Birthdays Are Inevitable
Written By:  Christy Trent

They come around every year whether you want them to or not. Those pesky things called birthdays. I just celebrated mine. Next year I¹ll be reaching a milestone birthday, and I can tell you I'm not very happy about it! I plan on hiding out on the beach where no one knows me, that way I¹ll not have to endure any "Over the Hill" parties.
It's nice though to have people treat you special on that one day a year. At the library where I work, our staff enjoys celebrating heavily. The whole day is made special for the birthday person. Each year the party planners, two special ladies who love to throw parties, think of a different theme for each birthday person. The decorations, cake and food are all centered around the theme. Because of my recent foot surgery the theme for me was feet. It was hilarious. The food was all foot word related; foot long hot dogs, potatoes, Doritoes, Fritoes, and tomatoes. The decorations were mock ups of modified old movie posters. There was “Attack of the 50 foot Woman and her Feet!” The horror movie, “The Crawling Foot”, and my favorite, “Bravefeet”.
This year I received dozens of birthday greetings from all my Facebook Friends, and text messages from family and friends. Technology can sure make it easy to send greetings!
Over the years I have had many birthdays and birthday parties, but the best ones were when I was a kid. Back then each birthday was new and exciting, and you were actually eager to become a year older. One of the best things about our birthday was choosing what kind of cake mom would bake; with 4 siblings it was rare to every get something that was specifically for me. With all the choices I had, I always chose chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Matter of fact, that is still my cake of choice today. Sometimes mom would decorate the cake with our name, or candy rosettes, and then she would top it off with birthday candles. One for each year, and we would make a wish and blow them out.
There are many different ways to make a birthday special whether you are a child or an adult. The public library has countless books with hundreds of ideas from how to decorate a cake to how to make party invitations. The book, Big Birthdays: The party planner celebrates life¹s big milestones, by David Tutera, is full of imaginative and unique party ideas. This book shows ideas for those big birth dates; sweet sixteen, 25th, 30th , 50th , and so on.
Another good book is by Better Homes and Gardens with the title, Handmade Birthdays; 101 Gift, Cake & Card Ideas For Ages 1 to 101. Ideas, templates and recipes fill this handy book.
And to make the perfect cake for any birthday occasion, check out, The Ultimate Cake Book of Birthday Cakes. Learn how to make adorable cakes almost too cute to be eaten!
Birthdays are special and should be celebrated. Head over to your local library and check out these books and make your next birthday bash one the birthday boy or girl of any age will remember for the rest of their lives.