is one of my favorite birthday memories.  (I'm 42 now).  My husband and I had been married about 9 months, and we were in Luxembourg.  We went to this beautiful town called Vianden, where there's a medieval castle and a Victor Hugo museum and chairlift you can ride up to the top of a mountain. It was summer, so the weather was great and we decide to take the chairlift and walk back down the mountain.  Anyway, as you get to the top of the chairlift, someone there  takes your photo and then you can pay to have it sent to you.  So, we paid the money and promptly forgot about.  We didn't return to the US until the end of that year, and we were going through mail that had been sent to my parents' house, and there was the photo.  Each chair on the chairlift had an identifying number, and on the photo you could see that the car we rode up in was # 26!

That photo is now on a table in our bedroom.

The thing is I don't remember if I had cake or a special meal or even got a present.  But, I do know that I had a terrific day, which is what I'm sure you're daughter will have!

Your post is making me realize that I don't even remember most of my childhood birthdays! Only a couple of them really. Maybe birthdays are the kind of thing where it's very bad if nothing happens, but just a drop in the ocean of family memories when a nice simple good time was had by all. At least the way we did it, simple parties at home with friends.

I have to say, though, the home movies of my birthdays are really sweet. We even have home movies of a couple of my mother's childhood birthdays. I have a totally cute picture of my husband blowing out his birthday candles when he was about 5. So get some good vids and pictures, and you're good to go.

So don't stress, your daughter will have a lot of fun. And I think it's sweet that your son is so articulate about how bummed he is. It's only human for a kid, I think. So much better to be able to tell you than to act out tomorrow.

as a child. Summer birthday, we were always visiting grandma. We just had cake with immediate family plus grandma.

Most memorable birthday, I would say, was a 40th birthday party I threw for myself. We Mexican food and all our friends, pushed back the furniture and danced to disco music. I had a blast!

were satisfactory...being that nothing horrible jumps out, I suppose they were.

I did have to comment on this diary, however.  My daughter, my youngest, had her 13th birthday on Sunday.  She's past the age of kids parties, and not old enough for more grown-up parties...therefore, we fell back on our usual family traditions.  Ofcourse, this year, it didn't start out well.  Her dad had to work on Sunday, and she's not one to lightly substitute days of celebration.  We finally talked her into a celebration on Saturday.  Her dad would take her out to her choice of restaurant, as was their usual tradition.  I wasn't feeling well and opted out, however, she decided that her two oldest sisters would be permitted to come, too.  Well, after hearing this, one of her older brothers decided he was going to tag along, too.  This was not acceptable to her...she hadn't asked him.  We went around about that one for awhile, and by  Saturday morning, she told me that every one could come except her brother that is closest in age...well, at that point, I told her that either she had all of her family come, or it would be just her and her father.  To invite everyone except for one sibling was just MEAN.  She pouted for a bit then came around.

They had a great time...and Sunday, even though her father was working, we had a small celebration here at home. One of her older sisters took her out to a movie in the afternoon.   All of her brothers and sisters were here in the evening for cake, and she was thrilled that one of her older sisters and her significant other made it back from their trip to Philadelphia in time to be here for the event.  It was an event that lasted until we were all ready for bed.  I think we managed  to give her a satisfactory birthday after all.

Ofcourse, this poor child had one of her earlier birthday celebrations totally blown off track because the hot water tank burst on her birthday.  We had no choice that time but to work at getting that taken care of that day...til this day, she still complains about that spoiled birthday years ago.

were always the low-key ones, in retrospect. The big, screamy, tween-age sleepovers? Oh, the dramz, oh, the girlfights and tears, and all the clean-up afterwards. No fun. But the impromptu ones? The best. My 17th birthday my two best friends slept over. We went to the mall for a few hours of aimless wandering and purchases ($50 from my parents, and my two friends bought my gifts there, so we had the fun of trying things on), followed by going home to pizza and baking my favorite cake and a Monty Python movie marathon. No muss, no fuss, but big fun.

