I was a summer baby, which came with its own challenges when I was young. Summer babies don’t get to celebrate their birthday with classmates, or bring in cookies or really even organize a birthday event with friends until a little bit older. Especially in August, families are traveling, kids are at camp there’s a lot to do during the day and summer birthdays require a little more effort on parents. Now, multiply that by a million and I imagine it’s what having a birthday on an immovable national holiday is like. Making sure your child feels special when competing with a big holiday that many of their friends and family will be celebrating is an undertaking. But there are a lot of ways to handle, here are just a few.

You Can’t Beat The System

Here’s the tough part, if your child has a birthday that falls on Christmas, New Years, Halloween or any other big holiday you are up against an entire industry. I’m sorry to say it. But the good news is, you don’t have to. It will take a lot of time and energy hiding all of the candy hearts, or shielding your child from pumpkins so as not to take away from their special day. It will add stress to a day where you’re already juggling a lot and, more importantly, that stress can transfer over to your son or daughter who will, in turn, associate it with their birthday.

Change The Scenery

It’s December 25th, the family is all waking up, running downstairs, and opening their presents. This is not the best time to sing “Happy Birthday”. Instead, try waking your child up with a birthday song, then doing Christmas presents for the entire family. Wait until after Trick-Or-Treating ends to serve the birthday cake. Creating a new space, and new energy so as not to combine the celebrations is important. Christmas happens in the living room? Then celebrate birthdays at the kitchen table. By simply changing the location of where you celebrate in the house, you are making it clear that the two occasions have different significance and represent different things.

Another idea if you have more than one child, is to have one parent take them out for a special adventure one on one. Maybe it’s just a quick car ride to the park before you carve the Thanksgiving turkey, or a father-daughter movie day while everyone at home gets ready to ring in the new year. Again, changing up the location for the different occasions will make your son or daughter feel special and not overlooked. It’s also just a nice tradition to start for everyone’s birthday, having focused time with one child creates a wonderful bond and lots of memories.

Avoid The Combo Present

Batteries are not a gift.

Find Other Days to Celebrate

Who says you’re only allowed to have a party on the exact day you were born? As we get older, we learn that there are a myriad of milestones in your life to celebrate, so why not start early? If you don’t want to throw a July 4th themed birthday party, well then celebrate your half birthday in January. Maybe an anniversary party for the first day your little one took his or her first steps? Moreover, this can be another tradition you share with your entire family. Picking different days throughout the year to celebrate each other is not only a way to avoid the birthday holiday double up, it’s a reminder that the people in your life are worth celebrating every day of the year.