Do your kids have birthdays close together?

[Alana*sMommy]

A tradition that we started is taking our girls out for a special day/night without their sibling. It gives them time with Mommy & Daddy and they don't have to share their special day. We always make it a surprise and they don't know where they are going until we get there. For example, this year for their birthdays we took my 7 y.o. to DisneyQuest and Planet Hollywood for dinner, and my 5 y.o. had a day at Sea World. We have small, easy to plan parties and that is our gifts to them.

[Spacers]

We have a few friends whose kids have birthdays close together, and also a couple sets of twins who obviously share a birthday. The parents whose kids are close in age and/or the same gender usually throw a joint party, sometimes with separate but complimentary themes, sometimes one theme if the kids can agree. Some do two smaller cakes and some do a bunch of cupcakes. There are usually two rounds of Happy Birthday, one before lunch & one after.

The parents whose kids are farther apart in age, or who are different genders, usually throw two separate parties, either on different weekends bookending the birthday week, or on the same day with the younger sibling in the morning and the older sibling in the afternoon or evening. Our older kids are getting to the age for slumber parties, and one set of parents recently had a drop-off slumber party on Friday night for the older child, and then a brunch party on Saturday morning for the younger child when the parents came to pick up the big kids. It was really fun and both kids were celebrated in their own ways. I think that's the important thing to remember, to find a way to celebrate each child.

Also, someone mentioned budgeting. My sister's birthday is near Christmas, so my mom got into the habit of setting aside "birthday money" on her half-birthday in June, so she didn't have to worry about funding birthday gifts & Christmas gifts at the same time. That might be a helpful idea, or setting up a direct transfer from your checking account to savings to spread out the cost over the year instead of having to pay completely for two or more birthdays in one week.

[1aBABY]

UPDATE: I heard back from my doctors office this morning, and unless something changes and this little girl decides to come early (which is what I hope for) she is scheduled to be delivered October 25 @ 9am.

When they first called to tell me she said "so how does Monday the 22nd sound?" My response "that's horrible!"....I'm not sure she expected that response. I told her what the deal was and she changed it for me.

I think I've finally come to terms with the situation and I can't change it so I might as well look at the positive, right!?! I figure if I do go into labor on the 22nd we will make it special for both of them and how special/unusual it will be for siblings to have the same birthday. I.MUST.LOOK.ON.THE.BRIGHT.SIDE.

Thanks everyone for your insight and thoughts. I really do appreciate it.

[TomandJenPlus10]

In our family we have 5 of the kids birthdays in 5 weeks, 6/3, 6/4, 6/9, 6/14 and 7/6. We have a group birthday party that is huge with all of their friends and then on their birthdays they get to pick all of their favorite meals and go on a special birthday date to go out for a meal and an activity of their choosing. It helps to make them feel special and have some fun one on one time with them which is hard to find sometimes in a large family. We have 2 days apart in March but they're 13 years apart and Baby #11 is due within a few days of another child but they are 16 years apart so it wont be an issue.

[harper35]

My boys' bdays are 1/19/09 and 1/12/11. Since they're only 3 and 1 at this point, we haven't taken any pains about distinguishing their bdays yet. However, my parents are divorced, so we've been doing one bday with my mom and the other with my dad. We also like to have an informal "unbirthday" in July, since we don't do any gift giving holidays other than bdays.