Everyone wants to feel special on their birthday – the one day of the year where YOU are the focus for celebration! But what happens when your (or child’s, friend’s, etc.) birthday falls close to a holiday? How do you prevent it from getting lost in the shuffle?
There are two schools of thought on how to celebrate holiday birthdays:
1.) Do Your Own Thing
In this approach, you buck the holiday traditions surrounding your birthday and do your own thing.
- Pick a non-holiday birthday party theme. If your birthday is around Christmas, perhaps choose a tropical theme.
- Pick a holiday-adjacent birthday party theme. In this scenario, you don’t completely disregard the season of the holiday, but you put your own twist on it. For example, my daughter’s birthday is December 9th; we are choosing a “Winter ONEderland” theme to acknowledge her birthday is in the wintertime, but not full out Christmas.
- Celebrate at a non-holiday time or at your half birthday. If your birthday falls in that busy “no-man’s” land between Thanksgiving and Christmas, maybe celebrate your birthday after Halloween, into the New Year, or even during the summer at your “half-birthday” time to capture more participants.
- If you’re a kid, bring birthday treats in during a time when school is in session. Teachers may already schedule birthday treats throughout the school year, and may have restrictions on the types of treats you can bring in (typically peanuts and other baked goods are no-no’s these days).
- Give separate gifts for birthday and holiday. If you are a party goer, don’t combine a gift for someone’s birthday with a gift for a holiday. Make the birthday stand out with its own card and acknowledgement.
2.) Celebrate with Holiday
In this approach, you steer into the skid and fully embrace your holiday birthday. Like F U L L Y embrace it.
- Your birthday theme IS the holiday theme, and vice versa. You are distributing Santa hats as party hats. Your 4th of July birthday is all things red, white, and blue. Welcome to the Haunted House for your Halloween birthday.
- Relish the fact you don’t have to treat your class. If your birthday falls over a natural break in school, you get a free pass for no birthday treats.
- Enjoy a small gathering. If your birthday falls at a busy holiday seasons, it really whittles down the attendance list. Your guests will be there for you, and you know they really want to be there since they prioritized your party.
- Combine your birthday and holiday gifts. This will allow you to get a “bigger” gift than you would get otherwise get for either event individually. When my mom was a child, her parents gave her the option of one big December 17th + Christmas gift or two smaller ones.
If your child has a holiday birthday, perhaps offer them the choice to them. No matter which option you choose, make your holiday birthday special in whatever way makes you happiest!
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