Hi mom! :)
What a wonderful idea ^^

1. My parents, I usually greet them at the very start of the day, 12 midnight. They're fast asleep and I wake them up. Once they open they're eyes, I whisper, "happy birthday" :)
And I also make a poem for their special day. I wrote my mom a poem, My Red Flower and posted it in booksie last May 5. ^^

4. Last year I wrote a poem and gave it to my friends on my birthday. It's the poem Forever's Truth on my portfolio. :) I think celebratig your birthday with other people is the best. Especially if these people are the most that you value.^^ Now, I'm away from home, in college, far from my friends... And I don't know how I'll be glad this July 19th with them far from me...

Posted: Jul 5, 2008

it's my 17th birthday mom :)

Posted: Jul 5, 2008

I would have loved to celebrate my parents' birthday the way I used to. I used to be part of the preparation--messing around the kitchen :-). Well, the kitchen is always my favorite domain though I'm not a good cook. LOL! We'd always end the day with a special family dinner. We'd do the same thing on my birthday. My mom's birthday and mine fall on the same day. That's 4 days after Christmas. :-)

Since I'm not home, calling them seems the best way to keep in touch and still be part of such momentous event. And speaking of birthday, I'll be making a phone call tomorrow. My brother will be celebrating his. ^^

Thanks, Pratibha! ^^

Posted: Jul 5, 2008

good article

Posted: Jul 6, 2008

We always have a family dinner for each of my parents birthdays. We all get together and eat too much food and play games and laugh a lot.

For the kids I usually just do a small get together for their friends and then a seperate one for family.

For my own I always just want simple things. Somebody else to make dinner and happy, smiling family around me.

Nice article Julie!

Posted: Jul 6, 2008

For my birthday, since I share it with my two brothers (we are triplets!) we usually have a big family dinner in which my mom makes my FAVORITE HOMEMADE SPAGHETTI it is to die for! hehe and then we each have our own cake (strawberry,chocolate,vanilla, and yes i am the strawberry) and then we open presents as a family. it is nice b/c we don't get that much time together and birthdays are the days to just settle down!

For my friends' birthdays, I always make homemade cards. There is something about making it yourself and not buying it. I will write poems or phrases and little funny quotes! :)

For my parents, well they don't like to make a big deal out of their birthday, but we usually surprise them with a big presents or with some of their closest friends over! :)

And that's all I have to say about birthday's :) I luv them! :)
great article pratibha!
love zia

Posted: Jul 6, 2008

^_^ hehe, Hi Pratibha *big smisles* guess what I want for my birthday next January? well it is going to be "The Big One" ^_^ yes I will be 50 years old, and so I should get what I want lol, and wish to have you and all booksie peoples to sail the ocean, fly, drive, what ever they have to do and come here to Minnesota and celebrate!!!!^_^ ^_^ ^_^ hehehehe, oh wouldn't that be something, well, come next January i guess I'll just have to write a story and it will happen just like that lololololol!!!!!!!! ^_^

hahaha, well, like everyone for every birthday in my family all brothers and sisters and mom adn dad, we go out to eat (except my dad, he doesn't go anywhere) and then we go back to the house for cake and icecream, open cards adn presents, sing happy birthday, blow out all the candles *giggles*
but for me I am too far away now so they call me and I talk to them on the phone.

I also write poems for them on thier birthday, or make a nice necklace or bracelet, or beeded keyring.
so, and that's all for now. I ahve to read your other celebration now. ok, see you later ^_^

Posted: Jul 7, 2008

My family has never been much into birthdays, my best birthday was my last years birthday spent with my sister and we had a very wild time.......nice article

Posted: Jul 7, 2008

Well as i am staying far away, i just call my parents, brothers, sisters, in-laws on their birthdays and wish them over the phone and send them cards. When we are together, we go out to temple, my mother makes some delicious sweets, we get/give a new dress as a present.

Now, for my husband and daughter, i am following the same, go to temple, cook something sweet and of course buy new clothing.

Thank you Pratibha, for writing this article, we can get to know so many tips and ideas for celebrating future birthdays!

Posted: Jul 8, 2008

So sorry, since i haven't talked to you about my childhood, but since you mentioned this, i will answer in return for my being late.

Okay firstly, how i would celebrate my parents birthday is to make them something. You know, homemade is always from the heart.

For my siblings, i would get them a cake and something that they always wanted, like a purse or movie.

as for mine, i'd ask for nothing, just a happy birthday.

and for my best friend birthday, i'd do the same as i would with my siblings, because they are like my siblings.

