Leap Year Babies Celebrate Rare Birthday

It seems is a great place to celebrate a ninth birthday, especially if you're a leap year baby.

There's the games, the pizza and of course the beer. And by the time you're celebrating your ninth actual birthday, it's a great place to bring your kids.

And that's exactly how Bradenton's Joey McPerson decided to celebrate his ninth: his two boys by his side as he played skee ball. Cody, his oldest son, likes to joke that they'll be the same age this year. He'll turn nine in September.

McPherson said being a leap year baby didn't mean he missed out on anything. It actually made him feel special. He never missed a birthday celebration as a kid and his birthday always feel on a weekend in the years when there was no Feb. 29.

And as a kid growing up in Bradenton he had a good friend who was also a leap year baby.

"We Always thought it was cool," McPherson said. "We would joke we had to wait until we were 84 to be able to drink a beer. We figured out how old we would have to be to drive a car." (That would be 64 for those counting).

Now that he's an adult those leap year birthdays are always extra special. Every leap year he takes the week of his birthday off from work. Since he only gets to celebrate once every four years, he figures he's entitled to take vacation that week.

Still being a leap year baby does have its drawbacks said McPherson's girlfriend Laura Licowsky. Every year for her birthday she gets discounts or coupons from businesses, including tickets to a comedy club. McPherson signed up for the same comedy club tickets using his real birthday and has never gotten a call.

And even though his real birthdate is on file with the division of motor vehicles, he still has to renew his tags every year — on March 1 — instead of on his birthdate like everyone else.

And while McPherson takes an entire week off around his actual birthdate every leap year, he doesn't really have a big blow out for his birthday, he said. Instead he likes to get stuff done around his house.

And now that he's on his ninth birthday, he's pretty happy with Chuck E. Cheese as the pace to celebrate.

"Now that I have kids, and all my friends have kids it will be a pretty nice place to have a party," he said Wednesday afternoon.