#birthday

Child’s Birthday a Big Deal?

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I was so excited for my son’s first party. We invited his play group baby friends to Monkey Joe’s. I made Monkey faced cupcakes. I bought baby friendly monkey-themed gift bags. But, on the day of the party, every one of his guests was sick or had a sick parent.

Yes, my baby’s first birthday was a Charlie Brown party.

Fortunately, he was too young to know the difference. Plus, he still liked the cupcakes!

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Since then, I’ve invited more people to his parties to be sure that someone comes to celebrate with him. But, even at my craziest height of birthday party planning, I’ve never gone as far as Caligula.

According to Lewis (1976) in her informative book on Birthdays, Caligula marked the first birthday of his daughter Drusilla with two days of festivities. (Maybe he was making up for naming her Drusilla?). The celebrations included horse racing and, of course, the ritual slaughter of 300 bears and 500 Libyan beasts in an amphitheater.

So, whenever someone says you’re making too big a deal of a child’s birthday, remember Caligula. Unless you’ve got some ritual slaughter planned (and I don’t mean BBQ) you’re doing OK — comparatively.

 

 

Donating a Birthday

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When I go to lunch at my son’s school one of the typical topics of conversation is birthday parties. Who is having one. Who will be invited. Where the party will be held. What awesome presents the excited child can expect. This conversation happens even when no one at the table has a birthday party for another six months!

Yet there are kids who do not have a home at which to celebrate a birthday. It’s not that their families don’t want to give the child a special day — they can’t.

That’s where a well-intentioned organization such as Birthday Blessings comes in. According to their site, their goal “is to bring joy, recognition and support to homeless children and families during difficult times in their lives.” Birthday Blessings is local to Charlotte where I live. A student in one of my classes researching a non-profit introduced me to the organization. Then, my son’s school hosted a Birthday Blessings party, too. What a joy it is to help homeless children celebrate and feel special!

Another organization with a similar goal that I recently encountered is Celebration Cakes Ministry in Kentucky which bakes birthday cakes for children referred by social workers and other agencies.

Is there a birthday-themed organization where you live? I’d love to learn about more of these great ideas!

Profile photos by: D Sharon Pruitt of http://www.pinksherbet.com

Photo by: D Sharon Pruitt of http://www.pinksherbet.com

Sharing Your Birthday?

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When pregnant with my son, I was told his predicted due date was February 10. Then, people told me that first children were typically late. I worried (because what pregnant woman doesn’t need more to worry about?) he’d be born on Valentine’s Day. How awful for a boy to have to share his birthday with Valentine’s Day. He’d never be able to go out for a birthday dinner without joining the hordes of romancing couples eating prix fixe dinners. He’d be barraged by pink hearts. He’d be dating someone on his birthday and have to worry about his date’s gift instead of simply anticipating the loot he was getting for his birthday.

I told my son about this fear recently. He said it was good he wasn’t born on Valentine’s Day because it is a holiday “for girls.” Six can be so smart, right?

My husband is a Dec. 30 birthday. That’s another birthday that sucks in my mind. He’s always had to share his special day with Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It’s challenging to host a party for his birthday as every one is already getting primed for the 31st and can’t afford babysitters or travel two days in a row. So, it needs to be a combo event. How does one not get upstaged by J Lo in a unitard on national television? Of course, my husband would tell himself she was dancing for him alone.

What I wonder, though, is: Are there advantages to having a birthday on or near a holiday? What about sharing your birthday with another family member? What’s that like? Am I really just selfish or does sharing your birthday suck as much as I think it might? Please fill me in below!

Because growing a kid isn’t hard enough?

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Reading about birthday traditions around the world I came across one that really gets me: Planting a tree at the birth of the child.

What an idea…Help the ozone! Add to the tree canopy! The child will have a tree of his or her own to care about, perhaps inculcating a love of nature along the way. All of these things came to mind, and I thought “what a great idea!”

Photo courtesy of Helene & Kev https://www.flickr.com/photos/93081182@N02/

Photo courtesy of Helene & Kev
https://www.flickr.com/photos/93081182@N02/

Then, I read about the superstition that the fate of the tree foretells the fate of the child. So, if say a little Swiss girl’s pear tree fails to thrive, it’s a bad omen for the girl. For boys in Switzerland their fate relies on an apple tree. Germany, apparently, is another country where this is a common tradition.

