Celebrating Kids and Family Birthdays During the Christmas Season

As a mother of three kids whose birthdays were all in December, coming up with ideas to celebrate was always challenging. Birthdays on December 19th, December 26th and December 31st created a situation that was to either ignore the birthday or find a unique way to celebrate. My mother-in-law probably initiated the creative thinking the most. She would send a huge box of presents for them with the birthday presents wrapped in birthday paper with birthday cards. She said to me, you better start thinking smart now.

When they were 3 and under, it wasn't really a big deal. We just celebrated close to the day and didn't worry about it. As the kids got older, we had to come up with better ideas. Below are some of the ways we celebrated over the years.

This is probably the best birthday my kids ever had. We were at a loss for ideas and I was working at the Mall in the Santa Booth. A friend said "What about a Christmas Birthday Party with Santa delivering the gifts. My son was 9, daughters 5 and 1. We had a group party. We rented the Santa suit and my dad played Santa. We had the party at a friends house. We decorated as though it was just a birthday. With the Christmas decorations already up, it created a wonderland of lights and party atmosphere.

The cake was red, white and green. Instead of everyone spending alot of money on gifts, we collected donations from the party goers who were going to attend. Santa came in about midway and distributed gifts to everyone. Birthday guys got a couple more, but it basically included everyone. My dad was very Santa like. He did knock on the door instead of coming down the chimney but he told my kids they were special because they were born so close to Christmas. That is why he came to the party. All the games were Christmas themed as well. It went over very well. Instead of trying totally separate Christmas and the birthday, we just included it.

Another idea for a December/Holiday birthday plan is to celebrate by going to a special place in your town that the birthday person really loves. You don't always have to have a big party with gifts. Christmas is a hard time to have a party with gifts. One year we decided to take all of the kids ice skating at the mall. It doesn't have to be ice skating, it can be roller skating or bowling or Chuck E Cheese.

Instead of making a big expensive celebration with everyone required to bring a gift, tell everyone to just come and spend time with the birthday person at their favorite place. Ask the guests to bring two dollar bills to pin on the birthday guy or gal. We brought money as well for our kids on this celebration. We gave them $20 each, which is $120 for us at that time. Birthday's aren't about the gifts anyway. It is about the people who come to celebrate with you.

Another popular idea for our family was to allow each child, after they were old enough to decide for themselves, to celebrate their birthdays at a different time of year. As they got older, they really didn't want to have a group party, so they would pick another birthday to celebrate. It was fun for them to sit down and decide when they would have a birthday. Sometimes it would be during the summer or other times they would choose during the school year. In choosing a time frame, they would also get to choose a basic theme. Such as a swimming party or beach party or whatever they wanted that was within our budget.

A type of party that my daughters really enjoyed over the years was a Christmas Shopping Party. They would take the money they were going to spend on Christmas presents and invite their friends to go with them. It would be an entire day of shopping, eating, laughing and fun. They didn't get as many presents, but spent the day with good friends and family.

My son was fond of having a camping party. We lived on 5 acres of land and had a huge barn in Texas. He would have his friends over and we would cook hot dogs and hamburgers of them. They would set up camp in the loft of the barn and spend the evening and night having fun and being boys. You don't have to have 5 acres and a barn. A back yard will work, even if it is a little cold. Of course if you live in Michigan, you may want to decorate the garage.

Birthdays are about celebrating someone being alive and in our world. It doesn't have to be about what you GIVE them. When I realized what a burden Christmas Holiday Birthdays could become, I decided to change the way I thought. Instead of it being mind boggling and stressful, I recreated the way I handled it. My kids are grown and all of them have made their own ways to celebrate now.

Holiday Birthdays can be fun if you wrapped your mind around alternative ways to make them special. These are tailor made birthdays. Get to thinking!