Author: Jenn Goddu

Jenn Goddu http://www.birthdayarebest.com I am a writer, editor, and writing coach who also blogs about birthdays!

A Beautiful You Day. Birthday or Not.

Leave a comment

tumblr_ndac3jt3WZ1t13mmno1_1280

I am not a Today watcher. There are many reasons, but the most obvious to those who know me is that the Today show is in the morning. I am far from a morning person.

Nevertheless, I recently saw that two women were feted by the show on their birthdays with “ambush makeovers.” It would be so fun to get a makeover with a friend to celebrate getting another year older. With appropriate makeup, you might even look several years younger — unlike the Snapchat filter that ages you markedly.

If I were to get a makeover, I wouldn’t necessarily want it to happen on my actual birthday. I prefer to treat myself to lethargy on my big day, and getting all dolled up would be too much work. Yet the week of my birthday, I’d be OK with getting swooped up for a fashion consult as if on What Not to Wear, complete with a new haircut and a rare application of makeup, alongside my best friend.

The two women featured on the show were 49-year-old and 74-year-old grandmothers. The 74-year-old told Today she was hoping the makeover would help her find new love. “I want to look beautiful and young — I’m tired of looking like a drab old woman,” she said. Kudos to her for continuing to embrace life’s romantic opportunities — maybe she’s seen a recent episode of Grace and Frankie.

The only thing I would question about ambushing these women for their birthdays is the message it sends. The birthday should be a day you get to be slovenly if you want. If you want to wear baggy pajamas all day, so be it. If you want to go out with your hair unstyled, that’s OK too.

Let’s take the birthday as yet one more day to celebrate what’s inside of women or men, rather than making them feel they need to improve their looks to be happy.

It’s easy enough to find the positive body messaging that I’d want to embrace on my birthday and every day. This post’s images are just a few examples from the Internet.

Happy Birthday every day to your inner beauty.

Birthday Inner Beauty

Image source: pinterest

 

 

Bleak Birthdays per Seinfeld

1 Comment
Birthday party

Photo credit: Άbdullah ; unique via Foter.com / CC BY

It’s been more than 15 years since Seinfeld went off the air, but it’s fun sometimes to revisit gems from this American sitcom’s nine seasons (1989 – 1998).

Recently, I enjoyed a clip in which George Costanza berates Jerry for being too funny. George is certain, by contrast, he’ll fall lower in his date’s estimation. When the woman returns to the dinner table, having left to wish her aunt a happy birthday, Jerry chimes in with quite a dire view of birthdays.

In a bleak voice he characterizes birthdays of a reminder of “how little we’ve grown” and “that for the rest of our sad, wretched pathetic lives, this is who we are to the bitter end.”

It’s true, yes, that many people see their birthdays in this light. Especially, research has shown, around the big-0 birthdays.

But I’m on the side of people such as the 100-year-old I wrote about recently who embraced his birthday on social media.

Big Birthday at 60!

In my researching this blog, I learned that people in China don’t actually pay a lot of attention to their birthdays until they are 60! There are big parties for the person each new decade they reach — getting bigger and more festive every 10 years.

My guess is this is related to the whole population-out-of-control-thing over there; with so many people being born every day, maybe they don’t want to get too caught up in celebrating birthdays until the person has proved they can last. If that’s the case, one would think this tradition will be whittled away with longevity being more expected (noodles served on birthdays or not).

Still, the perspective that 60 is a great age to reach is one I find more and more appealing as I age. In China this is an age to be proud of. Instead of marking wretchedness a la Seinfeld, this is a celebration of all that has been accomplished in the life cycle. Thus, turning 61 marks the start of a new life cycle.

Perhaps this is really the way we should be looking at birthdays universally? If we could see them as each decade as a new cycle’s beginning, we might always be able to look forward instead of getting sidetracked by the thought of how much closer we are getting to the bitter end.

 

 

 

 

 

No Birthday Parties at the Gym for me.

5 Comments

 

There are already 1,068 reasons I couldn’t actually live in New York City. Now, while it may be fun to visit the Big Apple, I’ve come across reason 1,069.

Fitness birthday parties.

Yes, you read that correctly. There are gyms in NYC that are offering private birthday parties in their fitness centers. The guest invites friends for a group class, picks the playlist, and everyone sweats together for the birthday event.

