Happy holidays! And… happy birthday? Although these two phrases may not be used together often, many students at Bowie have their special day on a holiday.

Parents always have those big memories of when their children were born, but for junior Amanda Urrutia, her parents remember it as a trick and a treat, as her birthday lands on no other day than Halloween.

“I like my birthday because it’s an entire celebration that’s really weird, and I like that sort of stuff,” Urrutia said. “but I guess I don’t like it because it’s not like it’s its own unique day, so you have to share it with something else.”

Urrutia can see the fun in her birthday-holiday combo, however it is a bit unusual.

“It’s a little strange because like it’s my birthday, but then there are all these kids dressed up in costumes running around. It’s fun though,” Urrutia said.

While it can be disappointing to have to share your big day with a widely celebrated event, sophomore Emily Breach enjoys celebrating the ‘day of love’ with everyone for the most part.

“I do hate that sometimes it can be sad to have both the holiday and your birthday going on, because you have to pick which is more important to you,” Breach said of her Valentine’s Day birthday. “It’s a happy holiday too; it’s not like a sad one or too crazy, everyone else is happy.”

When people think of some of these holidays, certain memories or things come to mind.

On Independence Day, sophomore Timothy McCulloch isn’t thinking about fireworks, unless it’s over a lake on a warm July evening.

“Every year my family and I go down to the lake and we kayak quite a while to watch the fireworks to celebrate Independence Day and my birthday at the same time,” McCulloch said.

As weird as these birthdays can be, the world’s most prank-filled holiday isn’t without a bonus birthday celebration. Junior Blake Petersen finds April Fool’s Day to be more than a couple jokes.

“My brothers usually put in extra effort to prank me on my birthday,” Petersen said. “You’ll get your birthday breakfast and it’s got different ingredients but it looks the exact same, but tastes awful. It’s a typical prank that happens, and I forget about it too.”

However, not all holidays are celebratory and fun, as freshman Gabriella Gonzales has her birthday on Patriot Day, more widely known as September 11th.

Though it’s been more than a decade since the events of 9/11, Gonzales finds it uncomfortable to celebrate when others are in mourning.

“It’s kind of weird, but me being happy about my birthday isn’t going to affect my friends or who I’m around.” Gonzales said. “It’s just a little more awkward because they’ll do the Pledge of Allegiance in the morning and I’ll be like, ‘Oh it’s my birthday, by the way.’”

Another unique aspect about Gonzales’ birthday is that she shares it with her twin.

“We don’t really celebrate huge birthday parties because it’s a sad day,” Gonzales said. ”It’d be odd to have a party on that day. Because of that, we don’t celebrate big; it’s something we don’t do.”

McCulloch, however, enjoys how commemorating his birthday with a big celebration that includes red, white and blue.

“I like that my family does stuff for me and for Indepence Day at the same time, but there’s not much I don’t like about it. Everybody thinks it’s cool,” McCulloch said.

Gifts are a big part of any birthday, and senior Justin Devetter loves all his own presents, but Christmas Day means a lot more for him.

“It’s cool, I think it is, it’s personal to me that I have my birthday on Christmas. I think it would be a lot different if I was born on a different day,” Devetter said. “Like there would be a significant gap, and it wouldn’t be as exciting as everything on one day.”