What its like being born on a holiday

Sophie Zehner, Managing Editor

I was born on October 31, 2005 at 7:35 am… yes, I was born on Halloween, and today I’m 17!

Growing up, when I told people that I was born on Halloween, everyone would say “Oh my gosh, that’s so cool!” I liked to brag and say that I got three birthday parties: one with my friends and family, one with classmates, and trick or treating (which isn’t a party, I realize, but I liked to think so). Having a Halloween birthday is exciting. What’s fun about it is I’m able to get a whole bunch of candy, presents, and I get to dress up.

As I get older, I try to go all out for my Halloween costume. My costumes have varied from Disney princesses to Hermione Granger, to Audrey Hepburn, etc. This year I plan to be Donna from Donna and the Dynamos (from Mamma Mia), and I even made my shirt for my costume, sewing and all. I just hope that when I’m older, I’ll continue making Halloween a big deal and have fun costumes. 

When I think about it, it’s cool having a birthday on a popular holiday because it kind of feels like everyone is celebrating your birthday with you. However, I feel that having a Christmas birthday wouldn’t be as fun since you don’t get double presents, you’ll either get a couple for your birthday or multiple for Christmas, there’s no in between.

Halloween is a pretty big deal in my house, mainly because it’s my birthday. But every year, I’ve had a Halloween themed party, which is easier than coming up with a birthday party theme. My mom used to go all out and make handmade invitations that matched the theme of my costumes. More recently, I’ve been having separate parties: one for friends, and then one on Halloween with family so we can celebrate my birthday and go trick or treating together.

As soon as it hits October 1st, the house is filled with Halloween decorations and the countdown of the days until my birthday begins. I come downstairs and I change the numbers on the “Days till Halloween” countdown and each day the numbers get smaller and smaller, until it’s 1 more day till Halloween.

However, as it gets closer to the 31st, I don’t get as excited because all of the pent up enthusiasm for my birthday is going to be over in just a few days, and then I will have aged another year and I go on with my life until my next birthday. I remember when I was younger, I would be super excited that it was my birthday and would look forward to waking up on October 31st, getting my Halloween costume on and going to school. Now, it feels like any other day, it isn’t as exciting as it was when I was younger. As I get closer to 18, it reminds me that I’m soon going to be an adult and not be able to do kid-like things again. 

I too am finding out that it gets harder each year to figure out what I want for my birthday. Like most teenagers, as they get older, the things they want get more expensive. For me, I want something that I can keep for a long time and get a lot of use out of instead of just receiving money which will be spent within a day. When we were younger, it was easier to figure out what we wanted. It would either be toys, clothes, games, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still very excited for my birthday and I love the anticipation of it all: decorating the house, counting down the days, and having a party. There are still a lot of things that I look forward to. One tradition that I really look forward to every year is doing something with my parents sometime in October. My dad takes me to see a scary movie and to dinner. With my mom, we have a “girls night” and go spend the night in a hotel somewhere, we’ll get our nails done and go shopping.

Over the past 17 years, the different costumes, present wishes, and preparations that are being made during October  most definitely add to the excitement of my birthday. I’m very grateful to have my birthday on a holiday and I wouldn’t change it for the world.