Anyone celebrate your child's 1/2 birthday in June instead of real birthday in Dec.?

[DietCokeLover]

I've thought about this too. Dd is Dec and DS is Nov. But, I have all the sane questions that justlearning has. I've wondered about the gifts and the cake etc.

But, it's just too chaotic at the holidays with DS just before Thanksgiving and Dd just before Christmas.

[niccig]

I have a question for those of you who do celebrate it in a month that's not their birthday. Do you still make it a birthday party, do kids still bring gifts, do they still sing happy birthday? To me, that's the one thing I'm not sure how to manage. Do I make the cake say Happy Half Birthday, do I try to make the number 5 1/2 on his cake...that part does seem awkward to me.

The invitation will say "Come and Celebrate DS's 6 1/2 birthday. The cake just has his name, and I cut a candle in half for the 1/2 part. All our friends get it as his birthday is Christmas Day. It's still his birthday party with his friends, just 6 months later as no one is around to celebrate close to his real birthday.

As he gets older, we might celebrate it in early Dec or late January, but for now, doing the half-birthday works for us.
You can always bring the party forward or back a few weeks if that works out better as well. No one says a birthday party has to be on the actual day.

[kellij]

This year we did DS's birthday party the weekend after the weekend of Thanksgiving. It was great fun and tons of friends came. I was really nervous about it because last year I had it over Christmas Break and literally none of his school friends came. I had it at McD's this year so that if no one showed up it would still be fun and it wouldn't seem like as big of a deal. On his actual bday, December 22nd, we took him to a place here that has tons of arcade games and had a family celebration. It was great because family was in town for Christmas and got to celebrate his bday too.

[dcmom2b3]

That's how I felt. I had just hosted the in-laws over Thanksgiving and had to host DH's office holiday party at our house a couple of weeks later. Trying to throw in DS' birthday party into the mix--in addition to celebrating with him as a family on the actual day--was overwhelming. I was burned out after all that and as a result didn't enjoy Christmas as much as I would have liked.

I have a question for those of you who do celebrate it in a month that's not their birthday. Do you still make it a birthday party, do kids still bring gifts, do they still sing happy birthday? To me, that's the one thing I'm not sure how to manage. Do I make the cake say Happy Half Birthday, do I try to make the number 5 1/2 on his cake...that part does seem awkward to me.

I'm still puzzling through this, but I think I'm going to try to spin this as a celebration of her dad's family's traditions, but not necessarily of her birthday. B/c it isn't her birthday, (and we did the quiet bd at home in December, and, I now recall, a family bd celebration at Thanksgiving, too; it's not as if she hasn't already heard the HBD song and blown out candles for her 4th. And will do the same for her 5th.) I'm thinking food, games, etc. but no singing HBD. And probably a no gifts request (but that would be the case if we were celebrating in Dec. She has way too much already . . .)

I think that if you're not going to go for a "name day" tradition you could easily call it DS's "half birthday" or "summer birthday" or "summer fun day" or similar, and create whatever atmosphere you like, depending on how much birthday emphasis you wanted to create. I think "5+" would be just fine on the cake, or, maybe display it visually? A train with his name on it, in between station 5 and station 6?

[pb&j]

My bday is within a couple of days of Christmas, and I never did the half birthday thing. Never felt like I was missing anything. Fastforward 31 years, and DS is born just after the New Year. Again, not going to do the half birthday thing.

Because of my bday, we're very, very good about separating bday and Xmas - Bday gifts are wrapped in bday paper, that kind of thing. We don't give lots of gifts at bday or xmas, but we do make sure he gets a few "treats" during the year, so that we can have outdoor toys and such. DD's bday is right before Thanksgiving, so that goes for her too.

For me, I really considered this, but 1)I'm used to these winter bdays and it doesn't seem like too much of a hassle to throw a small party around New Year's, 2)DS's half bday would be encroaching on the 4th of July holiday, which is a whole 'nother complication and 3)I just didn't want to send the message that DS's bday wasn't good enough. It's silly, and I totally, totally get why people do the half bday thing. But I want DS to feel that his bday is special, wonderful, and worth a big party no matter when it falls. My parents did that for me, and I LOVE having a bday at the holidays.

[cckwmh]

my cousin was born on christmas day. when she was in first grade she decided to change her birthday to august 25th because her part was canceled due to a storm. she is now in her late 30s and still celebrates her birthday on august 25th.

[Seitvonzu]

after 3 years of making a big hoopla 2 days before christmas for my child's birthday, i'm ready for her to understand "unbirthday" celebrations

first year i did the whole family/friends "big" party thing. big in quotes because it wasn't huge due to us both living out of state from our family...but it was elaborate with theme/invites/decor/nice food etc... we also decided to focus on birthday vs. christmas that year-- for example, even though we had a tree, it was decorated with glittered (summery) flowers (some with googly eyes a la disney's golden afternoon) and butterflies. japenese lanterns were hung just about everywhere... big silver teapots with glittery/whimsical flowers/plumes.

