How to Save Money on Christmas Birthdays

How to save Money on Christmas Birthdays

It seems like right after Thanksgiving every year until after the New Year things are hustling and bustling and everyone is trying to squeeze everything into their busy schedules. Among all the Christmas meals, luncheons and presents there seems to always be a birthday in there too, but how do you save money and tie it all together or keep it separate from the rest of the festivities?

At our home we have a child who will be 14 years old this year and his birthday falls on the 27th of December it can be tricky, but we try to keep it separate so at least he feels like he is still having a birthday. In order to save money on his birthday we try to incorporate it into everything else yet still trying to keep it separate. Does that make sense? Well let me explain…every year I ask my kids what they want for Christmas, they have so many days to get me a list then otherwise they get what they get instead of what they wanted. (When you have 5 kids this trick comes in handy)

Last year my kids all wanted a Wii which was very nice because “Santa” brought the Wii then everyone else gave those games and accessories or gift cards to use towards future Wii merchandise. This year my son wants money to go on a trip with church in next summer and he also just wanted his room redone so we tie it all in together. At Christmas he gets the biggest part of his gift then at his birthday which falls afterwards he gets smaller items that fit with what he wanted such as money or room accessories.

By combining the two together he still gets roughly the same thing that he wanted for Christmas and we can save a little money but tying it all together. Then on his birthday we have him a small cake with family over or one year we celebrated his birthday on New Year’s because we had a family friend who had a child with the same birthday so we had them both a surprise party on New Year’s and told each child we were celebrating New Year’s until the cake and presents came out… they both were in on their own birthday surprise’s which was nice and exciting all at the same time.

Christmas is a busy time of year and birthdays seem to get lost in the shuffle but there are many ways to keep them separate yet still loop them into one.