I am trying to plan my next pregnancy... I want to know from you moms that have children with birthdays in the months of February & March, the pros and cons of a winter birthday. Since I already have two children (one who's bday is in late summer and one in the fall) I know the importance and craziness of birthday parties. Is February or March too close to Christmas? How do you celebrate birthdays in the winter - any outdoor activities (or are you always just stuck in the house with a bunch of little kids...?) What do you like about a winter bday and what do you NOT like about it... Kind of a wierd request, but I am a planner :)
My middle childs birthday is feb 24. I actually love it. My daugthers is june 5. We usually do a picnic or something. Anyways, for my sons, we usually do not winter stuff to break up the winter. We go to a hotel and do swimming. The kids love it as it is a break from all the snow!! I don't think feb is too close to Christmas at all.
We have done parties at home as well, at the bowling place, there are lots of things you can do!!.
J. -
My daughter was just born in Feb 08 and so I see us having parties where we go skating, sledding, having snowball fights, tubing, etc. There are a lot of things you can do in the winter. As for it being too close to Christmas, that isn't really an issue, I would personally be more concerned about late March for Easter. I personally have a summer birthday and have always wanted a winter party and I know my step son is the same way.
Two of my brothers have Decemeber birthdays, one on the 7th the other the 24th, and another brother with a late February birthday. With my brother born on Christmas Eve we had a hard time always getting a birhtday party in because my dad is a pastor, but my mom ALWAYS made sure he got birthday gifts and christmas gifts.
As I remember it most of my brothers birthdyas were mostly inside, if it was nice out we would go sledding for 30 mins then back inside. So I guess we were "stuck" inside but we had a good size house so it was ok. Also we had smaller guest list, no more then 12 kids/parents. We also found fun places indoor to have the party like Chucky Cheese.
You might be putting a little too much thought into it because kids don't care what time of year there birthday is, as long as you celebrate, no matter how big or small the celebration is, they are happy!
I have October, November and February babies. My October baby was just born this past October so I have yet to plan a birthday party for him. I really wish one of my babies had a summer birthday so we could do parties at parks and other outdoor venues. I also hated bringing the winter babies out in the cold, bundling up 2 toddlers and an infant takes forever!
My oldest has his birthday in February, my 2nd has his in November and our 3rd will be born in June/July. With my 2 boys, the parties have always been indoors... But, we always try to make them special. They get to pick their own birthday theme and get to try to help with any planning. I think the biggest con to winter birthdays is the weather... We've had parties planned where only half of the guests were able to attend just because the weather was so nasty. I do not think February/March is too close to Christmas... I actually have a harder time with #2 having a November birthday. All in all, I think there are going to be pros/cons no matter when the birthday falls... The winter can have some nasty weather but, the summer can be hard too since people are SO busy during summer months! Good luck! And, no matter what you decide, enjoy that little bundle! He/She will be special!
I have three kids with bdays in Dec, Jan and Feb and it is such a pain to have to plan all indoor bdays. last year we tried to do a Half Bday for my Feb 1 son but of course time got away and just didn't do it.
Here is what we ususally do. Movie theater parties, bowling parties (altho here tourneys are in Feb so we can't do his), Arcade parties, everyone at our house (I hate that one) glow in the dark golf parties, indoorplay ground parties.. so on.
I love that usually there are a lot of kids that can attend because.. well, what else is there to do in the middle of winter. Except for my Dec kid because his bday is so close to Christmas everyone is gone. Good luck!
Our youngest's birthday is in February. It is not too close to Christmas. When Graham was younger, we did relative only parties. Now that he's older, we have friends, too. Usually, we go somewhere else (i.e., indoor pool/slides, inflatable places, Chuck E. Cheese, etc.). If the weather is cooperative, we do have it at our house. We have a huge hill in our backyard and have a sliding party with bon fire.
Jen,
I have 3 kids, one with a March b-day, at the end of Nov. and one the first week of Dec. My brother's birthday was right after x-mas and he said that was too close to the holiday, and I can see all ready that the Nov. and Dec. birthdays in our family are going to be harder. March doesn't seem close to the holidays at all to me though, and I'd try for that month if I were you :)
Also, having a baby in the spring is SO MUCH EASIER than in the winter (like February). I had forgotten how hard it is to deal with the winter stuff with little kids.
Good luck to you!
Jessica
SAHM to Charlie (3-24-05) Joey (12-4-06) and Rebecca (11-21-08)
i know its not feb or march... but my birthday is in the middle of november. my parents never had big parties for any of us kids but we always had a couple of friends over and we would go sleding or see who made the best snowmen stuff like that. then she would always have warm treats inside for us with hot coco and we would watch movies with popcorn when we were older. when we were under school age we it was always parties with the family. the only downside i felt as a child was that we couldn't do alot of choices.. but my parents couldn't afford taking us somewhere either. it seemed like every year we would have a snow storm about the time of my birthday. but over all i loved having the parties and have great memories of them.
for me the question would be do you want to have to bundle up a little tiny one while its still cold. i know living around here that you do it every year but when they are so new do you want to do that since you are planning when to have the baby?
now matter when you have the baby you will find plenty to do for birthdays with all the choices out there to where you don't have to be stuck inside all the time if money allows. most kids care about the cake and having fun anyways and sometimes the more simple it is the more fun they have.
good luck with your choice!
Both my girls were born in February. It has never really bothered me at all. We have had all our parties at home with the exception of one we had at an indoor play park in Edina. It has actually been my least favorite party.
Last year my older daughter invited 16 friends over. It was a very structured party with games, food, crafts, and opening presents.
This year one of my girls is having a pizza party where they will all make their own pizzas. The other one is having a princess dress up party. I'm sure each will invite around 15/16 kids. As long as you have structure it works.
Kids really could care less when there birthday is just as long as they have a party. A friend of mine last year invited about 16 kids to McDonald's playland and the kids had a great time at the party.
Here is a great site for birthday party ideas. Check it out.
http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/html/party_ideas.html
