1. Embrace it!

The one thing I've learned to do each year is to embrace the Christmas and use it as a means of making things special. We usually find decorations that aren't obviously Christmas, such as the pinwheels in the pictures above; they have subtle festive references on them but the colours aren't traditional red & green so I'll be using them to decorate our house for Archie's birthday and will probably follow the colour scheme to find some other bits too. I've also known others to decorate the tree with birthday balloons and streamers for the big day.

2. Think ahead.

Whilst they're young, remember that they'll be a whole year between occasions for them, so buy some gifts that they'll prefer at a slightly older age or put money aside for anything they may want later on in the year.

3. Seperate.

So kind of hypocritical considering point number 1, but what we do is seperate the room; one half will be Christmas, the other side is dedicated to Archie's birthday. This is where I'll put up the birthday balloons & banners and put out his birthday presents and cards, everything else is pushed to the other side; I'm a firm believer that Archie should feel his birthday is more important than anything else.

4. Think about what you're wrapping.

It's easy to wrap their presents in the festive gift wrap you have hanging around but if you want them to feel special, never do the above. I always wrap Archie's birthday gifts in non-Christmas wrap and if I received a gift for him that wasn't, I would re-wrap it. It may not seem like a big deal, but to the Christmas birthday boy or girl, it helps for them to know their birthday is important enough for others to make that effort. I actually picked up a great gift-wrap pack in Homesense this year which included patterned gift-wrap that can be used for both occasions.

5. Ignore the negativity.

Alot of people will express disappointment and empathy at your little one's magical birthday and though there may be some downsides when they're older, we've only experienced the good so far! Everyone's in high spirits, most family are off work and available to celebrate and we are twice as excited to see his little face in the morning. We also probably over-compensate to ensure he doesn't miss out, and he gets a party a few weeks later.