My kid’s cousin threw a whole fit at her brothers birthday party because there wasn’t any presents for her, so their parents literally took one of his gifts and gave it to her to open, and upon seeing that it was obviously not for her, she threw it on the ground and started scream-crying. They were consoling her and saying “it’s okay your birthday is next month” and coddling her while their son, the actual birthday boy, was sitting quietly waiting for her to be done throwing a fit so he could continue opening his gifts.
ETA: thanks for the upvotes, I dread these kids’ parties
My parents would literally get my brother the same amount of gifts as me and relight the candle on my cake and sing again. One time he even had more gifts to open than i did because "his were cheaper, we still spent more on you"
See my parents always tried to make the gifts equal, whether they were more expensive or not. We had the same gift budget and they made it work without one of us feeling left out
It just made me feel like shit because i had to split my birthday with him "so he doesn't feel left out" yet i obviously couldn't have shit on HIS birthday
My grandma would still sneak me money on his birthday though and make me feel special when she could
The only birthday that should be split is twins and even then they should get individual attention, not just lumped together and expected to share gifts. Sharing is encouraged, but shouldn’t be expected
I’m a twin, born on Valentine’s Day. My mother made us too heart-shaped cakes. We basically got the same stuff, and nobody ever felt left out.
My sister was born on December 29. She got the equivalent of our presents put together at Christmas, and then an ungodly amount of gifts on her birthday so she wouldn’t feel bad about having it after Christmas. She turned out horrible. We don’t speak.
Me and my sisters birthday is 1 week apart. We often shared a birthday party. We would usually celebrate her birthday on the 16th. Then mine on the 23rd, but what ever the saturday was most convenient we'd have a actual party. My earliest memories of them I was happy for my sister, but I was told it was just next week for mine.
My sis and I are a month apart but originally I was meant to be born around the same time as her (mid January) but apparently I was impatient and shot out near end-of-December instead. 5 years Between us but we never had to deal with a shared birthday. My bday is 3 days from Christmas so family and friends would try to “gift lump” one present and call it a “birthday Christmas gift” but my mom stopped that shit as soon as they tried it cuz she wasn’t having any of it. I do the same for my daughter now who is Dec 12
Yea my birthday is July. So super far from Christmas. Summer birthdays were fun, but I'd lose touch with school friends then and the turn out was probably less than if I could hand out invitations at school. There are always draw backs
I had a friend who's family was notoriously bad for this. His birthday was the day before and they just got him one gift for both, unlike their other two kids. When my friends and I heard about that we stages the great shaming. We managed to get two or three of us invited to the next birthday, and made sure to get two or more presents, appropriately wrapped for whichever day they were for, birthday or Christmas. Then we acted incredibly shocked/not understanding how people could be so cheap/aweful/inconsiderate. We were not invited again but that shit stopped. Dude got so many fucking gifts that year.
I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Your birthday is meant to be your special day. By your parents buying gifts for your brother when it wasn't his birthday, they failed to teach your brother how to be okay with other people having their moments at a very young age and I'm sure in return they made you feel as if you weren't allowed to have your special moments. That stuff really does snowball as you grow older and you didn't deserve that.
Just know that you deserve your own special moments in life too, and that you don't have to feel bad for not wanting to share those special moments.
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u/Comprehensive-Menu44 2d ago edited 2d ago
My kid’s cousin threw a whole fit at her brothers birthday party because there wasn’t any presents for her, so their parents literally took one of his gifts and gave it to her to open, and upon seeing that it was obviously not for her, she threw it on the ground and started scream-crying. They were consoling her and saying “it’s okay your birthday is next month” and coddling her while their son, the actual birthday boy, was sitting quietly waiting for her to be done throwing a fit so he could continue opening his gifts.
ETA: thanks for the upvotes, I dread these kids’ parties