One fitness birthday celebrant in NYC stated, “I can’t think of celebrating another year of life not working out, and I want to share that with the people I care about. There’s certainly a health component but there’s a gigantic fun component to it as well.”

Fitness Birthday Party

What me and my friends would look like at a Zumba fitness party. Photo credit: Edson Hong via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Well, don’t worry, dear reader, I will not be hosting a fitness group birthday party any time soon. Yes, I’ve learned I enjoy Zumba and Cardio Hip Hop classes for active exercise that sees me dancing and smiling (no matter that I am horribly uncoordinated). Yet, I would not go so far as to inflict fitness on others as a way to celebrate my special day.

Whether I even inflict fitness on myself on my birthday is something that I play by ear each year — and it typically loses out to another hour sleeping in or rolling over when I do wake up to read a book.

This said, I do think my athletic child would likely love taking over a gym with a climbing wall and ropes and loud dance music on his birthday. So, if Charlotte, NC, gyms want to open their doors for pre-teen parties, I’m in.

In the meantime, the only parts of the fitness birthday parties outlined in the NYC article that appeal are the customized T-shirts, custom playlists, and Champagne to drink afterwards. That knowing I could eat my cake guilt free after burning calories busting a birthday move.

 

The Frosting on the Birthday Cake

5 Comments
birthday

Photo credit: V Threepio via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Why do frosting tubs never contain enough of the sugary good stuff to ice an entire cake?

I’ll admit, this thought didn’t cross my mind until I read this ChicagoNow blogger’s point of view, but she is so right.

She complains the consistency in the industry to give us cans of frosting that are always short about 4 ounces is all part of an “evil confectionary plan” and groups herself with the “Frosting Embittered Mothers of America.”

Noting that if just one company sold a bonus-sized can they would corner the market, and we would all enjoy “frosting freedom,” Kim Strickland sees only one downfall to her plan. The inability after a cake icing experience to sneak downstairs to steal a spoon of leftover icing from the container in the fridge.

Her too-familiar plight made me want to see what other advice is out there to deal with the icing issue.

Of course, there’s the make your own icing solution. Yeah, I remember back in the days before being a working mom when that was fun. If you have that much energy, you might appreciate this seven-minute recipe. Me, I see the first line about needing a double boiler, and I’m out.

I also encountered this idea for stretching the frosting in the tub – whip it up in a blender before use. Brilliant. Only now I have to wash another dish and the blender beaters, too.

Another site suggests whipping the icing with a bit of milk. Plus, they mention letting the cake cool completely before trying to frost it. Of course, we all know that’s what we’re supposed to do, but maybe I’ll be more motivated to do so next time.

I may need to bake many birthday cakes just to see which of these solutions is the best answer for me. Now that’s a good idea!

 

birthday

Photo credit: yummysmellsca via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

 

Data…Birthday Data.

Leave a comment
Birthday Fun Fact

Photo credit: Rooners Toy Photography via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

It’s ridiculous, really, how happy this headline made me when I saw the news alert:

“British spies abused powers to look up birthdays in intelligence databases.”

I know, I know, I should not be giddy at the idea of spies “abusing their powers.” Few among us are made happy by the idea of our governmental agencies (covert or not) abusing the databases available to them for their own purposes.

But, c’mon! Looking up friends’ addresses to send birthday cards? This is a generous act. And it tickles me to think of MI5, M16 and GCHQ agents “crossing the line” by treating their super secret spy databases to send birthday greetings.

Plus, I find it hilarious that Privacy International has brought this issue to light via a legal challenge exposing the data collected on British citizens and the egregious misuse of that information. Yes, egregious is my word there, but I can just imagine a Parliamentarian, beefy jowls a jiggling, using this word in debating this case.

Now, there are other examples in the Business Insider story that were actually worthy of upset. For instance, a US intelligence intercepting women’s phone calls or Snowden reporting he saw spies sharing people’s intimate nude photos around the office. Those instances I can see someone getting worked up about.

Still, I simply can’t buy into the slippery slope argument that someone looking up a friend or relative’s birth date or mailing address in the national databases is deserving of investigation.

I’ll even carry this fanciful issue farther and counter that it’s better that intelligence agents conveniently and quickly ascertain details about friends and family so as to free up more of their time to work on issues of actual national security.

Imagine James Bond covertly sneaking into the database to be able to directly mail a birthday greeting to Q or Moneypenny. If anything this report actually humanizes secret agents and for that the British government might be grateful.

