I was wondering your thoughts on celebrating half birthdays instead of a party on or near the actual birthday. What are the pros and cons as a parent? What about as a child?
I am not looking to do this myself but I know someone who is. I do find it weird...you are celebrating their birthday and by celebrating in July for a January birthday, it would seem when January rolled around it would feel like the birthday was forgotten. I am a July baby but my son was born in October, my hubby in November (25th) and my daughter in December (4th). My point being that we have back to school in late August, son's birthday, Halloween, and then Thanksgiving, hubby's birthday, and daughter's birthday within 2 weeks of each other and then Christmas right after so I do understand the hectic season.
First I want to thank everyone for your replies. It would seem that most have basically the same opinion as I do. You are celebrating the birthday and therefore it should be close to, if not on, the actual birthday.
Second, I want to elaborate that while I have a husband whose birthday falls close to or on Thanksgiving and a daughter whose birthday is 3 weeks before Christmas, I also have have others with close to Christmas birthdays: an adopted great-nephew 12/16, a niece 12/7, a good friend with a 12/21, that friend's son 12/23, my son's half sister 12/24, FIL 12/16, a nephew and my mother both on 1/3, a sister 1/8, BIL 1/13, other sister 1/19, other nephew 1/26, and MIL 1/31. Half of those do not affect the relative that is considering celebrating the 1/3 birthday in the summer so my season is even more hectic than theirs when it comes to the overall season. None of these people have ever had a problem with celebrating their birthdays within close proximity to their actual birthdays.
Third, this relative is all about the next big idea. I don't think she is looking at the fact that the idea is to celebrate the kid's birthday but rather it would be easier for her because the summer is a less crazy season. My thought is that if it is too crazy to do the big party, don't do the big party every year. Keep it simple.
My mom's birthday is December 26. Yeah, she hated it. She said when she was younger she had a party in July. She didn't like that either.
We have always celebrated birthdays on the date or a weekend before or after for the party. So no, I'm would not be a fan of half birthdays because its NOT their birthday.
I think it's a lame excuse for not celebrating a birthday when the birthday actually occurs like everyone else does.
When things are hectic, planning things out WAY in advance is so helpful. Unfortunately, too many people these days wait until the last daggone minute to do things.
My birthday is in July. I'd feel so weird if it were celebrated at any other time. I can understand doing it the weekend before or after...of even a couple of weeks before or after, but not 6 MONTHS before or after. That's just odd. And what will this person's friends say? "Oh, it's not REALLY your birthday. You aren't REALLY ______ years old yet."
All in all, I think it's a lame idea.
I don't hear of it often, but yes I've heard of people doing it for their kids who have birthdays near the holidays b/c they feel like their child isn't getting the attention for their birthday, people are busy, etc. I've also heard of people doing if it their kid has a summer birthday and all their friends are out of town, harder to reach, etc. b/c of summer vacation.
All in all, I think you should just celebrate your birthday near your birthday and be done with it! Yes it's hectic when it's during a busy time of year, but that's life, right?! ;)
KN, I have the same BD as your daughter.
All of my life I wanted to celebrate it on July 4th. The Christmas thing got in the way. Either I got a big gift for BD/XMAS or I got a big gift for BD/XMAS. A few family members gave separate gifts for each.
It would be up to the family and the birthday person to come up with a solution. Now it is just another day and we have a small celebration hubby and I as the kids are on their own.
Happy birthday to all of us December babies.
The other S.
i never heard of anything like that....we have a may, june and december birthday in our family and we manage very well on our actual birthday's! and me being the june birthday i love getting presents every 6 months!!
I never thought it made much sense until my neighbor did it for her daughter. Her birthday is Xmas Eve. They are out of school so she can't invite her school friends and no one is ever around not to mention there are always 1000 other things going on. Her mother finally started celebrating her birthday at the end of the school year. She has a nice party as both a birthday and end of the year/start of summer thing. The kids love it! But they also have a simple family party for her actual birthday sometime during the Xmas season when the family is all gathered and would be sick of looking at each other anyhow. Gives them something fun to focus on! LOL Oh, also one of my friends - an adult - had a 1/2 birthday party for herself. Her birthday is in January and she had ALWAYS wanted a summer pool party but of course, could never have one. A couple of years she sent out Save the Date cards for her party in early January and told everyone to skip her birthday but that she would see them in July by the pool!!! She said it was a dream come true!
