Change in behaviour around birthdays

[MrsMopple]

My friend reckons that her dc are always more challenging around their birthdays. My ds's birthday is next month and over the last week or so he has been a bit of a pain in the neck on a daily basis. He is being loud and rude and answering back and throwing things and generally misbehaving, and just not being the lovely little boy that he normally is. So, I was wondering - has anyone else noticed this happening near to their dc's birthday, and if so, why do you think it happens? (And what, if anything, can I do to deal with it?) Dc is approaching 5.

my DS is coming up to his birthday too. I think its the excitement and build up to the big day that invariably leads to disappointment (someone is not nice to them at school, the presents aren't that great etc etc)

I try to keep it all low key. If you use homeopathy there's a great remedy called coffea which is used for over excitement.