GAINESVILLE — Having a birthday that only arrives once every four years could seem like a drag.
But Denise Stovall and Mary Ray, who work in the Mother Baby Unit at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, embrace their unusual leap year birthdays. This year, they get a whole day to celebrate — leap day is Friday — although Stovall will continue her tradition of making her birthday an event.
"Actually, I celebrate on Feb. 28 and March 1," Stovall said. "So if you miss the (Feb.) 29, then you always have March 1 to make up for it."
Ray, who usually celebrates on March 1 added, "It’s cool because I’ll never get old, and I’m only turning 11 this year."
Stovall plans to celebrate big this year with two birthday parties to celebrate her 40th birthday and her 10th.
"For my 40th birthday on March 1, I’m having a birthday party at the (Gainesville) Civic Center," said Stovall, who has sent out 175 invitations for the bash. "And on March 2 I’m having a skating party at Skate Country — that will be my 10-year-old birthday party.
"I always said that this one was going to be special because in 2004 my mom passed March 5 and she had planned me a big birthday dinner on Feb. 29 and we didn’t get to have it because she was in the hospital. So I said when I turn 40 I’m living it up."
Ray will be celebrating a little more low key than Stovall, but she definitely has reminded her family of the special occasion.
"She made an announcement at the family dinner that it was going to be her 11th birthday and we better plan something," said Kimberly Crowe, the niece of Mary Ryan.So the entire Ray clan is planning to spend time together in Ray's honor on Feb. 29 this year.
Leap year babies have the luxury of being able to stretch the limits when it comes to birthday parties, since they technically only see their actual birthday once every four years. They can choose a theme for their party, for example, that involves frogs, according to shindigz.com. What better way to celebrate a leap year than with a green-hued cake and toad decor?
Or, you can celebrate the fact that the leap year baby is just a quarter of their real age with a party themed for their leap year birthday. If the birthday boy or girl is technically turning 20, partying like a 5-year-old at a Chuck E. Cheese would be age appropriate and fun, according to the Web site.
Janice Bryans of Flowery Branch said she tries to honor her son Shannon Bryans’ leap year birthday in a special way.
"What I normally try to do is get pictures of him as a child and do like a chronological of what he looked like then and what he looks like now."
Shannon will turn 40 this Feb. 29, and Janice vividly recalls the day her son was born in 1968.
"When we went to the hospital it had snowed ... and I was saying, ‘I am not going to have a baby today because it is an odd day and it’s too bad to go to the hospital,’" she said.
Janice said there was six or seven inches of snow and it was "packing up on the exhaust pipe."
"Actually, we had to have a police escort," she said. "(I was worried) because I thought this is going to label this kid for only having a birthday every four years and I was thinking, ‘I don’t want to do this.’"
But Shannon said he just treats his birthday like any other day.
"It’s no different — it is just another day to me," said Bryans, who works at the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. in South Hall.
But the fact is, Feb. 29 is a more unusual birthday since it only comes around once every leap year — and this year also happens to be an election year.
The U.S. Census Bureau doesn’t keep complete records of leap year births, but they do have an estimation of how many leap year babies there are in the United States.
"With respect to the number of leap year birthdays, the best we are able to do is basically divide the total number of births from our latest population estimates by 366," said Robert Bernstein of the U.S. Census Bureau. "So using the latest birth data, that would make an estimate of 11,691 births a day which would approximate the number of people born on Feb. 29."
Beth Yates, a Realtor at Keller Williams Realty in Braselton, said she doesn’t see much different about her leap year birthday either. But she has experienced a few problems over the years.
"When I was 18, at the time you only had to be 18 to drink and to get into bars," said Yates, who will turn 48 this year. "So on my 18th birthday, I didn’t have a birthday. So my friends and I were going out to celebrate, which to me was on the 28th, and they weren’t going to let me in because my birthday was on the 29th."
And while birthdays are much more difficult to control, weddings are a different story.
Although a scheduling conflict caused Gainesville couple Theron and Elaine Rogers to get married on Feb. 29, 1976. The couple will celebrate their 32nd wedding anniversary this year on Friday.
The two have only celebrated the anniversary seven times on the exact date.
"Our son was playing basketball at the time and were in the playoffs, and we were trying to squeeze in the wedding during all that ... so I guess you could say it was his fault," Elaine said.
But the Rogers said they are lucky that they have friends with a close anniversary, and they celebrate together most years. This year, for the third year in a row, they plan to have dinner at The Oar House in Dahlonega.
Even with an odd birthday or an anniversary, Stovall had a suggestion for anyone in the situation.
"Just every four years, make it a big one," she said.