Leap Day comes around once every four years, and for most of us, it isn’t relevant to our everyday life. But for those who celebrate a birthday on this sporadic date, it’s delightfully significant. 

"I try to do something youthful to play into the Leap Year theme. It's a fun excuse to do something with friends that's outside of our normal activities," says Christina Land, who was born Feb. 29, 1980.

Chris Waters was born on Leap Day 1988 and this year he has extra-special plans for his birthday.

“My best college friend, who has the same birthday, is traveling from Orlando," says Waters. "We rented an AirBnB in Palm Springs and then we rented a party bus for Los Angeles."

Other years, the birthday buds celebrated based on their Leap Year age. When they turned 24, the two hosted a 6th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.

Leap Year babies are always asked – or told – how old they "really are."

“I experience a lot of people trying to guess how ‘old I really am’ and almost always they're wildly inaccurate, which can lead to some fun banter,” says Land. “A colleague asked me recently if I was going to be 5 this Leap Year and I replied, ‘Ah, I remember 5 fondly. I was in college.’”

But for some, like Peg Cox, having a Leap Year birthday was sometimes a point of ridicule.

“I have two older sisters and they would say, ‘Haha you don’t have a birthday this year so you don’t get any presents’ and it would always make me cry,” says Cox.

Cox, who was born on Feb. 29, 1964, discovered that a lot of people who like to kid her about her Leap Year birthday are poor at division.

“I can’t believe how many people try to joke about my ‘real’ age but then get it wrong,” says Cox.

Remarkably, husband and wife Aaron and Anna Arcello both celebrate a Leap Year birthday. Aaron was born in Rhode Island and Anna was born in Michigan on Feb. 29, 1984.

“I’m 12 hours older," says Aaron.

The couple was introduced by a mutual friend while they were living in New York City in 2010 because they shared such a unique birthday.

“A few months later I asked Anna out on a date and we've been together ever since,” says Aaron, who likes having a noteworthy birth date. "I enjoy getting kids’ birthday cards that say something like ‘Happy 10th Birthday From The Ninja Turtles.'"

Whether to celebrate the special day on February 28 or March 1 on non-Leap Years is a personal decision. Land, who celebrates her birthday on February 28, says her mom originally made the decision, but she continues with the tradition because she identifies with having a February birthday.

“Plus, I grew up in the 80s where birthstones and birth flowers were a much bigger thing,” says Land.

Heidi Jean Harder, who was born Leap Day 1980, celebrates both February 28 and March 1 when the 29th isn’t on the calendar.

“Since I don’t get one real birthday I figure I get two fake ones,” says Harder. 

Cox is adamant about celebrating her birthday on February 28.

“My birthday is in February. I was born in February so I never think of my birthday as being in March,” she says.

Fox Reynolds, born Feb. 29, 1984, is indifferent. "I personally am pretty nonchalant about the date that I celebrate on, though that has been a very common question," he says. "I like to pretend my birthday exists somewhere in the cosmos for a microsecond, in time and space, in between the two dates."

Legally, however, people born on February 29 are not recognized as a year older until March 1. For example, when someone with a February 29th birthday turns 21, they cannot legally drink on February 28 but can on March 1.

"Having a Leap Year birthday is fun and different,” says Harder. "The doctor told my mom I would be unique because I was born on Leap Year, and my mom always told me it was true.”