I have no problem w/ half birthdays.
That said... My son's bday is in July.
PAIN IN THE NECK.
It will be cool as a teen. UNTIL then? He's never had a party with even half of his friends. Because they're on vacation w family. Or at camp. Or split custody with the othe parent.
_______
In my family we have 3 bdays on 12-25 (Xmas).
Parties work GREAT, because parents generally want some time to go Xmas shopping sands kids. And Xmas break is short. Invitations can go out in school. Unlike July parties... With a whole month to 2 months between invite and party.
I think its easy to judge until you have that kid with a birthday two weeks from christmas. Try throwing a birthday near christmas and see if anyone shows up. I tried and had to cancel the whole party the day of. She was three, I was hoping she didn't notice, but instead she asked about her birthday party for months. So we tacked her party onto her sisters Aug. birthday party and took care of it. we still celebrated her real birthday with immediate family and gifts. Should we do another half birthday, it will be without gifts, just the party.
What ever floats your boat!
Well, this was a tradition that my father began when my sister and I were little. I was born 9 days before Christmas and my sister was born 2 days after. We tried having parties, but people were out of town, money was tight for others, the weather was crappy, etc. So, my dad started having an un-birthday for us on the first day of summer. We had a blast!!
Our original birthdays were never forgotten. We just celebrated with close family, went out for special meals and received gifts. However, our actual big parties were thrown in June. We could take our friends swimming, have bbq's, water balloon wars, all the things we couldn't do trapped up in the house. We looked forward to it every year. And, every single year, as adults and until my dad passed away, he sent us Un-Birthday cards.
My son's birthday is in late June, so we always have his parties before the school year lets out and people scatter to the winds for vacation. We always celebrate the actual day with family doing whatever he wants, something special, but for the actual party.......we do it when we know all his friends can attend. He's never felt robbed in any way by that. He gets to celebrate twice. It never seem weird for me and my sister or as if we were getting robbed. We had low-key winter celebrations and then a summer bust out! We had 6 months to plan our summer parties. I have always loved the heat of summer so getting my big party at that time of year never bothered me one bit.
I guess it depends on what works for different families. It worked for mine and as a kid, I loved it. So did my little sister.
It worked for us and we always looked forward to it.
Just my opinion.
My daughter, now 31, was born on December 19 -- just 6 days before Christmas. There was a time in her mid-teens that she asked if we could celebrate her half birthday instead. Since THAT was the same week as her sister's birthday, we chose May 19.
As a teen, she was really sensitive that Christmas preparation and celebrations sort of pre-empted her birthday -- and she was right! It's not that we didn't have a cake and special dinner for her (just like for our others). It was more that her friends were never available for a birthday celebration and, if they were, the conversation always centered on Christmas: Have you finished your shopping? What do you want? What are your plans for Christmas break? etc.
For a couple of years, we had a family dinner & cake on her actual day (and that's when she got her present from us). The May following, we invited my mom, her godparents and a friend or two (I'm not big on huge birthday celebrations every year -- usually just "milestone" birthdays) for a fuller celebration. So, yeah, technically she got two cakes but I never saw that as a big deal. More importantly, she got to feel that she WAS (& still is) an equal member of the family and that she had a little bit of a "say so" in how things were done for her (a very big point for a teen who sometimes felt a little lost).
Like I said, this just lasted a couple of years and then we were back to celebrating in December but, for those 2 years it was important to her.
My daughter's birthday is 12/27 and this year she will be 18.
We have never considered a half birthday because 12/27 IS her birthday.
We've never lacked in having enough people for a party either, which is usually thrown ON her birthday. I think some parents are ready to get their children out of the house and out of their hair for a while!!!
I have ALWAYS kept her birthday COMPLETELY separate from Christmas. NO holiday wrap on her gifts, etc.. Everything is BIRTHDAY! Fortunately the people we know and associate with know this and they too treat her birthday as a separate day which is all about her.
Our season is hectic but we look at it as Our week. It is Christmas, her birthday and our anniversary all wrapped in 1 week. We just enjoy it and are thankful we have it.
Hi, L.:
What is the problem with having a quiet birthday for each.
It is about celebrating someone's birth.
I never had a birthday party.
I feel like it is important for people to have something
especially for them.
Good luck.
D.
My niece was born on Christmas day. They celebrate her half birthday so she gets to fully enjoy the attention.
