celebrity birthday

Celebrity Birthday Greetings

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As a huge Alias fan, I’ve always really admired Jennifer Garner. Where others might say they could see themselves being friends with Jennifer Aniston, my imaginary celeb best friend would be Garner.

Her birthday shoutout to Reese Witherspoon earlier this year only clinched it for me:
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Witherspoon and Garner are long-time “gal-pals” (man, I hate that phrase, but I would be Jennifer’s gal-pal if she’d have me!). Witherspoon sent a birthday greeting of for Garner’s birthday too:

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Of course, this tells me that Garner spells her name with just one “n,” which is a bit disappointing to this two-n Jenn, but I can accept it. We don’t have to be the same people, after all…

Nonetheless, I love what says about friendship and birthdays. It doesn’t matter how rich or poor, famous or not you are (and your friends are), you still want to celebrate birthdays and let friends and family know they are loved.

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Celebrity Birthday Guest Lists

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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!

Gods Have Birthdays Too.

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I am reading this fascinating book about celebrity culture and Hollywood called Gods Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame. I’ve enjoyed reading about the history of our attentiveness (obsessiveness, really) with Hollywood stars. Perhaps this is why Nicole Kidman’s thoughts on her birthday really jumped out at me.

She turned 48 on June 20. Before that she was quoted by Tribute News saying, “I don’t really celebrate a big birthday thing. I always say I get enough attention so I don’t need any more. I just like to have my family really close and snuggle.”

Perhaps the constant presence of paparazzo (a negative I don’t envy) and being able to dress up swank and be feted on red carpets (that one I do) would make a birthday seem a little less special. Quiet time alone and with family would be a treat. Burr’s book talks about star stalking and even gives examples of people literally ripping the clothes off celebrities (such as Mary Pickford or Charlie Chaplin).

Still, it doesn’t seem that every celebrity is on the same page as Kidman. She said she was planning to spend her day backstage at hubby Keith Urban’s concert and maybe go out to dinner with him afterwards. Then there’s those that take all that money they’re making and have a massive event.

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The Richest reports a Top 10 of the craziest bashes with Justin Beiber spending $20K on a circus-themed event for him and 20 friends or Perez Hilton having a Madonna-themed party he showed up to in drag, dressed in a cone bra and corset with a blonde wig. It all makes Nicole Kidman seem more like a normal person, right?

Check out celebrity birthday bash pics at E Online!

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.