When I was younger, I always bragged about the fact that my birthday was in June. I thought it was the perfect time of year to be born: no school and it was halfway through the year from Christmas, maxing out your present ratio during the year. I thought having a June birthday was the best thing that could have happened to me.
Now that I’m a bit older, I’ve come to realize that summer birthdays aren’t all that great. In fact, they pretty much suck.
1. Your classmates always forgot about your party, even with a month’s notice of invites.
I can remember my eighth birthday party. I had invited all 30 of my classmates on the last day of school, about a month before my birthday. Only eight of them showed up. When we got back to school in the fall, they came up to me and apologized for missing my birthday. They had forgotten about it. Because it’s the middle of the summer. No one remembers school and classmates during summer.
2. If you’re in college, your friends are scattered all over the place.
I live about four hours away from my university, and most of my friends. It’s hard trying to get everyone together in one place to try to celebrate when you’re all home for the summer. You can’t expect everyone to be able to make the drive to one location for one day. It’s not feasible.
3. You have to work around family vacations.
Summer is the prime time for families to get away from their towns and have some fun and relaxation. But sometimes that fun and relaxation for your friends lands on your birthday. I’ve have countless times where a friend hasn’t been able to celebrate with me because they were on a vacation with their family. Sometimes if a lot of people are leaving around that time, you have to reschedule your party all together.
4. If you live near a beach, you’re expected to go the beach.
The beach is such a part of the stereotypical summer staple, it’s almost expected that the time you spend on the beach should be celebrating your birthday. Living 45-minutes away from a beach, I’ve been asked numerous times if I was going to the beach for my birthday. The answer is always no. I hate sand, I hate saltwater, I hate the way sand sticks to you once you've been in saltwater; I hate the beach.
5. If you don't live near a beach, your party is beached themed.
I grew up far away from a beach, but every party I had contained some kind of beach theme. The amount of “luau” birthdays I had as a kid was tremendous. I had a lot of fun because I loved the pool and little drink straws and grass skirts. Looking back, though, I’m almost saddened that my theme was consistent for most of my elementary years. There’s not much an option for summer birthday party without being asked why it wasn’t a pool party, especially when you had a pool.
6. Staying indoors with rowdy kids is not a good option.
The humidity of the summer has kept most of my recent birthdays as indoor affairs. Trying to fit approximately ten teenagers into one living room is not an easy task. The room gets loud and hot very fast, and there’s never enough seats for everyone. I always felt bad about not having enough room for everyone, but it’s either a little AC and a fan blowing or all of us sweating out in the hot Alabama summer. I think I’ll stick with the first choice.
7. Traditional birthday food doesn't always work well in the summer.
Summer birthdays can be a drag. People can forget, it can be too hot to go outside, and traditional party options can wear you down. But, hey, at least you don’t have to go to school.
