birthdays

Decoration & Decimation = Piñata time!

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I know I’m not alone in having thought the piñata originated in Mexico. Turns out piñatas may instead have come from China. Apparently the Chinese used colored paper to fashion cows, oxen, or buffaloes filled with seeds to mark their New Year.

Wendy Devlin writing about Mexico Culture & Arts tells us Marco Polo brought the idea back to Europe where they incorporated these fragile vessels (“pignatta” is the Italian for fragile pot – I dare you to see the word fragile and not think of A Christmas Story) into Lenten celebrations.

From the 14th to 16th centuries this stayed in Europe until Spanish missionaries headed over to North America, where the indigenous people already had a similar tradition of hanging a colorful clay pot filled with treasures outside the temple and breaking it open with a stick or club.

Piñatas even once had religious meaning. For instance, Devlin points out the seven points on a traditional piñata represented the seven deadly sins. (I’m not sure how letting kids grapple on the ground for a pile of sweets is competing the sins of greed, gluttony, envy or wrath, but that’s a debate for theologians I guess).

I’m amazed the piñata tradition has been around for centuries. Then again, my son begged for another one at his birthday this year.

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Surely, it helps they are so easy to make. Check out this video for a Mexican-style piñata that cost just $8 to make (not sure if she included the candy). Or visit Piñata Boy’s site for more varied instructions.

If you’re truly worried about etiquette for properly pounding the piñata, check out this blogger’s tips on How to Avoid Piñata Event Failure.

Finally, I’d encourage you to check out this awesome art project of a cowering human piñata!

Your birthday as a “horizontal event”

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Many cards imply a birthday is a good time to get horizontal with a significant other, but I recently learned that in marketing terms a birthday is an official “horizontal event.”

According to ZenithOptimedia’s Richard Shotton, a boost in sales can be vertical (linked to events happening at a set time and affecting a large group of consumers, such as Halloween) or horizontal (tied to annual events that happen at different times for each customer, such as birthdays).

The company examined the impact of birthdays on spending by interviewing 1,000 people about buying for themselves and the occasions that prompted the purchase.

The interviewees were far more likely to purchases clothes, watches and jewelry around their birthdays — for themselves. “Happy Birthday to Me!” Right?

Some 60% of survey respondents also specified the gifts they’d like to receive from others. The bigger question, the survey did not discuss, is whether the husbands listened…

Marketers are also learning to send birthday campaigns over email to ramp up revenues, and to use the Facebook birthday information to target advertisements to users, Shotton noted.

He concluded saying that birthdays can mean happy returns for companies that invest in appropriate marketing. I believe him. I remember every birthday going to Baskin-Robbins with my family to enjoy my free scoop of rainbow sherbet. Today I’m happier with my Panera birthday pastry or Starbucks free chai.

Image source: lisabishopfoodstylist.com

Image source: lisabishopfoodstylist.com

Tell me, what’s the best birthday marketing ploy you’ve experienced?

To a Leapling with Love

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Image source: http://www.mystro.com/CompSmallweb.jpg

 

My near-nephew is a “Leapling.” This is not a terribly common word, but neither are people who celebrate their birthdays on a Leap Day. According to International Business Times’ (IBT) report on the science of leap years, “The chance of being born on Leap Day is 1 in 1,461.”

The Leap Day was introduced thousands of years ago when we transitioned from the Roman Calendar to the Julian Calendar. The switch resulted in an extra day added to February nearly every four years. Yeah, I thought it was every four years guaranteed, but apparently the year also must not be easily divisible by 100 – so 1900 didn’t get a Feb. 29 while 2000 did.

I hadn’t thought of it before, but apparently there are even countries that have laws that define when a leapling will come of age in legal terms. According to timeanddate.com, in New Zealand it’s Feb. 28, while in the U.K. it would be March 1.

Also in the IBT, Dave Smith wrote in 2012 about celebrating his 6th birthday although he was born Feb. 29, 1988.  Other sites point to the record-keeping Keogh family who are in the Guinness Book of World Records for birthing three consecutive generations on Leap Day!

