Halfbirthday.com

Of all the holidays, anniversaries and occasions we celebrate, there's one milestone gaining in popularity partly because it doesn't impose itself on us. Unless of course we want it to. It's the Half Birthday. An event we can pull out of our pocket whenever needed for any number of reasons, or totally ignore if we see fit with no one the wiser. For many, half birthdays are occasions of convenience. The discretionary semi-anniversary that's a win-win for those who choose to honor it and those happily on the receiving end. Half birthdays originally grew out of a need to accommodate two groups: The first, infants and toddlers for whom a year is too long a wait to celebrate progress in their little lives. And second, those whose birthdays occur at inconvenient times of the year: during the holiday season when they're all but forgotten; in the summertime, when school children miss the inevitable classroom party; or at the height of winter when severe weather can put a damper on those who have always yearned for an outdoor birthday bash. In each of these circumstances, celebrating the half birthday is the perfect alternative, a Plan B that in some cases even becomes the permanent day of observance over the actual day of birth. Now people are finding all sorts of additional reasons (excuses?) to break out the bubbly at the six-month mark. Some may balk that it's just another day to have to remember, plan, buy gifts for, and make a fuss over. But proponents counter that celebrating a half birthday is entirely optional, that it doesn't have to be a yearly event, and that no one, if they even know when their half birthday is, is expecting anything anyway. So no matter how you slice the cake, half birthdays are coming of age. They're here to stay. And Halfbirthday.com was created to serve all those who wish to celebrate them.