Great ideas for unique celebrations when you have multiple celebrations on the same date.
Everyone has heard of the family that has several birthdays on the same date. Or perhaps your anniversary falls on a particular holiday, like Valentine’s Day. Maybe your child was even born on Christmas Day or Halloween. The “official” term for this situation where you are managing simultaneous celebrations is called Piggybacking Your Holidays. So how do you, as the party planner and host, make sure that each special day is celebrated fully and that no event is short changed? There are a variety of ways that one can manage this challenge, and perhaps one of these options may work for you.
Two Birthdays on the Same Date
This scenario is probably the most common piggybacking situation. For whatever reason it happens, children and parents often share the same birthday. In this case, the easiest solution is to highlight the child’s birthday, and let the parent share in the glory of his/her child. Although this may mean a grown adult has to happily partake of a Big Bird or Dora the Explorer theme cake, it often is a small price to pay for piggybacking!
On the other hand, if two siblings (or twins) share the same birthday, it really is most appropriate to serve two cakes for the celebration. Granted, the cakes can be smaller-sized or you can even use cupcakes, but this situation enables each child to feel special on his/her day. If you plan to have birthday celebrations outside of the family parties, it’s important to listen to the children’s needs and desires. If they can cooperate and share a similar theme and party guest list, then by all means celebrate the party together. However, you may want to request that the guests do not bring gifts, as either the guests will be out a significant amount of money or your children will be shortchanged in the present department. Counteract this totally by taking gifts out of the equation or ask the guests to bring a donation for the local public library or food bank.
If your children cannot cooperate and want distinctly different themes or guest lists, then you will need to schedule two celebrations. You may wish to host them on consecutive days or consecutive weekends, depending on your kids’ ability to be flexible. Conversely, you may opt to host both parties simultaneously, at a party-friendly location. A bowling alley, movie theater, indoor water park, ice skating rink are just a few alternatives that would enable you to host two side-by-side parties with completely different guests lists and themes. In this scenario, it’s in your best interest to secure the help of an extra adult or two!
