty with all the decs etc its quite special.
When i was little my mum and dad never used to put the decs up until the night before my birthday so on my birthday the house would look extra pretty i loved it. Yes of course i've had the joint xmas present from people, which when younger is not good, now its just goes over my head.

When i planned to have my youngest baby i always wanted a december baby, he was due to be born on the 18th dec but i had him on the 12th, and this year he will be 2 so i cant wait for him to see all the decorations and lovelyness that is christmas and i hope it makes his birthday that little bit more special like it did for me.

Its not all bad being a christmas baby honest xx

Kaz2904

My DS is on the 19th December. My best friend is 18th December. I remember going to her house for birthday parties when we were younger and thinking it was a shame to have no birthday stuff visible because of the glitz of Christmas. She loves it though and can't wait to get the decorations up. I have always made sure no decorations go up until after DS's birthday but I really struggle with christmas cards. We usually leave cards up for a week and DD's birthday is 21st November. She gets her cards left up for a week so I go round taking down all the cards because it's not fair on DS and DH goes around behind me putting them up again- gah! Last year, DS wanted to have the tree up before his birthday so we did but I don't think he liked it in the end. I don't think it'll happen this year. If he asks again then I'll put it up but there's less space for balloons and stuff if there's a tree in the way.
I've always loved Christmas and always been ready early with my gifts wrapped and ready to go under the tree. I'm the same now only DH and I tend to have a marathon wrapping session a few evenings before Christmas as we found that presents would get ripped in storage.
WRT wrapping paper, there have been times we can't find wrapping paper for DS but we end up just using a plain Christmas one instead. It's the same as we would use for anyone elses birthday and he doesn't mind. My Aunty is well known for her scattiness but she always goes out and buys a sheet of blue birthday paper before DS's birthday so that it doesn't have to be Christmas paper. Actually, DD (21st Nov), DH (12th Jan) and I (29th April) are all more likely to get Christmas wrapping paper on our presents than DS which makes us laugh!
DS doesn't get much in the way of a birthday party but that's due to there being other boys in his class with birthdays very close to his with parents who don't work weekends. Because DS's birthday is the 19th, it is in Christmas week so I can't actually book holiday off work to make sure I'm off then. So I can't organize anything until I know what I'm working. As we tend to get our duty rota 2-4 weeks in advance, I've got no chance of actually booking anything.
This year we may go tracking in the woods for his birthday. I do feel for both of mine having birthdays so close to Christmas as they don't get the outdoor barbecue birthday party but we don't have a big garden anyway so would never be able to do what BiL does and hire a bouncy castle.
I have gone out and bought them things in the summer before for their birthday as they never get anything summery for gifts. When we got the trampoline, it was a joint birthday present for them.
You do gradually work out what's best for your individual family though. We actually held DD's birthday on a different day one year because DH had to be at work 7-7 with his brother and all the family come round on birthdays. None of them were happy until I pointed out that she would be gutted if she couldn't see her Dad and uncle on her birthday at all but if we did it the next day, she would see Daddy when she got up and when he got home for lunch and when he got home in the early evening. So that's what we did.
That's another thing which seems alien to me, when I was small, you got to choose a special birthday tea. Now, we end up with a really late tea or none at all if any of us has a week day birthday because the whole family and some friends appear in dribs and drabs over the course of the evening. This is despite the fact that we have a get together with nibbles and stuff on a weekend either side of the birthday. Very odd. I don't like it on my birthday I have to say

balancelife

Hi, My son will be 2 on the 9th december. he was due on the 1st and I really didnt want to go too far overdue.

when he was born there was the usual huge fuss made of a new arrival no change there, people were excited as I didnt know what I was having, we had new baby cards and christmas cards so stuck all the christmas ones to the bannisters and had the birth ones up on the window sill in the lounge where we usually have birthday cards. we had the tree up ready that year as we didnt know when he'd arrive! my daughter who was 3 at the time wasnt too jealous as we could make her chief present opener and remind her that it would be christmas soon for her to have presents.
I found that having a tiny baby at christmas was lovely! felt so much more special and of course I was off duty for any jobs or chores

Last year when he turned 1 we had his party the weekend before his birthday and we'll always do this. then put the tree up the weekend after his birthday after his cards have been out a week.
the hard thing was the amount of new stuff we got in that 3 weeks and the duplicates. It was hard to know what to buy him for christmas until we knew what he'd got for his birthday from people. but he wont be overly concerned and store returns are usually pretty generous around that time of year.
and I dont like it that he gets so much in such a short space of time and then nothing special the rest of the year. I asked family to think about what he would need for the whole year and to get some things that he couldnt make use of until the summer etc.

we have a daughter too and shes an august baby. started school in sept and has been to several parties and is desperate for her own party. but its in the summer holidays and so we are probably going to have to move her party forward a few weeks too! mind you, it means we do it for the both of them and also that the birthday is a family thing only with a special treat they can choose for the day. my daughter wants to go to the beach (we'll see since its rained on her birthday every year!) and Im not sure what we'll do for my sons yet. soft play maybe?! play with his toys

finally - I remember being really annoyed when I went overdue and telling my bump it was its fault it was having a birthday closer to christmas! try not to stress too much, there are loads of great ideas on here and it will be ok.

