Greetings I have a question for everyone here at the SDMB since this seems to be an amazing font of good opinion and intelligence. First to give you the background, I turned 22 this last month and my birthday just happened to be on the 22nd so this was my golden birthday. Aren’t people’s golden birthday supposed to be special? I guess I am a bit upset because birthdays are supposed to be a decent sized thing in our family, we always used to let the birthday person decide where they wanted to go and whatnot, but now all birthdays seem to have been relegated to the local Old Country Buffet. I know when my father turned 50 this last year my older brother and I organized a nice birthday meal for close family at a nice (not SUPER nice but nice) italian restaurant (Buca Di Pepos for any of you in the Twin Cities), we footed the bill and a good time was had by all. And a couple months later we organized a huge belated birthday for ALL of the family both sides at a family reunion. This year though my birthday is grouped with my roommates (brothers girl friend of four years) and my aunts, and is STILL stuck at this (as I view it) non-special splace. The other thing that irks me is this: Not even half of my family even wished me a happy birthday on my birthday (one had vertigo so I can hold anything against her), but it was my second day at a new job and EVERYONE at the new company (almost complete strangers) wished me a happy birthday, they even ordered in some good food. So in final am I being too selfish asking for this? or are birthdays not such a big deal anymore.
Congratulations on the new job and Happy belated birthday. Maybe your family thought your 21st was more noteworthy. Did they recognize that one?
tobe
Actually I forgot to talk about my 21st… I went to Disney World for my 21st birthday and a couple years before started seeing if everyone was interested in going and it sounded like everyone was… unfortunately it ended up being my aunt (who I affetionately think of as a disney freak) my little brother a cousin and I and we had a grand time… When we got back, nothing. Although my Dad did help me purchase my favorite sword as a part of a birthday present. A beautiful recreation of excalibur. Otherwise nada, nothing, zip, zilch, no party or recognition otherwise.
I had never even heard of a “golden” birthday until I moved to Minnesota. That was when I was 14, and my birthday is on the 6th, so there you go. Oops. People from other parts of the country might not even know what you are talking about. I don’t know if it’s really supposed to be “special” or just an interesting observation/coincidence. “Hey, you’re 22 on the 22nd! Cool!”
In my experience, if you are disappointed with birthday celebrations, you need to throw your own. If you don’t want to go to Old Country Buffet (and I can’t say I blame you there), you need to pick a place, invite a few friends (not too many that you can’t afford it, of course), and have a good time. (Our family seems to like the Old Spaghetti Factory in Minneapolis. It’s not too expensive, but it has a lot better ambiance than OCB, IMO. Parking is only $1, too.) My husband is lucky enough to have a June birthday, and he always throws a barbecue or something like that. I think we went mini-golfing this year. If you want a big deal made about your birthday, you have to make the big deal. 
I think workplaces make a big deal about birthdays because then it’s an excuse to have food or cake at work.
BTW, Happy birthday! Go have some spaghetti :).
Well to hell with them all DJ.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY:D
What, precisely, is the General Question here?
Shoot getting in trouble on one of my first posts with the moderator. I guess my question simply put is this: Are golden birthdays supposed to be a bigger celebration than normal. With the couple posts that have been answered it would appear that they apparently are not. So I guess my kinda hidden second question is that I should not feel too bad that it isn’t as big as I thought it was, so I will let this thread just drop of into obscurity now. Thanks everyone for your answers.