The most important thing to do when your birthday lands on a holiday is to make the most of it. There are six students at Armijo who have done just that, as they celebrate their birthdays on Halloween every year.

Madison Alexander enjoys getting free candy on her birthday, but one thing she has never really gotten to do is have a regular birthday party. She said that she usually dresses up and goes trick or treating on her birthday, not something that a lot of people get to do.

Another student who does get to dress up on his birthday is Alejandro Alvarez Valles. He and his cousin often go out and get candy together. His birthday is special, but it is not a major focus for him. His older sister Jocelyn graduated from Armijo last year and Alvarez Valles is now seeing the campus without her presence. He has joined the Barbell Club and plans to major in physical therapy when he graduates, attending either Sonoma State or Davis.

Haley Barker said that having a birthday on a holiday makes her feel like she doesn’t have a birthday because everyone is focused on Halloween. Sure, she has been known to dress up on her birthday, but it just isn’t the same. One thing that having a Halloween birthday does help with is not being forgotten in a big family. Barker has a sister who attended Armijo in 2012, one who is currently a freshman (Rosa Lavelle) and another that went to Fairfield. “I appreciate that my school gets involved with kids’ birthdays and activities,” said Barker. Some of her own activities include water polo and, possibly,  swimming in the spring.

If Chit Cristobal had a choice, he would rather have his birthday on Christmas because he could get more presents and money. Instead, he gets to celebrate on Halloween. He still gets candy and people give him money sometimes. He likes that his birthday is the beginning of El Dio de los Muertos, but he said that he dislikes getting chocolate cake on his birthday. He said that he doesn’t have to dress up for the holiday. Like others, he sometimes spends his birthdays just hanging out with friends.

A Halloween birthday does not mean a Halloween-type celebration, though. Yogesh Saini said that he gets to have big celebration and his parents get to have a day off. While it is a big celebration, if he could choose a different holiday to share his birthday on, he would prefer Thanksgiving because it is an actual day off. Throughout the year, Saini likes to listen to Indian and Punjabi music.

Having a birthday on Halloween is okay, according to Zachary Viri, but you can’t really trick or treat because you have to eat cake. When he was younger, he used to dress up for the night but now it is no big deal. Viri is a freshman, but his family has gone to Armijo for generations. His father and his grandparents both attended so he is making his own way. He’s been playing baseball since he was about five and he hopes to make a name for himself as a member of Armijo’s team in the spring.

There are some people who have their birthdays land on a specific holiday every now and then and others who have a holiday birthday on a low-key holiday, like Flag Day or Arbor Day. For these six students, though, there is no way to avoid their birthday being overshadowed by Halloween, so they have learned to make the most of it year after year.