2nd year we travelled to my parents for christmas, so birthday was there. it actually ended up being very festive because my brother's family was there and my grandma came over -- we had a BIG (for us) family party there was icecream soda! and paw-paw insisted on a cake (even though my mother wanted to forego that) presents ! presents! presents! then of course two days later- christmas! we flew...so that presented it's own challenges because for continuity i wanted to do certain things - bring a few presents (and then i had to also come up with christmas), remember lu's special birthday hat, have a special outfit,etc. at the beginning of january we had lu's 2 best friends and there mamas over for a very special tea party. i made the little girls hats and we used real dishes. lovely food and a fancy strawberry shortcake from trader joes. it was small & perfect. i really liked that party

this year was our "home" year for christmas, but it was still hectic. our dear friends from grad school were expecting their first baby in jan. so they couldn't travel for christmas. in november i thought "oh! they should come to OUR house!" great.... (and it was) but it made things very busy for me. if it was JUST us from the 23rd to 25th, well, no big deal. i wouldn't clean or whatever. we'd just STOP and be. but since we were having guests there was cleaning/shopping/cooking for a non-stop week. it was zany. i wanted to be sure to completely focus on lu on her b-day but it was very difficult to stop mid preparations! oh yeah...it was also the year i decided to MAKE santa's wrapping paper, etc. (and DH had several things to assemble). for a "friend party" (since she'd been to a couple and i felt bad) we had what i like to call "an elaborate playdate"--it was a fairy theme. they all had wings and headbands and i sent everyone home with amyrillises and fairy tea sets i'd gotten on MAJOR clearance. i also made elaborate fairy food. we sang happy birthday. cupcakes were eaten.

we've been thinking "1/2" birthdays since lucy was born and just typing all that reminds me why. for the last two years i've been over compensating in the middle of january because i feel bad that lucy didn't get a "real" party (even though by that time she has had a couple celebrations, so it's really ridiculous) good thing we are such fans of alice in wonderland, i suppose--the "unbirthday" concept is easy for my kiddo

[dcmom2b3]

I would love to learn more about this... is this a common French practice? Sounds neat.

Not limited to France -- many countries have similar traditions. It's my understanding that the tradition initially arose as an attempt to focus people's celebrations on the calendar of saints, rather than their actual birthdays (which were viewed as pagan (?!?!))

From my observations, the religious significance has fallen by the wayside, and all the French folks that I know here in the US are more likely to celebrate their actual birthdays in grander fashion than their name day. But they like, (expect, even?) a call, gift, or other small gesture in recognition of their name day, too.

My bday is within a couple of days of Christmas, and I never did the half birthday thing. Never felt like I was missing anything. Fastforward 31 years, and DS is born just after the New Year. Again, not going to do the half birthday thing.

Because of my bday, we're very, very good about separating bday and Xmas - Bday gifts are wrapped in bday paper, that kind of thing. We don't give lots of gifts at bday or xmas, but we do make sure he gets a few "treats" during the year, so that we can have outdoor toys and such. DD's bday is right before Thanksgiving, so that goes for her too.

For me, I really considered this, but 1)I'm used to these winter bdays and it doesn't seem like too much of a hassle to throw a small party around New Year's, 2)DS's half bday would be encroaching on the 4th of July holiday, which is a whole 'nother complication and 3)I just didn't want to send the message that DS's bday wasn't good enough. It's silly, and I totally, totally get why people do the half bday thing. But I want DS to feel that his bday is special, wonderful, and worth a big party no matter when it falls. My parents did that for me, and I LOVE having a bday at the holidays.

Ry -- this touches my heart. My dad's birthday was just before Christmas. Mom and I always made a big, and separate, deal of it, and frequently he would be tearful because we were the first people in his life to have done so (despite two prior marriages).

I need to be mindful of DDs take on all this, from year to year. Though "deferred celebration with bouncy house" wins this year, that may not always be the case.

[AngelaS]

My dd's birthday is Christmas Day and we've never felt the need to move her celebration. We don't do big birthday parties with friends tho, so trying to schedule something isn't a problem. We celebrate with just our family or maybe one other family will come for cake after supper on Christmas night. It works well for us and she loves having a Christmas birthday.

[Uno-Mom]

I'm close to two people whose b-days are near Christmas. My BIL (Dec 23rd) and best friend from school (Dec 22nd). Both have always hated and still hate having their birthdays right at Christmas time. But from your comments, I wonder if that's because their families could have done a better job making their days special.

Sprog's b-day is Nov 23rd. So far (and I have a sample of ONE birthday by which to judge ) it's worked out in her favor. By this I mean, she got presents from extended family who wouldn't ordinarily gift her. Because we were seeing them that week for Thanksgiving! We'll see how long that lasts...

I've wondered about this, too. It might be something to help our quest to tone down Christmas materialism in our home. Bring on the b-day materialism!