Personally, I’m more impressed by Karin Henriksen of Norway who apparently gave birth to a daughter in 1960, and sons in 1964 and 1968, ALL on Leap Day. That’s taking family planning to a whole new level!

One today? Smash it!

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It isn’t a first birthday until someone has cake all over his face. Or, in the case of some buzzkill friends of mine who WILL be named (Jay & Jenny), yogurt!

lucas

I’m all for healthy eating (well, 86% for it at least), but on your birthday you deserve cake. Even if you are only 1-year-old. Witness my own son’s first birthday cupcake smoosh-a-thon. Yes, it does deserve a-thon because, as you may remember, he had a Charlie Brown party but I had already made the cupcakes expecting friends. So, we had plenty of monkey-faced cakes for him to chow down upon.

NB

If nothing else the birthday cake eating/smashing moment is a great one for posterity. Here are some other great images of youthful cake glee I discovered via google.

Image source: http://www.bumpandbambino.com

Image source: http://jp16.r0tt.com/t_b86908a0-c56d-11e2-9968-cf597fc00016.jpg

Image source: http://blogs.babycenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/outfit13-300×200.jpg

Cake smashing is its own sub-genre on Pinterest. Here’s some great photography to enjoy!

Of course there is now actually a trend to provide the birthday girl or boy with her or his own cake that they can use for finger food and face stuffing. That seems a little much for a kid who won’t remember the moment past their next nap. Nevertheless, you only turn one once. Let the baby eat cake!

Share your own pics and thoughts in the comments below. I’d love to see them! The messier the better.

“Birthday Cake Fail” Fast Approaching

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My son’s birthday is coming up. This means it’s nearly time for me to attempt another overly ambitious feat of cake decorating. I try to keep with the theme he’s selected, but what I envision in my head is seldom what the guests enjoy.

I remember my mother making really creative cakes for my brother and me. However, my mother is a visual artist; I am a writer.

Google “birthday cake fail” and you’ll find many options. PopSugar offers a 43-picture slide show. BuzzFeed labels its article: “24 People Who Shouldn’t Be Allowed to Decorate Cakes.”

This is mocking people who have made the effort to make their loved one’s birthday that much better. These people didn’t just go to the grocery store and let some professional pipe on “Happy Birthday Sweetie.” No, they added the eggs to that boxed cake mix and pulled out the tub of icing and got creative!

I say suck up the ugly and taste the love!!

In the meantime, here are some of my past efforts (I expect to see these in someone else’s Cake Fail album one day).

For a beach party theme.

For a beach party theme.

These are supposed to be monkeys. Can't you tell?

These are supposed to be monkeys. Can’t you tell?

Most recent effort became a mess of confetti and cutouts from cereal box as my superhero plan went woefully awry.

Most recent effort became a mess of confetti and cutouts from cereal box as my superhero plan went woefully awry.

Sports-themed cupcakes. Probably my best yet (except for the hockey sticks on the right).

Sports-themed cupcakes. Probably my best yet (except for the hockey sticks on the right).

A good gift to give

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Birthday party for couple believed to be world’s oldest. Pic courtesy of Yorkshire Post

Reading about the world’s oldest couple – he’s 109 and she’s 102 – celebrating their birthdays together, I noticed the proud son’s comment about the joy of the whole family coming together to join in the fun.

This on the same day a friend told me she’s looking for a divorce lawyer. In wondering how the child of the relationship would adapt to the situation, I became curious what advice is available to help divorced parents navigate the challenges of celebrating their child’s birthday.

For children birthdays are all about fun and happiness and being the center of attention. I host a birthday blog, so of course I think this should be true for adults too.

Divorce Help for Parents reminds parents to focus on the child. Other tips are to: act like an adult, create opportunities for the child to celebrate with both parents (not necessarily together) and to include extended family. The advice that stands out to me? “Parents, you have it within your power to control your conflict with the other parent. Please, use it.” Well said.

Amy Ardnt, writing on Huffington Post, says “the best gift divorced parents can give their kids” is putting the kid first and making time spent together pleasant.