My 21st birthday, I was in London for my semester abroad. It was more like a birthday weekend; I went to Paris early Saturday morning to meet up with a friend, his sister and their grandmother (the trip to Paris was their 80th birthday present to her). My first trip to Paris, never suspecting that I'd live there in two and a half years. I didn't meet up with my friends until late in the afternoon, so I wandered the streets of Paris for hours and felt so well travelled! I met the friends and grandmother, had dinner and escorted the woman back to her hotel, then hit the streets again until 4 a.m.! Then my parents called my hotel room at 6 a.m. to wish me happy birthday! Ye gods! I staggered out of bed shortly after sun-up, spent more hours in museums and such, made it back to London in time for my flatmates to take me out on the town again. It was all impromptu and I had a total blast.

So, big birthday parties don't matter. What kind of cake is it?

My shy younger son was a bit iffy about kid parties, so we celebrated his 3rd birthday by "camping" - at the last minute we threw the cake and some sleeping bags in the car and drove to a KOA with rental "kabins".  10 miles from our house.  In a down at the heels urban area.  Right beside the interstate highway.

The boys unpacked and set up the cabin exactly as they liked, then we explored the campground (gravel parking lot with trees) and played on the playground equipment (old but respectable).  We grilled hot dogs and ate cake at our picnic table beside the "lake" (drainage ditch I think; they really did call it a lake though).  After dark we gathered small sticks and pine needles and toasted marshmallows over the world's smallest campfire - barely a candle's worth of flame.  As the fire died down my little guy leaned against me and said, "this was the best birthday."  His older brother leaned against my other side and said, "This was the happiest day of my whole entire life."

was my fifth birthday when I found a Cabbage Patch Doll...in the patch of cabbage.  My parents had put the doll in the garden and led be out there (of course I had no idea of this at the time).  I don't remember it much, but I remember me so mystified and excited.

on my part, but we only "party" every other year. In the off year we celebrate with family only and send treats to school.

as far as birthday parties go.  As long as you have cake or cupcakes and a few presents, they are good to go.  A simple game like musical chairs or pass the potato works well too.  Though by age 10, I don't even think they need a game.  Last year we did a scavenger hunt for Grant's 7th birthday and that went over really well.  

I don't do a ton of decorations.  I figure all of it ends up in a landfill, so we just have a few balloons and streamers here and there.  

I have two kids and I always get the other one something small to ease the blow of it not being his/her special day.  My parents did that for me and my brother when we were young.  I have a friend who has 3 kids.  I think that would get kind of expensive and I don't blame her for not doing it.  Besides... w/3 or more, there's at least 2 kids not celebrating their special day so maybe it's easier to take?

Best birthday for me, was when I turned 7.  I got a brand new bike and we went to McDonald's.  Ronald McDonald and the Hamburgler just happened to be there for some promotion and they both sang happy birthday to me.  

It doesn't really matter what you do, as long as the birthday person gets lots of attention and gets to choose stuff like where to go for dinner.  I always loved that on my birthday we would go eat wherever I wanted, and no one was allowed to complain.  That and being the center of attention for just one day are what I always cherished most about my birthdays growing up.  Come to think of it, that's still what I like on my birthdays.

My parents threw me a surprise party for my 18th b-day which was one of the best b-days I remember, in large part because throwing any kind of party was so out of character for them!    

However, since I got grounded for a month on my 15th birthday (which they later agreed was a gross over-reaction on their part), they forgot my 16th birthday (as in, did absolutely nothing -- I had my driver's test a few weeks later and so they decided to do something once I got my license, but then once I had my license it was so far after my birthday and they were so stressed out by having a teenage driver they didn't bother), and I spent my 17th birthday at my beloved grandfather's funeral, I think they felt obligated to compensate.  

Having said that at our house birthdays mostly meant you got to pick the menu for dinner.  And, the "birthday" took place on the nearest weekend day to your birthday that everyone in the immediate family could reasonably be expected to be there.  

As a result, for me the actual date of my birthday doesn't mean much.  I just want to have lasagna and cheesecake at some point towards the end of September!

--R

as a kid, my mom was just too preoccupied. But birthdays were always special-- there were presents waiting for you when you got up, and when you got home she had managed, sometimes, to totally clean your room and put a new blanket or pillow or something on the bed. My idea of a good birthday still is having presents first thing in the morning and then, last year, my husband paid a maid for the afternoon. Hee. My mom says she still wishes she were close enough to come fix my room up...