[RBG7-L] - Date with year optional

[Doug Hamilton]

I have a database with birthdate info.  In some cases it is not 
necessary to store the year, .i.e  some adults prefer not to specifiy 
their birth year - which is ok, we just need a list of birthdays in a 
date range, like who has April birthdays.  But we do need to track birth 
year for kids so we know their age and can put them in the correct class.

Is there some way to store a Date datatype with or without the year?
or:
If no year is specified, then use a dummy year of 0001 or 1000 or 
whatever (0000 comes up invalid) and manage those dates in the WHERE 
clauses.
or
Use two columns, one for MM/DD and the other for YYYY.  They'd probably 
have to be text and then programatically concatenate them & convert to 
Date datatype.  That might get ugly.

Other ideas?
I'm leaning towards the dummy year.
Thanks for your help,
Doug