Nara

A friend at works daughter was born on 17th December and they celebrate her birthday in June as shes too young to understand anyway, then in December a few more little pressies.

I actually planned my daughter (as well as u can plan these things lol) as I desperately didn't want an Xmas baby :rotfl: I find Xmas stressful enough as it is buying everyone pressies and trying to organise things, so to have a baby then and more birthdays would be a nightmare!

I didn't fancy the idea of July/August birthdays either, as they end up the youngest in the school year and as people have mentioned birthdays are oftne forgotton as people are on holiday etc. So she came along in March :P

Now planning a second child and working out in my head the 42 weeks ahead to try and get another spring/early summer baby :P It's also nice to be at your heaviest and pregnant while the weather is cold, rather then sweating thro the summer. As you can see I put maybe too much thought into when I want my children lol.

Angel11_2

My son's birthday is Xmas Day. He loves it. Will be a strapping 22 yrs old this year though.
No school ever on his birthday which was a highlight for him.

Right from his 1st birthday we celebrated his birthday after dinner, seperate presents from everyone. Some presents did come wrapped up in xmas paper but inside out lol. Birthday cake and everything still done. Mainly his party for his friends was done the week before when school broke up. He still gets seperate presents and knows to say thank you for this for xmas and that for his birthday.
Overall its been really good as a parent - didn't have any dull afternoons after dinner because it was present excitement time again. Daughter who is 2 yrs younger threw a bit of a wobble - unfair he got more presents but this was only when she was little.
As a bit of a bonus for son also - he got one of his main presents at the beginning of the summer hols - like a new bike or something so he got more use out of it.

FBaby

My daughter is 31/12 (due date was Christmas) and she loves it. She says that it is so brilliant when Christmas is over to know that just a week later, she will get more. The excitement just keeps going. My boy is 4/1 (was due 31/12!), and I do feel for him. We have another 31/12 (cousin) and 1/1 (grandmother) birthday, so by the time it comes to his (and the fact that by then everyone has gone back to work and feels depressed!), noone is much in the mood to celebrate his. He is 8 and so far he hasn't shown disappointment. I have suggested that we could celebrate on 31st to, but he says he likes it on the 4th.

As for presents, they for the past few years mainly get money as people have run out of ideas for present. They keep it all and spend it over the months, so it doesn't feel like they have to wait a whole year for presents. It works well.

Janepig

pigpen wrote: »

And.. plan the next one better

Easier said than done - when I was trying for DS, I specifically didn't try on the month that would have meant I was due around Christmas. DS was due on 28th of January. Except he decided to turn up five weeks early on Boxing Day (I went into labour early hours of Christmas morning). I hadn't even started my maternity leave!

He's five now and at the moment still thinks it's great to have a Boxing Day birthday, but let him start whinging and I'll be telling him that it's his own bloody fault! Last year we had a joint party with three other December boys from his class exactly two weeks before his birthday, which was fine, and tbh Boxing Day can be a bit "nothing" so it's quite nice to have an extra reason to celebrate on that day. One of my friends told me he'll love it when he's older and all his mates take him out drinking because Boxing Day is a party day in town, but I don't even want to think about that yet!!

Jxx

madtrekker

My birthday is 14th Jan and is always a bit disappointing. It was fine as a young child as it felt quite a long time after Christmas and my parents always made sure I had separate presents, cake, party etc. As I got older, that's when it became more of an issue as friends were too broke / partied out / on a detox etc to do anything special.

DD was due on 31st December and eventually arrived on 13th Jan. I will always make sure she and I have special and separate birthdays!!

leandygandy

TeamLowe wrote: »

My Estimated due date is 8th January

That's my birthday and I never really had any problems with it as a child. My birthday presents used to get passed to Mum by the family at the big Christmas gettogether so I never had to wait for gifts to arrive in the post.

There were ocassions where I got one big present for both events, but I always got a note from Santa to say that my present on Christmas Day was a token gift because he had heard it was my birthday soon so had saved all his pennies to go halves with Mum on something really special

I actually find it's more of a problem now I'm a grown up as nobody has any money to do anything! Add hubby's 3rd Jan birthday into too and it makes for a very expensive time of year for us

menollyke

My birthday is on christmas day. I come from Holland where christmas isn't that big, but still hardly any family came to visit. And the family who did came (2 couples, no grandparents), came at 10 in the morning to leave at 1 or 2 in the afternoon because they had to visit other family members for christmas. Than my cousins told me all about their presents as soon as they arrived through the door. I hated it.

Now in England I still hate it. My family doesn't come, or phone and presents send with mail arrive late. My inlaws here try to do something about it, but it ends up with a cake and candles and than combined presents.

I just can't be bothered about my birthday anymore. I don't want to celibrate it anymore either. It is just to much hassle getting friends to get together around that time and such, so I kinda leave it.