Posted: Jul 8, 2008

what a feelgood article, my birthday is not important but my children are a different matter. i love to buy them nice presents, clothes and books and cds. i also like to cook them their favourite meal and bake them a big cake.
my best friend i like to give him something useful that he can keep or use. no matter what i give to anyone it is always given with love.
snow x

Posted: Jul 9, 2008

This was a great idea, Pratibha. It's so interesting to learn about people's birthday customs!

For my mom, since I live so far away, I call her as soon as I wake up (usually waking her up) to sing "Happy Birthday" over the phone. This year I sent her a card but I didn't mail her gift because I was traveling to see her 2 weeks later. I bought her something she's really been needing. She's a practical woman and the gifs she likes best are the ones she needs.

My brother's birthday falls on Christmas Day, so I usually shower him with gifts for both holidays. My mom and I bake him cupcakes every year with sprinkles on them. They're his favorite :)

For my boyfriend I always treat his birthdays like national holidays lol. This year I woke up extra early to decorate the house as a surprise, and then he opened his cards and gifts. I got him an iPhone, which was very expensice (about $400) but he's been wanting one badly and it was worth it to see how happy he was with it. Then I invited all his friends out to a group dinner in the evening at his favorite restaurant.

So those are all of my birthday traditions! I love decorating and baking and buying gifts, so birthdays are my favorite things to celebrate.

Stephanee :)

Posted: Jul 9, 2008

hi! pratibha. my birthday falls on june 23 each year (although i wish it could be a different date each year for the fun to increase.) it is nothing special. i've three good intimate friends and v roll together. in that respect each day is a birthday for me.

my mom is "strict" and old-fashioned. no matter, how much my dad tries to change her, she clings to her time-tested beliefs. and greets the big day with "happy birthday" when i wish she could develop on it.

my dad adds humor with crinkling eyes. being with him is a pleasure my friends too enjoy in full measure. he doesn't need to gift me anything as throughout the year he gives something or the other.

my elder bro is in paris. he works there but every three months he drops home for a week. this year he gifted me a silver ipod nano. this is the most expensive gift i've ever received. but then love is not measured in expensiveness but in thought. so i forgive and forget all the past times that i fought with him like cats and dogs. (i was the cat and i was the dog too.)

rest, the day passes like any other day. life is cool. and i'm a HOT babe. (just kidding.) so, now u know everything about an uninspiring birth day. lol. ;-)

Posted: Jul 9, 2008

I tried to respond to this another day, but you know booksie, it sometimes spits away my responses!
Birthdays are family get togethers for us. A good chance to get everyone together when life and work means we live apart. So on my hubbie's birthday all the boys (and their wives and families) come home and not only catch up with their father but with each other. it is wonderful.
I miss making birthday calls to my parents now they have passed (who lived away from us) and putting together little parcels of "joy" for them and sending them on. Likewise my mother never missed sending greetings to all her grandchildren, even towards the end when she was very ill.
Birthdays make me happy, and birthdays bring me tears.

Posted: Jul 10, 2008

waa! i didnt know you posted this article :( this is a fun topic too!

ok well let me begin ^^

my dad is a leap baby - meaning he was born on february 29th which comes ONCE every FOUR years! so really hes onlike like 12 years old LOL
so for him we usually have a BIG birthday bash. this year we went out for a fancy dinner. but i remember when i was younger we rented out this one place and had karaoke and music and dancing and food and there was like... 40 people invited. it was a big celebration.
for my mom we ask her what she wants and she says, "clean the house" -_-' so we clean the house on her birthday. lol nothing exciting.


for my birthday i always try to plan something special. i'm always planning months in advance lol i first started going all out with my birthday when i turned... 12 i think. i rented a hotel room with 5 friends and we just stayed the night in a hotel and watched comedy movies ^^
can't remember my 13th birthday o.O
14th i did a hotel again as well as going to go see a play! it was a comedy called Inspecting Carol - it was HILARIOUS! i laughed so hard i cried lol
15th birthday i invited like 20 friends over and we played games, had a pinyata, watched chick flicks, and had a sleep over. it was also tinkerbell themed party XD lol i love tinkerbell
and then my most recent was sweet sixteen ^^
i bought a plane ticket and flew to delaware to see my cousins that i rarely get to see. stayed the weekend with them, watched musicals and plays at various theatres (i'm really into theatre lol) and then flew back home ^^

my birthday is november 5th! its forever away -_-'
haha and this year i honestly don't know what to do! i've run out of ideas for my sensational seventeen lol

this was great pratibha! i loved this article :D

Posted: Jul 11, 2008

ooohhhh i forgot to include what i do for my friends! GAH!
ok so first of all - i leave them messages every where saying happy birthday. on their internet pages, on messenger, on the phone, on email, in person, EVERYWHERE! thats the first thing. and then i make them a home-made card. but what i like to do for each and every person is make a card unique to them. so i search for pictures that suit their personality and likes ^^ and then i make a callage (sp?) [the thing where its a bunch of pictures group together] and so their card just has a bunch of pictures on it, some with friendship phrases ^^
and then i get out the markers and stickers like i'm back in kindergarden and color the inside and write them a loooooong message telling them how wonderful they are and how i'm so happy to have them in my life. but like i said, every card is unique to that person. so its not the same old message. every message comes from my heart ^^ and then i usually throw in some inside jokes, just making it more personal :)


as for my siblings, i always bake the cake ^^ i ask them what flavor and what icing flavor and they tell me ^^ so then the day of their party, i wake up and get ready and start cooking! i've also started making banners that say HAPPY BIRTHDAY [insert name]
once again - the banners are unique to their personality. like my brother - i made his really like boy-ish lol and drew video games on it and then made a duct tape border for it. and wrote it in funky cool letters that had a rebel feel to them. and used his fave colors until i ran out of markers lol

ha and then of course theres singing happy birthday and giving gifts and blowing out the candles and making a wish ^^

yup yup yuppers!
thats what i do for my friends and siblings :)

Posted: Jul 11, 2008

oooooooooh! My B-day is on october 27th and we usually have some nice party but my parent decided to leave that for my sweet sixteen! For my dads b-day we have like all his family come round and its crazy! My mum doesn't like anything big so we just get her a prezzie and then take her out to eat! My 13 year old brother Ibe loves money and games and doesn't really want anything else for his b-day so I usually get him some kind of playstation game or something like that!
As for my baby brother isaac who is now two! He had lik A HUGE FIRST BIRHTDAY! LIKE loads of family came! it was awsome! oh and he had a huge cake! he he
Hope I gave you what you! want!

oH and please continue reading my story! Please!
XD happy days darling! Hope your son is well!

Posted: Jul 11, 2008

Haha! I share a birthday with Bubbly, it's June 23.
Hmm... Well, I don't know how to say this other than how I'm going to say it now, but my family doesn't really do anything special for our birthdays. Modesty and selflessness runs in my family :) We make do with what we have, and we only get a few presents if we ACTUALLY want something in specific. Of course, my mom is perfectly fine with us asking for what we want, but when we do it's never much. We already have all we could ask for.
For my parents birthdays though, I (being the creative one) always make them something special. :) I'm into card making, jewelery making, painting, drawing, sewing, writing (obviously) and pretty much anything you could think of. I guess you can say I'm never bored, unless I don't feel like doing anything. Other than that we usually have a huge dinner on all our birthdays and my mom and I make the cake!! We both took cake confectionary classes and graduated... We're certified confectioners. Lol We thought of making a small business together, but things never turned out how we planned. Lol.

Yup I think that's about it. And in case you were wondering... no, we don't have parties. None of us like the attention. I'm serious when I say my family is too modest. I don't think I've ever had or wanted one now that I think about it. Okay, maybe when I was like six or seven, but I decided I never wanted one again.

Posted: Jul 11, 2008

Ooo I love this idea, Pratibha! My birthday's actually this Tuesday..July 15th. :) For my birthday..I don't want much..just time with family and closest friends. I think once a year it's nice to really be reminded how much certain people care about you..

For my best friend's birthday..it's a similar thought to my own. I of course give them a gift that they'd enjoy, but I also think it's more important to let them know how much they mean to you. After I give them their gift, I usually just tell them how much they influence my life, and give them a good, big hug. hehe. :)

~ Susan

Posted: Jul 13, 2008

Well it's actually funny that i've come across this article today because my birthday is coming up on Saturday the 19th of July...my super sweet sixteen!!!! WWWWOOHHHHOO!!!

This is how I would celebrate my birthday for my nearest and dearests and what I would give them...

For my parents, it sort of differs; for my mum I would greet he with a birthday hug, buy her some gold jewellry as she like that a lot and if I had the money I would take her on holiday where she could shop non-stop perhaps somewhere like Dubai. In fact I promised he that when she turns 50 and I'm 21 we'll go together. For my Dad, I just say happy birthday and get him a card or something or even a shirt; he doesn't really make a big deal out of it.

Obviously I don't have kids, so instead I'll talk about what I'd get for my brothers. My brothers can be the most annoying people in the world, but I love'em (don't tell'em I said that :D) I would probably buy them something like games consoles with loads of games.

Unfotunately I don't have a spouse, perhaps we'll find each other soon :D. But if I did have a boyfriend I would love to spend the whole day with him doing what he wants then I'd suprise him with soething he really wants or a cnadle-lit dinner in the park or something. Or I'd pretend that I'd forgotten then suprise him with soething.

I wouldn't want a fuss to be made over me. I'd just like to spend the day with the people that I love and of course it wouldn't be a birthday without a birthday cake (yum yum :D). I'd love to do soething that i enjoy doing, perhaps shopping or visiting a museum or going to a games arcade. If I had a boyfriend I'd love for him to suprise me with something really romantic...but obviously within his budget. I wouldn't mind what pressie I get as it is the thought that counts.

For my best friends I always like to write a thoughtful and personal birthday message to them, to show that I really appreciate them. I'm not the best at choosing presents but i usually buy them something I think that's going to be useful for them in the future.

I hope that was helpful and keep up the great work Pratibha!!!

Olola.

Posted: Jul 16, 2008

I don't celebrate my birthday. My parents forgot it every year, so after my eighth birthday, I just stopped caring.
~Kaori

Posted: Jul 16, 2008

ummmmmm , i LOVE birthdays , especcially mine (hehe)

my parents : for my mum i always get her a teddy , its like a tradition ,, since i was 4 years old i got her different teddy sizes .
for my dad i usually get him a tie or a polo top because he loves wearing them .

My siblings : i have 3 other siblings , two older than I ( 17 and 18 ) and one younger than me (10) , i always get my older brother slipers or something for his laptop but hes gonna be 18 in a week so i donno what to get him this year .for my sis i get her some make-up and keyrings, for my younger bro i get him action figures and footballl accesories . (his fave )

My friendz : have 4 friendz , 2 malaysians , 1 eygytion and 1 philipino . i always make them something and then buy them some nice thigs .

As for me I usually get books but this year , i got a lovely necklace which is on my picture hehe


I LOVE BIRTHDAYZ :D

i love this article !!

Posted: Jul 18, 2008

Wow. . . . Everyone celebrates their birthdays. Amazing, reading all this makes me wish I had celebrated mine, or at least tried.
~Kaori

Posted: Jul 18, 2008

For everyone’s birthday in my family, parent, siblings (kids) and me, we will go out for dinner at this one restaurant where I'm sure they see us once a month now or my mum will put of a family 'get together' at home and make her traditional lasagne, her curry and put on a nice big spread for anyone. We also do the family get together for pretty much any occasion! I guess we're getting predictable but I kind of like it.

This is so original, I love your posts! :) ~ Nixie

Posted: Jul 20, 2008

Hello! My birthday is on September 22! Yay! I LOVE last years b-day! It was my sweet 16 and ALL 10 of my most dearest and closest friends came! I had so... much fun! We all went to an amusement park called Castle Park, and we went on ALL of the rides. Sadly, I threw up on one of them :-( But I still had fun!
Thanks 4 letting us talk about our birthdays! I would love to celebrate it with all of my fans, when it comes around in a few months!
Love, JFM98(Or Jessica)

Posted: Jul 31, 2008

Couldn't pass this one up as it was my own birthday recently, (June 28th) so here we go....

My PARENTS - Normally we will get the family together who in normality are scattered over the length and breadth of the country and they will stay for the weekend where lots of food and booze are consumed.

My KID'S - As I have none (the I know of or am willing to inform the CSA about) I can't comment on this one.

My SPOUSE - For the Missus, depending on if she wants to go see a show or a concert or something I will book and we'll go to those. If not then a restaurant meal of her choice is what would happen.

My OWN - Well seeing as I have just turned 26 and as such am the wrong side of thirty, so from this biorrthday on there will be a weekend of wearing nothing but black to mourn the loss of my youth, added an abetted by copious amounts of alcohol.

My BEST FREIND's - Oh that's easy, once again copious amounts of Alcohol and take away food, and for some reason only known by God, the acquisition of traffic cones!!!

Posted: Aug 1, 2008

The ONE thing that all this new fangled technology can't replicate is sarcasm, which is a shame as that is the main foundation block for my personality!!

It's not as sad as it sounds, as I said I have now hit 26 years old, which means mathmatically Iam closer to 30 than 20 so that's what genarated the (tongue-in-cheek)mourning for my lost youth.

Don't worry honey, the way I see things you are only as old as the person you feel.... (",)

Posted: Aug 2, 2008

Pratibha, I love this one.. It brings such sweet memories. Even though my mom has passed away I still celebrate her birthday. Every year on her birthday I light a candle and sing happy birthday to her silently. I cook her favorite meal, invite my whole family and we sit around the table reflecting on the good time we've shared. On each of my sons birthday I call them at the time they were born and wish them happy birthday then I give them the great speech on what is expected of them for that age. They take great joy in that one. {I make it as funny as possible} As for my birthday I normally get all the kids together and we have a good time singing old songs and dancing to the music. This year I was in the hospital.. My birthday was July 15th.. but as soon as I'm up and feeling better I'll put on my dancing shoes and live it up once again.

Posted: Aug 3, 2008