My parents have always joked with me that I was born early because I just couldn't wait to see the new year. New millennium, really. I was born on January 1, 2000, which makes me a New Year's baby and a millennium baby to boot. I've used this as a "fun fact" of mine for years, and I'll admit, I appreciate all the birthday wishes the second after the ball drops. Honestly, though, I wouldn't say it's the greatest thing in the world having your birthday on January 1.
New Year's Eve is actually way more exciting than the day itself
People say that January 1st is a really awesome day to be born, but the real exciting day is actually December 31st. That night, people go out and party, drink with friends, celebrate the end of another 365 days passing. All the good stuff actually happens the night before, contrary to popular belief. Sure, you might stay out past midnight, but I feel like the hype is sort of lessened by then.
Everyone is super tired
No one ever wakes up bright and early on January 1. That's not a thing. When you've been out with your friends until three in the morning the night before, you're probably going to roll out of bed at noon with the expectation of a nice, chill day in your sweats, not another day of celebration. New Year's Eve is one of the biggest events of the whole year, so it's fine that people are tired and not really up to doing much. When it's your birthday, though, you don't really have a way to spend it that might make it special.
Everywhere you might want to go is closed
Going shopping isn't an option cause the mall isn't opened, nice restaurants are closed as well. Of course, it's nice you don't have school, but you don't have a ton of other options either? It's kind of a shame picking out of a scarce number of places where you'd like to go to spend your birthday.
People DO forget, surprisingly enough
Everyone assumes that, because my birthday is January 1, it must be insanely easy to remember. Honestly though, there's just a whole range of reasons that that's wrong. It's basically a combo of having a summer break birthday and a holiday birthday. You're not around a lot of people to remember, since you'll likely never school or work. You're also overpowered by the holiday, New Year's, and people just forget because they're much more concerned with the champagne and fireworks than remembering dates.
You can't make the most special day of the year even more special
New Year's Eve is a big holiday. It's a night of having a great time with the people you love, which means that the next day is just never going to live up to it. You need a break from the excitement to get back to a normal life. The whole reason that birthdays are so special is that you get a day in an otherwise pretty routine life to celebrate yourself and make it special. How do you make something that is already special even more so? You can't do the things you might want to do otherwise, like go to a museum or a concert, because it's not happening on that day. People have other things to do and worry about. Maybe that's just a holiday birthday kind of thing though.
There are many reasons having a birthday on New Year's is... not as cool as people think. I wish that would come into consideration when I mention it, but I genuinely care more about the texts I do get at midnight wishing me a happy birthday than I care about all the negatives.
