Birthdays

[pinkytoe]

DH and I were born ten hours apart so we always travel somewhere on our birthdays. It is a tradition and so family or friends might call or text a greeting but thats it.

[early morning]

my late twin cousin and I almost always celebrated our birthdays together, often just the two of us. Neither of us liked surprise parties but knew, for our 50th, it was pre-ordained.... so we headed it off by holding what we dubbed a "reverse surprise". Through a trusted intermediary, we sent anonymous invitations for a surprise party in our honor,, booked the hall, music, and caterer, did the decorations and favors, and made it just the way WE wanted a party to be. When our intermediary turned down the lights and told people to be quiet, as we were almost there to look at the hall for a different gathering, we flipped on the lights, made our entrance* through the kitchen, and yelled "happy surprise party, everyone!" (* we had really wanted to rent one of those big cake things to jump out of, but we are/were both on the large side and couldn't get one we could both fit into)

It was a gas, and the only big party I've every really enjoyed. Whatever people like, to celebrate or not, it should be their choice.

[rosarugosa]

Early: that sounds pretty cool, never heard of anyone doing that before!

We don't do big parties or even parties really. Our family tradition is just to go out for a nice meal together. We only exchange gifts with my sister, SIL and BIL at this point, so we don't have a lot of gift stuff to deal with. I do send birthday cards to quite a few people, and some seem pretty appreciative and have told me they never get a card from anyone else, so that motivates me to continue.
I often want to do something "special" on my birthday, but it can be a visit to a plant nursery or a walk in a favorite place, nothing over the top. I've spent many a birthday happily mulching or doing garden clean-up (I have a spring birthday).
Like Frugal-one, I once delighted in finding the perfect gifts for people, but after decades and decades of gift-giving, the delight has worn off. At a certain age, most people are able to just buy themselves something if they want it. If I see a perfect something that my sister would love for example, I will just buy it and give it to her, no special occasion needed.