. Inside the hospital, they found a scene that feels unthinkable now.
“There was wine bottles and festive fare all around,” her husband told her. “I think they had to pull some of the staff out of the Christmas party for the delivery.”
That evening, twins Sean and Glen were born. Their birthday is one of the least common in New Zealand, second only to 29 February in leap years. Stats NZ insights analyst Rebekah Hennessey says about 11,000 New Zealanders celebrate such a birthday, compared with just under 15,000 on an average day.
Do you have a Christmas birthday? Share your story with us at life.ent@rnz.co.nz
Over the past decade, about 110 babies have been born each Christmas Day on average, compared with about 160 on a typical date. Last year, that figure for 25 December sat at 103. It’s a similar story for other public holidays that don’t shift (Anzac Day and Waitangi). Boxing Day ranks in third place for least popular, while New Year’s Day and early January are also quieter.
By contrast, the most common day to give birth was 27 March last year, when 213 babies were born. (Although, the most popular birthdays are usually clustered between late September and early October.)
Throw in the mix that twins make up a small percentage of pregnancies in New Zealand. There were just 561 sets of twins born in 1974 compared with 771 in 2024 – a 37 percent increase, according to Stats NZ.
Why are Christmas birthdays not common?
Auckland obstetrician Kathleen Antony says planned inductions and caesarean sections are often scheduled to avoid public holidays. C-sections alone made up about a third of births last year. But parents’ preferences may also play a part, she says.
“I’ve had a lot of patients or parents express to me that … they don’t wish for their child to have that particular birthday, because they don’t get as much attention or individual attention on their birthday, because it is a major public holiday.”
There’s also a more speculative theory: that large family gatherings over the holidays may affect hormone levels and the likelihood of spontaneous labour, Antony says, but this hasn’t been well studied.
How do you celebrate a birth-mas?
For those born on 25 December, the bigger question is often how the day is celebrated. Getting just one present and family or friends forgetting it’s your special day or away on holidays can be among the points of contention. But Scanlon, Westport News co-owner and chief reporter, says she was determined her twins wouldn’t miss out.
Glen and Sean Scanlon celebrating their seventh birthday on Christmas.
Supplied / Lee Scanlon
“They used to joke when they were getting older, they’d say, ‘Oh, we always missed out. We never got proper presents because our birthday was at Christmas’. That was rubbish. They always had their separate birthday, their separate birthday cake and their friends [invited] to that birthday…
“I made their birthday cakes, and they got exactly what any other kid would get.”
But as they got older, there was less of a fanfare, she says.
“Now the joke is in our family that, occasionally, people forget on Christmas Day and say, ‘oh, Merry Christmas’ and then they remember a couple of hours later, ‘oh, happy birthday!’”
Hennessey, from Stats NZ, has a friend whose son turns 12 this Christmas. They start the “birth-mas” with cake for breakfast before the day turns into a festive celebration for the family.
Antony, the Auckland obstetrician, has a cousin born on Christmas Day who loves it.
“He sees the celebration as a kind of extension of his birthday. He likes having everyone come around and that we gather together and we sing and we have a feast,” she says. “But I can see other people not wanting to share the birthday. I can see the different points of view.”
Even being born near Christmas can be tricky. Antony says one of her own children, born in late December, struggles to plan parties because friends are often away on holiday.
Christmas birthdays can certainly bring a unique set of challenges to an expectant mother and the child as they grow. But despite the chaos of that day in 1975, and having to spend a festive period in labour, Scanlon wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I think I was really lucky to have them on a special day,” she says. “Their brother was born on Labour Weekend. We only have babies on special days in our family,” she jokes.
