School throws leap-year birthday party for all

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This article was published 29/02/2024 (872 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The kids showed up to school ready to celebrate.

But it wasn’t until they walked under a giant, brightly coloured balloon arch at the front door of Forest Park Community School and were greeted warmly with a “Happy birthday!” that they began to see just how extra special this additional leap-year day would be.

A school-wide birthday bash commenced: party hats, pizza, cupcakes and a day of games for all students and staff at the kindergarten to Grade 5 school in Garden City.

“I don’t think they realized how big we were going to do it until they walked through the door,” said Forest Park principal Tanya Kohut.

“At first I was surprised, when kids walked in and we wished them a happy birthday, they were silent, like they didn’t know what to say … and then once (they realized) we’re really doing this big, all day now we’ve heard “Happy birthday!” from everyone, and kids are really excited.”

The Feb. 29 school-wide birthday party was planned in September, when school staff decided it would be more equitable to have one big party for everyone instead of having certain students celebrate their birthdays in their classrooms during the school year, the principal said.

“I don’t think they realized how big we were going to do it until they walked through the door.”–Tanya Kohut

“We’re all born, and we all have a birthday, so we all deserve to be celebrated,” Kohut said.

Asked what the best part of the big birthday party was, Grade 2 student Violet Ulloa-Fuller exclaimed, “Everything!”

She and her friend Alexa San Pedro proudly wore their hand-decorated party hats while playing games in the gym with their class before school finished for the day.

The class made wearable numbers showing their ages and had fun decorating. Grade 1-2 teacher Justyna Orlow was just as enthusiastic about the special celebration.

“We went all out,” she said with a laugh.

Grade 4 student Miles Kravets offered this assessment: “It’s fun!”

For others, such as Grade 5 student Aubrey Uskalo, who was born in August, the party was offered an unusual opportunity to celebrate at school.

In the past, some parents had requested photos of their child’s “birthday party” at school, while other kids, owing to their birthdays’ placement on the calendar, weren’t able to bring in treats or see their school friends on the day they turned a year older.

It’s school; they don’t throw birthday parties, Kohut said — except for this really big one.

“It really wasn’t fair,” she said of past practices.

“There are some families who would want to celebrate their children, for all the right reasons, and bring in treats for everybody in the class. There’s nothing wrong with that, but then you have to remember that there’s other kids who never get that,” the principal added.

“We can afford to lose this one day as a celebration rather than have those interruptions throughout the entire school year.”

The idea to throw the party on the leap year seemed appropriate — none of the school’s current students were born Feb. 29. But after this year’s success, the school will likely pick a new date and do it every year.

“We should be making kids feel special,” Kohut said.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca