What did you do?
So long ago I barely remember.
For some reason really awful things have happened to me on or very near my birthday for the last 6 years. One or two might be my own fault for creating but the rest were just dumb random bad luck.
With 39 coming up soon being my last “before 40” b-day I’m not especially looking forward to that. Then of course 40 will likely not be something to be happy about.
I only hope that 8 years of crud will mean I am due for something decent for a change (nevermind mystical reasons for being “due”…I’m hoping for a law of averages thing).
I know that all sounds mopey and whiney but really my life is pretty good. Just some weird convergence of bad luck on b-days the last few years…dunno why.
To the OP I guess my best b-day was in 1985 when my parents were in China and my brother and sister (both in college) were supposed to watch me. Of course they couldn’t be bothered which suited me fine. Newly minted 18 year old throwing a party at my parent’s house…got stoned, got drunk, got laid (which while always good was a special treat back then)…no police…no angry parents (mine or others)…no damage I couldn’t fix before the parents got back. Good times.
I am getting old cuz I am now blissfully thinking “those were the days”.
I have two:
1998, my 18th birthday. My boyfriend at the time, Morgan, threw me a surprise party! I was really surprised! It remains the only party anyone has ever thrown for me.
He ordered my favourite cake, brought it to my friend Brent’s house (he planned it out with Brent and my other friends), and then we went out to eat. When we were getting back, he said he needed to go to Brent’s for something or other, I forget, and I said I’d wait in the car and he said “No, come in, I have to use the bathroom anyway.”
We knocked, and I could see streamers inside, hanging from the fan and flailing about. I didn’t put two and two together at all. I just thought, “Huh, that’s funny. Streamers on the fan! Hyahahaheee, Brent’s parents have some crazy decorating ideas!”
Then we walked in and all my friends jumped out. 
Secondly, 2004, when I turned 24. The story is not so long, but suffice it to say that I was at Disneyland with my parents, aunt and uncle. I’d wanted to go to Disneyland since I was a kid, and my parents never travelled, and I’d never been anywhere exciting, really, so it was very special.
My 39th birthday, 3 years ago. For some reason, it was a year of great celebration for my friends, family, and co-workers–festivities lasted for 6 weeks, beginning in the middle of March, when my best friend took me out to a fancy tea at the Ritz Carlton and, in the hotel parking lot afterwards, bestowed upon me a set of life-sized cardboard-cutout hobbits, and ending at the end of April, when my parents came to visit and gave me a patio. Between these two events other gifts were bestowed and there were several other birthday lunches and dinners.
I don’t remember if I did anything particularly interesting on my actual birthday, though.
My 30th. It was coincidentally the first day of a year-long sabbatical in Japan. I had quit my job, sold everything (except my books) and gone off to a year of study and a homestay where the family spoke no English.
18th. My boyfriend and my two best girlfriends took me to an amusement park. Unlimited free rides! Rode the roller coaster 9 times! Ate junk food (chili-cheese hot dogs, cotton candy, soft drinks). Finished it up by going to a folk concert.
I have never been much of a celebrator of my birthday–that’s kid stuff IMO–but in that case it was okay.
Last year.
Throughout my life, I’ve been the geeky kid. all through elementary school, I was pretty much an outcast. If someone wanted to make fun of a boy, they’d say, “you’re such a dork, you probably like Dorothy,” and he’d make faces and say, “eew, no! that’s gross!” I didn’t have many friends (and, at times, had none) and so rarely did anything outstandingly special for my birthday.
When I started high school, it was a whole new world. There were loads of new people and I suddenly found myself making friends easily. By October of my freshman year, I never sat alone at lunch or in class. I wasn’t popular or cool in a teen movie kind of way, but I actually had people who wanted to hang out with me.
On the day of my birthday, I had play practice and dance class. Some of my friends decorated my locker before I got to school. It was lovely- The door was wrapped in wrapping paper with little ballerinas on it, and there were balloons and a few signs. My best friend brought cupcakes for my entire homeroom.
After school, I had rehearsal and the director left early, leaving the stage manager in charge. As soon as she was sure the director was gone, the normally stick-in-the-mud stage manager said that we were taking the rehearsal to a nearby coffeehouse to celebrate my birthday. Of course, there was no rehearsing going on at the coffeehouse and an awful lot of just having fun.
From there, I ran off to dance class, where they all sang “happy birthday” and gave lots of hugs.
It was really good to finally feel like somebody cared that it was my birthday, and not jut becuase it meant cupcakes for the class.
SurrenderDorothy, that’s lovely!
I think my best birthday was my 28th. My (now ex) husband, daughter, some friends and their kids all went to the beach with me. It was a really nice day, not too crowded, and there were tons of shells on the beach. My daughter was thrilled to have other kids around, and we all swam and picked up shells and built sandcastles. When we were done we went to my mother’s house and she had made a huge seafood dinner and my favorite cake, and my sisters had decorated. A few more friends and family members joined us for dinner. It was just a cozy, warm, fun day.
The first one, I think.
Last year* was the best! I’ve had some good ones, mind you. But this past year took the cake.
I don’t normally get into doing much for my birthday, but I figured that since it was my 30th, I was really going to make it all about me and everything I really enjoy doing. My birthday was on a Monday, so most of the celebration was on Sunday. It basically went like this (I may have the order of this slightly wrong):
Sunday:
- Wake up, have magically delicious breakfast at Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles.
- Head down to Dodger Stadium to meet up with 26(!) friends and family to enjoy a hell of a ballgame (the Dodgers won 4-3 on Hee Seop Choi’s three homeruns that day, making it that much more sweet)
- Go bowling (this makes me very, very happy)
- Enjoy very nice dinner with Jakeline
Monday:
- Get treated to a great lunch with a bunch of coworkers (can’t remember what we had)
- Have dinner with family at my favorite Japanese restaurant in the world
Tuesday:
- Friend of mine takes me to the best Cuban restaurant in the world for lunch, Porto’s
Also, Jakeline bought me a fantastic Dodgers pullover/warmup jersey, which I wear every single chance I get. This birthday was really, really fabulous.