I have enough trouble with house plants!

With this tradition I’d be having to tend to a fledgling tree while raising an infant and trying to keep him or her alive too! The first year with a newborn was difficult enough. Adding a tree to the list of to-do’s is just too much.

Birthday tracking?

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I’ve encountered a birthday-related idea that I can’t get behind. Sorry. It’s an online database of people’s birthdays. BirthDatabase.com wants to let you enter the first and last name of a friend, co-worker, or relative, as well as their approximate age, and find out on what day their birthday falls.

I’m not against someone wanting to celebrate me — uhm, I mean with me — but couldn’t they just ask me when my birthday is? The idea of someone going online to track public records to find out my birthday is creepy to me.

flickr/robjewitt

flickr/robjewitt

Fortunately, the database didn’t find me. Zero public records found. I’ll worry about what that means on another day. No need to get all existential about it, right?

Data, Schmata. Where’s my cake?

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I have discovered that my 42 birthday candles this year will produce 42 BTUs or 10,584 calories of heat. Paul Sadowski’s Birthday Calculator then tells me I “can boil 4.80 US ounces of water with that many candles.” Since I can be sure to be enjoying a Chai Latte on my birthday, I can predict right now it will not be heated using my birthday candles. I’m more of a 16-ounce chai drinker. Plus, it’s my birthday. Why am I trying to boil water over candles?

Let’s just eat the cake!

 

The calculator, though, has a lot of neat details. I learned my ruling planet (Venus), celebrities who share my birthday (Elizabeth Shue!), and that I was born on a Friday to be a rat according to the Chinese Zodiac. That and Marigold is my birth flower.

Courtesy of burpee.com

(Photo courtesy of burpee.com)

Oh, and the top songs of that year included one I’ve always liked when performed by the Holly Cole Trio. But, while looking for that video, I found a cool one by a performer that leaves me amazed every time. Enjoy Bobby McFerrin using only his voice and body, plus his audience, to perform the song.

 

Sexing Up Birthdays

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I have nothing against Katy Perry. Really. Every time I hear her song “Firework” I have happy memories of roller skating with a dear near-niece and participating in a flash mob.

As a birthday enthusiast I was thrilled to hear a new birthday song on the radio. Making it like my birthday every day? Sign me up!

The lyrics video is clever, too.

 

There’s a nod in the song to the breathless Marilyn Monroe wishing a Happy Birthday to JFK.  That’s the kind of sensuality I can appreciate.  But, seeing how she incorporates the song into her live concerts just makes me feel like a prude.  There’s bumping and grinding around stripper pole-like birthday candles.  Plus, she strips down from a raincoat into a bedazzled bodysuit and invites an audience member onstage to cozy up to.  This takes girl jumping out of birthday cake to a whole new level.

I’d rather a rousing birthday song like this one from the Beatles that gets up every one up and happy (and I mean up & dancing, not the kind of “up” Perry’s going for in concert).

Bring on more of these!

My Meaning of Life Year

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“One should never trust a woman who tells one her real age. A woman who would tell one that would tell one anything.” — Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance.

Well, I’m not going to tell you everything, but I will admit that I am turning 42 this year. This, after all, is my meaning of life year. If you’re a Douglas Adams Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fan you know what I’m writing about.

42.

It’s an important number. And I’ve been waiting for this year for awhile. Who’s heard about the magic year? That’s the year that you turn the same age as the day you were born. Everyone has had one already by the time they are 31. Even those of you born on Leap Year. Mine was when I turned 6. Yeah. I’m sure I loved my birthday when I was six. But what did I know about magic years and this being the year where everything was supposed to be at its brightest?

 

Now, I’m turning 42. I may have missed my magic year, but I am not going to overlook my Meaning of Life Year. I’m hoping it means I’ll have a year in which everything about adulthood becomes clearer. Maybe even easier. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

 

You might say it’s only a birthday. I would remind you I am a person who is devoting a blog to birthdays. Think about it — I tend to have high expectations on my birthday. So why stop now at 42? It’s only just beginning!