7 Rules for Celebrating a December Birthday

I recently came upon a post that summed up perfectly the plight of The Unfortunate People Who Have a December Birthday. Things like how difficult it is to celebrate because everyone is busy or traveling for Christmas. How everyone is too broke to buy you a gift. How you constantly get told "It must suck to have a December birthday!" And although it does, we try to lie and say it doesn't.

Not only do I have a birthday extremely close to Christmas, I have several friends with December birthdays as well. But rather than dwell on all the negatives, we'd like to set some ground rules to help friends and family members out. Follow these December Birthday Commandments, and you'll succeed in making it not suck to have a December birthday.

Here's a guide for those who know someone born in December - whether it's a friend, a spouse or significant other, or a sibling...

7 Rules for Celebrating a December Birthday:

1. Never, ever wrap a birthday gift in Christmas wrapping paper. This is my #1 rule that fortunately my family has never broken. But there have been some ignorant boyfriends in my past...they are ex's now.

2. Don't get a birthday card that is even remotely related to the Christmas holiday. I was appalled when I found this December Birthday section at Hallmark and all the cards were Christmas themed. Total Hallmark fail.

3. Whatever you do, don't give one combo gift and say "Happy Birthday / Merry Christmas". That's cheating a person who has waited a full year for a gift opportunity to come around. Imagine if we tried pulling that off at your July birthday.

4. Speaking of gifts - anything and everything that has anything to do with Christmas is Off Limits. Kyle Design has many special birthday gift ideas that can incorporate a person's hobbies & interests without being related to Christmas.

5. Find out early - like way back in September - if there's a night they'd like to do something special to celebrate. There is nothing worse than everyone saying they can't make it because of a conflicting holiday party. Also frustrating is not being able to get a dinner reservation, so book as early as possible.

6. Decorate!!! Us December birthday girls and guys get cheated when it comes to birthday decor because there's already so many Christmas decorations everywhere. Add some non-Christmas colored streamers and balloons into the mix to make it feel like a birthday party - not a holiday one.

7. Go out of your way. December birthday celebrants have suffered a number of disappointments over the years. Everyone else gets their special day but we often get cheated because of the busyness of the holidays. So go out of your way to make your friend or significant other feel extra special. They'll appreciate it more than you know.