How do you celebrate your birthday?

We don’t anymore. At least we haven’t for the last few.

Falling on New Year’s Eve, my birthday is a non-event. I find that it is best to skip any celebration on the day and just treat the other 364 as noteworthy.

I am turning 48 on the 30th of this month. I really am not into the “birthday party” thing after all these years; however, the owner of my local watering hole does a once-a-month b-day party for all of us regulars whose birthdays fall in that month. We usually feel compelled to show up and receive our “best wishes” from those that mean us well. It’s also usually pretty embarassing.

I just don’t consider them the life-altering event that I did when I was younger. I know now that the world is not my oyster, that I’m not going to be “anything I want to be”, that my face will continue to look older, and that my boobs will continue to drop.

Yep, I’m now seeing the glass as half empty.

Nothing. 8 years ago some friends threw me a surprise birthday party at a restaurant but that was the first and last special celebration since I was a kid.

I like to buy my favorite beer, then my husband and I and our children eat our favorite pizza from our favorite pizza place or visit our favorite Asian Buffet, then my husband and I cuddle with our daughter on the couch and watch a movie. I turned 41 this year. I really don’t care for parties. All that matters is that I get to spend time with the ones I love.

I’ll be turning 56 soon, and I’m hoping for little fuss. I’ll be with my family, and would love a nice meal where I don’t have to do too much work. Lobster is generally my favorite way of celebrating a birthday. Of course, that’s pretty rich. I like champagne, too.

When I was in my twenties, I liked dance parties with lots of alcohol and drugs and I was always hoping for sex. Nowadays I just hope to have a nice time and not feel down on myself. I think I’m getting better at that as time goes by.

I never do anything on my birthday. I do get prezzies from friends, and sometimes I get taken out to a movie or a restaurant. It’s pretty cool, but otherwise I personally do nothing on my birthday.

When I was a kid, I never had birthday parties. We would eat cake as a family, but that was about the extent of it. In high school, my friends usually kidnapped me for a bit of fun, but lately I have just been going to the movies with a close friend or two. Not sure what I am doing next month (turning 23—egad!), but a little birdie told me that I would be kidnapped, sooo…

With grand fireworks displays! (It’s on July 4th.)

Usually with very little fanfare despite my wanting a bit of attention. As my marriage was falling apart, my ex asked me what I wanted for my 50th. I said a small dinner party with four couples who are close friends. It wasn’t what she wanted, so I ended up with take out pizza with the kids.

Lately I get a home-made card from the kids and that’s about it.

I usually get taken out to lunch and maybe a movie. I don’t like the idea of a party for myself, but I enjoy going to and participating in birthday parties for my friends and relatives. I don’t like being the center of attention. I do like to eat, though : P

@Kardamom Eating rules, bro. :) Zombies agree, too. :)

Sorry, I just really felt like saying something about zombies. Sometimes that happens to me.

@Kardamom – I strongly dislike being the center of attention, which is the main reason I don’t do anything for my birthday. But I do like celebrating friends’ birthdays ;)

I’ve always done some kind of outing with my friends on my birthday, whether it’s just going out to dinner or to the beach (that was my favorite during high school) or having a party if it happened to fall on a convenient weekend, etc.

My next birthday will be my 21st and that will probably be the last of the “big ones” and I’m sure I’ll celebrate it by going to the bars with friends. After that, it’s just about getting old… :|

I lie in my bed comatose and pretend time doesn’t exist!!

I hate celebrating my birthday, I have since I was 13. I just can’t stand the “celebration” of my life. It’s just another day, nothing is special about it, there is no value in it, so Mom – I know you’re reading this – STOP CELEBRATING MY BIRTHDAY.

Past few years, getting faced and trying not think about how I’m spending it alone. I’m hoping it’ll be better this year.

@DominicX: You’ve been misinformed. After age 25, you can do peyote. DUHHHH.

I make myself dinner and treat myself to some bath time.

I only celebrate my birthday when my friends or family decide to celebrate it for\/with me. Otherwise it is just another day.

I normally get pissed, that’s drunk rather than annoyed as the yanks definition goes.

Quite often on my birthday my boyfriend and I will go to London for the day. It’s a bit of a tradition now to be honest.

^^ Now that’s my kind of birthday adventure!!!

It’s just one of many excuses to go out and have a few pints.

@downtide You never need an excuse for a few good pints, I say!

@downtide & @Symbeline: Only on days that end in -y! ;) Or -i, if you are in France.

I’m not leaving Dimanche out of it. I drink FOR THE LOOOORD! [/Braindead reference]

@Symbeline : crap, I always forget about Dimanche. Trinquons!

So speaking as someone who just celebrated her 48th birthday today, I can tell you this. My local pub had a b-day party for me and one of my girlfriends whose birthday is today as well. We wore tiaras, had the b-day song sung to us, and generally looked like drunken idiots trying to blow out the candles on the cake for the picture.

But did we have fun? Hell, yeah! We drank a lot of beer, received great presents (and lots of free drink chits!) and so the whole day was great. And I recieved the loveliest birthday card from my very best friend thanking me for all my support of her over the years and telling me how much she loves me and how important I am to her.

So I call a “take-back” on saying birthdays don’t matter. Something about today just touched my heart.

@laurenkem – Happy birthday!! Sounds like you had a great time! :)

Mine is tomorrow and my friends are taking me to the beach for a day of fun, which I’m really looking forward to!

Have a great time with your friends, @jordym84 ! And I would like to offer you the very first “Happy Birthday” on your special day!

Thank you so very much, @laurenkem!! :)

Mine is coming up in August. I don’t plan anything and I usually hope it goes by with no one noticing because it just gets awkward. I used to try to do something every year on my birthday, but that was before I moved to Norway. Now, nobody takes any notice of my birthday, except for online friends, so neither do I.

I suggest you go to a restauraunt! This plan always works for me. It’s a great idea because it’s a good time to spend with your family and friends while eating something really good. Yummy! I hope this helped a lot! Good luck!

Sailing all the way around the lake and steak and brownie and peppermint ice cream with hot fudge sauce! Delish! On all accounts!