A bunch of my friends have recently had birthdays all in a row (today it is my friend Kaman’s birthday), and mine is quickly approaching (April 8th– take note! I will be 22~). I haven’t had a birthday party since I was 16 or 17, but I’ve still had cake, and I’ve still had the Happy Birthday song sung to me.
I don’t know about you guys, having Happy Birthday sung to you sort of awkwardly and off key by your friends can be kinda weird. I mean, you can look intently at your cake while you blush, or you can do what I do… a chair dance accompanied by some vague hand movements resembling that of an orchestra conductor. I feel as if excluding me from the actual performance is a bit rude, so I try to join in. I can’t sing Happy Birthday to myself, but I can provide excellent choreographed chair movement art and keep everyone on the same time with my conducting. Everyone’s looking at me anyway, I’m sure they expect me to do something.
I also have this theory about birthdays, and it is this: birthdays aren’t about you. Get real, like you did anything to be born. I know that I was born way too early, and then I promptly tried to die. That was nice of me to put my parents through that, right? So, yeah, your birthday is more about your parents, mainly your mom. I mean, she carried you around for all those months and then gave birth to you, and where’s her cake? I’m pretty sure cake isn’t traditionally served on Mother’s Day, at least I’ve never done it.
I mean, I’ll still take presents on my birthday, but still.
I think people enjoying singing the birthday song basically for the embarrassment value. We have a birthday party every year, more for my Dad’s sake than mine.
I sing the Happy Birthday song to myself! Like you said, when everyone is singing, it is just weird if I just stand there so I clap and sing along too. I changed some lyrics of the song though like “Happy Birthday to me” instead of “to you”.
We bring our mum’s out for dinners and present her a gift of some sorts. She like cookbooks and plants. But no cakes though.
What’s even more awkward than friends singing happy birthday is when friends take you to a restaurant and have the restaurant staff sing you their version of happy birthday, along with stares by the rest of the restaurant customers. The free dessert is always nice though
I hate people singing Happy Birthday to me – and when I hear the first note, I normally squirm and proceed to tell them all how much I hate them until they get to the end.
Haha, my birthday is in 18 days and I don’t know what I’ll do yet. I want to do something, seeing as I didn’t do anything last year.
My friend suggested a pyjama party, I think that sounds like a fun idea. :3
I’ll ban them from singing happy birthday though.
It’s just so awkward…like if a teacher finds out it’s someone’s birthday in the class and they make the class of 15-year-olds sing happy birthday. The teacher never even joins in. ¬¬
I never know what to do while people sing Happy Birthday. I’m not the dancing in my chair type of person, so I just look around awkwardly, smile, and try to appear really happy that I’m being sung to
I’ve never really celebrated my birthday with a party or anything. I don’t consider being alive for 1 year a huge accomplishment; a lot of people have been doing it way longer than me!
I just smile awkwardly. And that’s exactly what I expect other people to do too. Either that, or smile awkwardly in shock if it’s a birthday surprise.
But if you think about it, moms get the same special treatment on their birthdays, so… it all evens out?
I’m always so embarrassed when people sing me the happy birthday song, so I think I’ll steal your idea next time
Yay! Thanks for the shout out on your blog, Ling! (I’m not famous though, lies and shenanigans!)
Since I formally studied music when I was in elementary school, and then was part of the school choir… birthday songs are quite awkward for me. Thankfully, my friends never sing it. My mom and aunt however are always so set on singing it. Then again, since the birthday presents are nice, I sit there and do my best to smile not-so-awkwardly.
Maybe with friends though, it would be more fun. As in: you know they’re going to sing off key, just to amuse you/themselves. SO maybe you should take it as a joke.