On WomansDivorce.com Heidi Woodard shares the efforts she and her ex-husband made to give their son a happy birthday party. The reward? Her son’s comment “I have the coolest parents in the world because you both work together to make me happy.”

Not all of us are going to make it to our 100s. Not all of us are going to make it as a couple. But, we can all make a decided effort to make a child’s birthday the best day it can be.

Another Reason Not to Visit the Dark Ages

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When we imagine time travel — because all of us do — few of us decide the Dark Ages would be a great time to visit. Monty Python make it look funny in The Holy Grail, but funny from the outside watching from the comfort of our couches. We don’t actually want to live there.

There’s reference in Genesis to Pharoah celebrating a birthday. The Ancient Egyptians set aside money for garlands and animals to sacrifice to mark births. Rich Greeks celebrated the birth of a child, the child’s coming of age, and then marked an individual’s death with festivities on the anniversary of the person’s death. Plus, I already mentioned in a previous post, Caligula going a little crazy over his daughter’s first birthday. Julius Caesar also further pissed people off when he decided his birthday was a holiday fit for the gods (Oh, Caesar…when will you learn?).

But, then came the Dark Ages and the Christian Church decided celebrating one’s self was pagan. So, for about 1500 years people didn’t have birthdays. In fact, most people wouldn’t even have known when their birth date was. Lewis (1976) tells us it wasn’t until the 16th century that parish priests started recording birth dates.

So, along with your ideas of pestilence, illiteracy, disease-riddled hovels (if you were lucky), and other Dark Ages treats, add the absence of a birthday. I’d say a day without birthday candles is truly dark indeed.

Do your gifts ward off evil?

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Gift giving on birthdays dates all the way back to when people believed that good and evil fairies had power over people’s fate. That was about last Thursday, right?

According to Happy Birthdays Round the World, there used to be a belief that the date of someone’s birth was fraught with danger as it was a day of change which would make someone all the more susceptible to fairy misdeeds.

To fend off this threat, people would invite family and friends to come and protect the birthday person. Good fate was further guaranteed by giving gifts. In fact, Johnson (1963) tells us, the earlier the gifts and good tidings were offered the better chances the birthday person had of getting through the day of change safely.

Perhaps this is why, even today in Mexico, the birthday starts out with a rendition of Las Mañanitas.

I’ll tell you one thing — I would not be too thrilled to wake up to a mariachi band. A big part of birthday joy for me is the opportunity to sleep-in. I’ll take the help warding off evil fairies though…gifts welcome!

Image from buddhascrystalot00ozak

Image from buddhascrystalot00ozak

Who else remembers “Paddy Whacks?”

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I was reminded the other day of an odd thing that my grade one teacher did on her students’ birthdays. We brought cupcakes in to share with the class. Next, though, we had to brush our teeth. The birthday child would return to class to swallow a colored tablet showing how well she’d done  getting rid of the food particles.

I must be remembering this wrong, conflating two memories. Yet, I remember being excited to take the blue tablet and test my brushing skills. Thinking of my first grader today, I can imagine he too would be happy to brush his teeth and then either a) have done a great job or b) be able to gross out anyone nearby with the blue spots on his teeth.

Courtesy of Tommy Klumker via flickr http://ow.ly/BzfYL

Courtesy of Tommy Klumker via flickr http://ow.ly/BzfYL

Another thing I remember from the playground is getting the Paddy Whacks. Your classmates would all line up in a row and you would crawl between their legs as they each got a chance to spank you. You tried to go as fast as possible through the line-up hoping to avoid the slaps and (if you’d dressed up for your special day) to not ruin your nice clothes crawling on the ground.

Turns out I’m not the only person who was subjected to spanks for birthdays. There’s a longstanding tradition in some cultures of getting a slap for each year of age plus, plus “one to grow on; one to live on; one to eat on; one to be happy on; one to get married on” (Johnson, 1963, p. 14).

The reason we do this? To get the body softened up for burial! Just what you want to be preparing for on your birthday!