These New York Babies Won’t Celebrate A 21st Birthday

Bars in New York won’t have to worry about this carding disaster this year. 

Only .07% of people in the United States are part of this exclusive group that many people call “Leaplings.”

Leaplings is a term that refers to any person who was born on February 29, also known as Leap Day. 

The possibility of being born on that day only happens once every four years, but there are still approximately five million people who share that birthday worldwide. It’s arguably the rarest day to be born, which makes you unique, but it also can cause some discrepancies later on in life.  

For example, when do you celebrate your birthday? Do you even celebrate if it’s not a leap year? What happens with the major milestones, like your sweet 16, your 21st, your 50th, or when you qualify for the senior discounts?

Do you have to wait until March 1st, or do you just miss out on the celebrations?

When it comes to your sweet 16, you luck out; fortunately, that’s a multiple of 4, so you can celebrate on your actual birthday. The next big birthday celebration, however, may not align with everyone else’s plans. 

Typically, on your 21st birthday, you go out to a bar with some of your friends, maybe have a beer or two, and sing some karaoke. 

If you are born on February 29, you will never be able to do that on your actual birth date, because it is not a multiple of 4. Your 21st birthday will fall on a year where there is no February 29, and that can cause some issues for your birthday plans, especially if you have long declared your “alternative birthday” to be February 28. 

Because technically, in your 21st year of life, you will not be 21 yet on February 28. You’ll have to wait an extra day…until March 1st, for you to be considered 21 in all legality. 

And while that may throw off your big birthday plans, think of it this way: when you are celebrating your 100th year of life, you will actually only be 25! So you could tell everyone, “I am not a day over 25,” and it would be true!

One leapling by the name of Angie Crognale celebrated 100 years of life in the year 2020. She may have been born on February 29, 1920, but by the time 100 years had passed, she was only on her 25th birthday! 

When ABC News asked Crognale what her secret was to making it to the big “2-5,” she said, “Be nice to everybody. Live well. Stay nice and calm. Don’t let anything bother you. That’s it. That is the story of my life.”

This year, there will be no leaplings to celebrate their 21st birthday or their 100th, but come next year, there will be a lot more partying to be had!