Imagine not knowing the birthday song.

1 Comment
Birthday Party

Photo credit: origami_potato via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

One of my loyal readers sent me this heart-wrenching public service announcement on the heels of a recent post about the birthday song. The ad is 30 seconds of sweet and sadness in which small children identify songs played on a recorder — only they don’t know the Happy Birthday tune.

This PSA is by the Boston-based Birthday Wishes, which helps throw parties for homeless children.

Recently, the founder of a similar organization, Extraordinary Birthdays, was recognizes as a L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth in 2015. Schinell Leake wrote about her organization’s birthday party planning goals for the Huffington Post. I want to share some of her words:

A birthday is one of the most special days in the year of a growing child. He can be the center of attention. She can be the recipient of gifts and much deserved praise.

It’s not just about celebrating a birthday — which every child deserves — it’s about being able to foster their growth, development, and self-esteem despite external circumstances. Feeling valued is every child’s basic right.

Taken together, this video and these words, get to the very heart of my love for birthdays. Birthdays are about making each individual feel special — even if you are taking the opportunity to treat yourself better for that one day.

They are a day to show our loved ones how much we care about and value them, even if we don’t get around to demonstrating it so openly every other day of the year.

I have mentioned organizations such as this before, ones that aim to make birthdays better for others with an outpouring of generosity. I can’t get enough of them. This is service to community that makes me smile (and sort of want to cry that’s it even needed) every single time.

Everyone should know what it is to be celebrated on their birthday, and I only hope this blog helps keep the momentum going.

Related reading:

Donating a Birthday

Birthday Kindness Pass It On 

 

Social share your birthday

1 Comment

What do you make of a social media site devoted to bringing people together that share a birthday? Like a LinkedIn for birthday enthusiasts, the idea is to join the community, share your birth date, and network with those who share a birthday within a week or two of your own special day.

We already know, that’s a lot of people. In a previous post, I shared the stat that approximately 20 million people share the same birthday worldwide.

Founded by Kanayo Okwuraiwe, a Nigerian based in South Africa, Birthday-Mates.com officially launched in September 3, 2015 to help people connect, jointly celebrate, and create lifelong friendships with people with whom they have this unique connection. The site does offer the opportunity also to crowdfund your birthday project, which is a smart nod to people using their birthdays to make a donation or help out a cause.

Birthday calendar

Photo credit: Kelly Hunter via Foter.com / CC BY

 

There’s a similar idea at work behind NachoBirthday.com. The site encourages users to “celebrate life by making change in your life or someone else’s by setting up crowdfunding campaigns through them.

There is no doubt, social networking is changing the ways in which celebrate birthdays in so many ways. My previous posts on this theme have addressed:

There’s also the Birthdaybox app, which enables friends and family to collaborate on a birthday video sent to the special someone on their birthday by the site.

Or the Birthday-Mates.com competitor, Doppels, which “claims to be the world’s first birthday discovery engine and social app.” It notes, “Our mission is to spark movement where your birthday allows you to connect more authentically to the world around you, find people sharing your birthday, discover those celebrating their birthday on any given day, and make new connections.”

Do you know of other sites and apps capitalizing on our love of celebrating birthdays? Please let me know!

The Happy Birthday Song Goes Public

4 Comments
Birthday Song

Photo credit: Shawn Hoke via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

A longstanding copyright dispute over public access to the birthday song was resolved late last year in favor of the song entering public domain.

A Los Angeles judge ruled invalid the copyright claim of the companies collecting royalties on the “Happy Birthday” song for the past 80 years. The LA Times reported, Warner/Chappell never had the right to charge for the song’s use, as it had been doing since 1988, when it bought Birch Tree Group, the successor to Clayton F. Summy Co., which claimed the original disputed copyright.

The paper also offered a thorough history of the controversy surrounding the song that “evolved into the well-known birthday song, with lyrics by Patty Smith Hill, and became what the Guinness World Records book has said is the most widely sung song in the English language.”

I am, of course, happy to think nothing untoward will happen to me for singing happy birthday in public. Well, not legally anyway, I cannot blame anyone who questions my enthusiastic yet often dischordant efforts.

Nevertheless, this may lead to a loss in the world of eateries. After all, the way in which all assembled waitstaff serenade a dining guest is part of a restaurant’s character.

