What to do About Those December Birthdays
I was just sitting here thinking about Christmas and party ideas and the thought “What about those kids with December birthdays?” My oldest daughter’s birthday is at the end of November and we try not to let Thanksgiving over-shadow it, but I can’t imagine what parents who have kids with December birthdays do. How does a parent put importance on both holidays and not let their child feel left out?
Here are a few ideas that I came up with:
- Always try to have a separate celebration for their birthday. It doesn’t have to be anything big or fancy, just an acknowledgment that it’s their special day and they are loved and appreciated.
- If you do throw a birthday party, try to do a theme that has nothing to do with the holiday season what-so-ever. Throw a Hawaiian themed party, or a pirate theme or something totally off the wall that your child wouldn’t expect.
- Plan the party at a place that does almost all the work for you. We did this for my daughter’s birthday this year. Things were exceptionally hectic and we knew we wanted to throw her a part, but that the party needed to be easy for us. Our daughter didn’t mind and had a fantastic time at the skating rink with all of her friends. We literally showed up with presents and goody bags and the rest was taken care of. There was no set-up, clean-up, cake making or anything. We go to relax and enjoy the party with her. I even went skating!
- If the only possible solution is to have their party coincide with a holiday celebration, do everything you can to single them out and put some attention on them. Make them feel special any way that you can. Sing happy birthday, light the candles, open a birthday present or two and maybe play a couple of birthday party games.
Do you have kids with December birthdays? If so, what have you done to make them feel special?
Tags: december-birthday-ideas, Kids Birthday Party Ideas, party-planningRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Christmas, Holiday Parties, Kids Birthday Party Ideas
6 opinions for What to do About Those December Birthdays
Jennifer
Dec 20, 2007 at 12:03 am
I was born on Thanksgiving so like your girl my birthday falls on or around it each year. No one in my family tried very hard to single me out though. I got many pumpkin pies for my birthdays :(
Thanksgiving is busy, Christmas is coming, families go out of town, birthdays do get somewhat overlooked. I always hated having a holiday birthday. I can only imagine what Christmas kids deal with.
It seems like kind of a dumb thing to whine about — on a grader scale but honestly I’ve never been a big birthday person because of this. That said, I think this is really valuable advice for parents of holiday kids. It’s important to make kids feel special especially because they do see their friend’s birthdays being a big deal.
Great post.
Marye
Dec 22, 2007 at 12:13 pm
Sean has a birthday on December 5. We always just celebrated it as his birthday but a couple of years ago he said he wanted it in conjunction with our annual gingerbread house party so it “would be the coolest birthday ever”
Because we have so many kids pretty much every holiday is close to a birthday…we just party all the time here…
Julie
Dec 28, 2007 at 1:06 am
It’s always interesting to hear how everyone handles holiday birthdays.
I miss you guys, but I am having an AWESOME time in Colorado!! :)
Emma
Dec 29, 2007 at 2:06 pm
My sister has a birthday on the 27th of December. She was 11 this year. For the last 6 years she has held her birthday party in September! So not only does she have a good birthday, she has a great party 3 months earlier!
CJ :)
Dec 29, 2007 at 3:40 pm
My birthday is December 20th, my brother’s is the 17th, my nephew’s is the 22nd, my cousin’s is the 14th and my son’s is the 27th - and my other brother’s is November 28th.
This is a subject I feel immensely qualified to comment on. LOL
We always make sure birthdays are birthdays and Christmas is Christmas. This means no Christmas wrapping paper on birthday presents, no Christmas themed munchies at the party, no one wears Christmas shirts and a REAL birthday party gets thrown regardless of the work.
The only concession I ever made to December birthday was for my son - since no one wants to go to a birthday party during the week between Christmas and New Year’s I used to have his birthday party the weekend before Christmas. He was OK with it and it worked out better attendance wise. :)
Julie
Jan 1, 2008 at 9:21 pm
@Emma - Now that’s an idea I haven’t heard of! I don’t blame her for celebrating so early. That’s what my daughter wants to do next year.
@CJ - Yeah, I’d say you’re qualified to comment! :) Great ideas.
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