well, when I was a tiny baby, my dad called me a "smidgeon" and it stuck. my faily caleed me that. everyone at church.. when I started school, the little room school was part of the church, where my grandpa was the pastor and everyone already knew me as smidgy.. so no one called me by my given name until high school.
and even then all my frineds and most of the teachers called me smidge or smidgy. .. just wish I still fit the name!!!
My dd was called Scooterbug from the time she was 2 y/o. When we went to WDW, we wanted to get her ears that had
Scooter on them. Nope, wasn't happening. I think Disney CMs bring that same policy over to buttons and such. They don't want anything that might be 'less than proper' on a button or hat.
But, as far as those buttons go? It used to be that pretty much only people actually celebrating their birthdays or anniversary wore them. And sometimes they would get something a bit special. But, as the use of buttons caught on, more and more people started asking for them. Disney did away with the 'Today is my birthday' pin, and put out a 'celebrating my birthday' pin. Why? So many people weren't there for their actual birthdays. Made more sense. And then....with the internet what it is, more and more people saw others posting that they got free stuff...balloons and cakes, rides with characters, etc. They wanted the same thing! So, they got the danged buttons. Pretty soon every other person in WDW was wearing a button...no way that Disney could do something for everyone. So, if you note on an ADR that it's your birthday, they will give you a free cupcake. Other than that? Not much.
I remember when a family that we are close to went to WDW. One of the girls brought her adult brother along. It was his first visit to WDW at close to 45. Okay. He was wearing the 'My first time at WDW' button. He informed me that he had been told that he was going to get all sorts of free stuff for being there for the first time. I tried to tell him not to get his hopes up. I was quickly told that I had no idea what I was talking about. Oh.....and he got absolutely nothing during his stay.
Expectations are sure to be dampened when guests find that those buttons aren't going to get them anything free...at least not what they're hoping for.
That other poster was 100% right....when everyone is 'special', no one is special. Not everyone deserves recognition or a medal or a trophy. Everyone wants to be special, everyone wants their child to feel special. But, in order to be special, you need to do something special. Merely existing isn't special enough. Yes, my dd is special to me...of course she is. But she isn't all that special in the grand theme of life. When her basketball team (rec league, coached by dh) finished next to last? No trophies. They got backpack key chains with a basketball on it. Other teams gave everyone trophies...even that last place team. Trophies are no longer special. Same thing with birthdays at WDW....special to you, but not so much to everyone else.
It's a mystery for the ages, I guess....lol 
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