Making December Birthdays Special: Decorating

Decorating for birthdays at Christmas can be a challenge. While some folks choose to decorate with Christmas sprinkled in, I have always tried to keep the birthdays and Christmas separate. When I had my first  "Christmas baby" I chose to decorate after his birthday. That wasn't too difficult since there were still several weeks to enjoy the Christmas decorations. However, when his brother came along with a due date just days before Christmas, I knew I was going to have to change the way we decorated. 

Making December Birthdays Special

happy birthday, a photo by cafemama on Flickr.

Both of my boys have birthdays in December. They are the first and second weeks of December followed by Christmas the third week. When I learned that I was due on Thanksgiving with my oldest, I began researching how to deal with a birthday at the holidays. I wasn't too worried since he was due at Thanksgiving and he would certainly be here before Christmas was in full of swing. My due date came and went and he was born two long weeks later, a full week into December. Four years later, his brother was born in mid-December, coming a week before his December 20th due date.

I laughingly tell people we party all the month of December. And we really do. But the holiday season in full swing, I feel it is especially important to make my boys feel special even though everyone around them is focused on Christmas.

The Big No-Nos For Christmas Birthdays

• Do NOT combine presents (birthday/Christmas) since the child's birthday is during the holiday season.
• Do NOT wrap the birthday present in Christmas paper.
• Do NOT go to a Christmas function on the night of the child's birthday.
• Do NOT have a Christmas-themed cake, decorations or card.

Over the next three weeks, I will share how we do birthdays in our house. We are on a very frugal budget so I aim for big impact with little cost.

Next week we will talk about how to decorate for a birthday in the midst of the holidays.