I am clearly not alone in this theory, as I found a blog about birthday song experiences by an If You’re Wondering author, Connor, who decided Chuck E. Cheese has the best version with these lyrics:

Clap your hands!
Now stomp your feet!
You’re a Birthday Star at Chuck E. Cheese!
You’re our special guest,
We all aims to please
You’re big time, big stuff, going far
Here’s to you our Birthday Star!

Connor also checked out Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Chili’s, Texas Roadhouse and more.

Despite the silliness he finds in the derivations, I still believe that if everyone turns to the same familiar song, it will take away the flair! I am all for public access to the song, but I hope to see restaurant owners continue to strive for creativity in the ways in which they celebrate their celebrant diners.

Birthday celebration

Photo credit: Peter E. Lee via Foter.com / CC BY-NC

 

Birthdays at 100. Not so bad after all.

Leave a comment
birthday fun fact

Photo credit: MichaelTapp via Foter.com / CC BY-NC

If I were a better debater I might be dead now. Back in my college days I ran a debate case with a partner suggesting that anyone reaching the age of ____ should end their lives. I don’t remember wanting to kill them, but they were to dutifully off themselves. I don’t remember the precise age either; but I am certain 40 would have been as old as I would likely go. More likely 35.

I was 18. That seemed forever away, and I couldn’t imagine wanting to be middle aged. Let alone old. It’s the same kind of thinking four-year-olds show in seeing 16-year-olds as adults.

Recently, though, I read we are typically lasting longer. I know my RSS feed for birthdays regularly shows someone hitting 100 featured in their local paper.  It’s no longer a big thing. According to the Press of Atlantic City, the National Study of Aging projects the population of people 100 and older is expected to increase 400 percent or more.

A Saskatoon paper in my native Canada recently covered six centenarians’ celebrating their birthdays together in the same senior’s center.

Also recently on social media there was an image going around of a 98-year-old man wanting to get 98 likes from his granddaughter’s network. He was over 69k when I read about it, and the messages were from around the world wishing the man a happy day. I loved seeing people from Ireland, Tokyo, Australia and France wishing the near-centenarian happy birthday.

12809702_922590347854597_5535607201939828196_n.jpg

Image source: Popsugar.com

And now that I am officially middle aged, I can appreciate someone living that long. I still don’t know that I want to, but I understand the appeal. After all, I have a son now and would love to see as many of his birthdays as I can. Plus, seeing a grandchild’s birthdays (while a largely unfathomable idea right now) would be something to enjoy too.

So, take this blog as a public retraction of my earlier stance. I will live and let live with my own special emphasis on birthdays going forward!

Celebrity Birthday Guest Lists

3 Comments
Party invitation

Photo credit: Special invite via Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Celebrity birthday extravagances are regularly reported in the news. Why do we even care? We alternately envy or judge these famous folks for their audacious displays. Yet, it’s not as if we can imagine ourselves there celebrating alongside them.

To celebrate their 200th episode, the cast of Big Bang Theory shared their best birthday bashes. Jim Parson’s partner threw him two parties to mark his 40th — one in Los Angeles and another in NYC. “I kind of kicked and screamed ‘this is a bad idea,’ and it was the best birthday I ever had,” he said.

Although I am a fan of the show and Sheldon in particular, I didn’t get an invite to either of these events.

But what if the celebs come to us?

Katy Perry was in the habit of inviting a fan on-stage when she sang her Birthday Song (surely that tour is over by now).

Recently I read about Dave Grohl inviting a fan onstage to play drums for the Foo Fighters on the fan’s birthday. But, they’re already a fan-centric band. After all, check out this video made by an Italian town left off the European tour. A thousand people gathered to play Learn to Fly in an effort to persuade the band to visit them — and it worked.

Last year Kenny Chesney opened a national tour with a Nashville concert on his birthday that his Mother came too as well.

Movie stars do it too. For example, Nollywood actress Ini Edo kept her promise to bond more with fans and viewers by showing up at a Galleria to watch her movie with fans — on her 33rd birthday.

The one that really grabs my attention though? Gary Barlow, the frontman of Take That (a band that was gigantic in my year abroad in Scotland) has offered to attend fans’ milestone birthdays. This comes on the heels of one fan’s successful one-year campaign to have the singer appear at her friends’ wedding. Now, he’s inviting fans to hound him on social media and suggest birthday bashes to crash.

Imagine the twittersphere insanity if someone like Taylor Swift or a 1D band member did the same!