*A virtual tie goes to the prior birthday, by the way. Very simple – Jakeline took me camping for the first time up in San Simeon (along the central coast of California). It was just the two of us for three days, enjoying the relative isolation and the gorgeous weather and scenery. I didn’t think I’d ever enjoy camping, but getting to spend that quiet time with her was fantastic.
So…is it June yet??? 
My 38th, ten years ago. I was alone, traveling in SE Asia, and on that day I arrived on Samosir Island in the middle of Lake Toba, a volcanic crater lake in the mountains of northern Sumatra. Checked into a guest house on the edge of the lake and had dinner at the little restaurant.
It was a slow night, and a guy working at the restaurant made some small talk. He asked where I was from, where I was heading, how old I was. Ordinarily I would have just told him my age, but since it was my birthday, I said so. He said great, come here at 10 when we close and the staff will give me a little party. I said okay.
At 10 I went back to the restaurant, but everyone else said they had to go home. The guy who had suggested the party stayed, brought a couple of warm beers from the kitchen, and produced a battered old acoustic guitar with five strings. We drank the beers out on the porch, chatted a little, and took turns trying to play the guitar. After 15 minutes or so, I paid for the beers and went back to my room. I sat outside alone and watched the moon over the lake.
My 28th. About 9-10 weeks into a serious relationship, stopping over at my folks’ place while it was empty, which gave the gf and me a rare opportunity to literally sleep together. So the day began with waking up together, it continued with presents, sex and breakfast in bed, then a trip down to Cheddar Gorge to see the caves (which she’d never seen and I’d not been to in twenty years). Pub lunch on a lovely sunny day, my folks came back that evening and we went out to dinner together. It’s yet to be matched.
Barbecue two years ago on the hottest May 31st since records began was pretty neat, though.
My sister and I are 4 years apart, but our birthdays are a couple days apart so when we were little we celebrated our birthdays together.
I think I was 7 and she was 3. My mom made us matching dresses in pink and white, and our cakes were pink, the Kool-Aid was pink, and the ice cream was strawberry. I just remember being very happy that day.
My 35th birthday (6 1/2 years ago). My SO had made reservations at our favorite celebration restaurant, Union Square Cafe, where you have to reserve a table 4 weeks in advance to be sure to get in. We sat in the little balcony area upstairs (very cute) and had a fabulous dinner, as always. Then just before dessert came, he told me to close my eyes and he took my hand, and slipped an engagement ring on my finger. Oh, and asked me to marry him. We were married 6 months later.
My 40th birthday was nice, but a bit uncomfortable. We hung out a home with our then-3 year old, which was dull but pleasant. That evening the contractions started and our second child was born 2 days later. He just missed my birthday and the following day, Father’s Day, but showed up on the summer solstice. In the grand scheme of things, it was probably better not to have actually given birth on my birthday because it, you know, hurts.
Two years ago (24th birthday). We closed on our very first house on 4/29 (a Thursday) and spent all day on Saturday (5/1 - my birthday) moving in.
This year should be pretty cool, too. I’m due to have our first child around 4/25. So, I’m hoping to be home with Baby Z on or before my birthday.
When our son was nine months old or so, I took him to Las Vegas to visit my sister-in-law/his aunt. The main purpose of the trip was so that my husband’s extended family could meet the newest addition, but my thirtieth birthday was just over the horizon. My sister-in-law, an excellent hostess, threw a small, impromptu party for me at her house on a Friday evening. About thirty or so people came to her house. She had made a cake. It was great.
Later that evening once everyone had gone home, I was tired and decided to go to bed early. I was lying in bed, watching TV when I heard the phone ring. My niece came into my room, told me it was my husband on the phone, and handed me the receiver. I was talking to my husband and telling him about the party that his wonderful sister had thrown for me. He told me he had called because he was on his way home from work, and he wanted to talk to me before he went to bed.
All of a sudden, he burst into my bedroom! He had flown to Vegas, rented a car, driven to his sister’s house in the middle of the night just to tell me “Happy Birthday”! We spent the whole next day together eating lunch and shopping and just hanging out with each other and the baby. Then, my sister-in-law took the baby overnight (something that had been planned all along) because my husband had made reservations at a hotel for the evening. He took me to a wonderful dinner at an intimate steakhouse, and we just got to spend time together.
With the party my sister-in-law did for me, all the people who showed up for it, my husband surprising me…it was, by far, the best birthday I’ve ever had.
My most memorable was probably on my 16th.
First thing in the morning, I went to the airport and soloed in an airplane for the first time. Both of my parents (who are also pilots) where there, too.
Later that day, I went to the DMV, took my driving test, and got my driver’s license.
My best birthday ever was my 30th birthday in January of last year. I wasn’t looking forward to leaving my 20’s, but my boyfriend (now husband) had plans to make my birthday a very memorable day. A few weeks prior to my birthday, Edward told me to pack my bags for a long weekend. Where we were going exactly was a surprise, all I knew was that we were flying to a warmer climate. When we got to the airport, Edward gave me my boarding pass with the destination covered up by a yellow sticky. To my surprise, we were going to Florida for 5 days! My actual birthday was our 3rd day in Florida when he surprised me again with a day at Discovery Cove where we went swimming with the dolphins. I had always wanted to do something like that, as I had shared with him when we first started dating. It meant so much that he had planned all of this for me. We had a great time together and turning 30 wasn’t so bad after all.