When you’re a kid, the worst thing you might imagine happening on your birthday is getting sick. Once you’re a little older, the tragedy is the right person not coming to your party or you doing something that will never be forgotten by your pre-teen/teen guests.

Photo credit: anna gutermuth via Foter.com / CC BY

When you’re an adult, though, what are some of the worst things that might happen on your birthday?

• Dying. com provides a list of celebs who died on their birthdays including:
  • Actress Ingrid Bergman
  • Feminist author Betty Friedan
  • Jazz musician Sidney Bechet
  • Renaissance painter Raphael

Apparently, your chance of dying on your birthday is 6.7 percent higher, according to analysis from University of Chicago economics researcher Pablo Pena.

• Someone you love dies on your birthday. I can’t find any stats on that one, but that would be horrid. At least here are some suggestions for how to mark the anniversary of the individual’s death.
• Even just having a horrendous allergy attack on your birthday because there are nuts in the cupcakes or some other awfulness would be pretty bad.
• Being asked for a divorce or served divorce papers. Huffington Post has two different articles related to birthdays for divorced women (at 25 and at 30).
• Getting fired. In Wisconsin, a company settled out of court with two employees both fired on their 62^nd birthdays.
• Setting fire to your home. The Daily Mail shares images of a birthday cake candle catching a balloon on fire and turning into a ball of flame.

Plus, I’ve written already about birthday honorees causing a riot, or being fined for celebrating their birthday, or ending up in jail.

Yeah, it’s not so upbeat. So, to end this consideration of birthday busts on a brighter note, enjoy a little schadenfreude around birthdays and check out this Awkward Family Photos’ gallery of birthday disasters.