Celebrating Half Birthdays or ‘Trading’
Just because your birthday falls on or near Dec. 25 doesn’t mean you have to celebrate it on that day if you don’t want to.
Sure, you may be “milking it,” but in some families, every kid gets a little something on their half-birthday, the date six months before/after their official birthday. But instead of some crummy half of a cake, go all-out with a big bash. Invite everyone who would otherwise be busy at Christmas time. You could even fudge and tell people June 25 really is your birthday. Be forewarned: If you’re in the working world, the human resources department may rain on your parade. The bonus to celebrating a Christmas in June birthday is you can have your party outside.
In some families, they actually “trade” birthdays. An older relative will let a kid born on Christmas “use” his or her birth date. The party, the presents, everything is moved to that date. It’s a generous act on the older relative’s part, and can be a lot of fun in the birthday kid is willing. It also makes for an extra, special connection between the two people.
Funny. I’ve got a younger sibling born a week before Christmas. She’s always had a bit of a “princess” complex and it’s been fun to see it “evolve” over the years. Recently, as in the last few years, she decided that she was getting cheated out of gifts by celebrating her birthday on the day of her birth so she decided to change her birthday to June. The first year she tried that was a dismal failure- everyone forgot. This year worked out differently though: people forgot that we had already celebrated in both June AND August, so today I am off to her house to celebrate her birthday for the third time this year. XD