I See No Point to Birthday Celebrations

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When i was younger i used to like birthday celebrations however since i have got older i just find them rather pointless really.

I never liked birthdays, and never liked it when people sang 'happy birthday' either. To me, its just another day.

Meh, tomorrow is my birthday and I am not looking forward to it cuz it's not a happy time in my life and I don't want to talk to people...though I will enjoy the facebook posts.

I understand your point, but birthdays are a part of our culture as humans (one of the few things we all agree on, in fact). I try not to do anything too big for birthdays, but hey, who's going to deny free stuff?

For myself, I'm not that big on burthdays. I personally feel it's bad luck to keep track of how long I've been alive.

Gifts are sweet, even if the reason is sort-of contrived. A big party on my behalf is generally more than I'm comfortable dealing with. Some friends I've made where I live now probably found it unnerving in the end to have a dinner on my behalf.

@chrissyrun, happy birthday!

I tried celebrating my b-day and inviting lots of friends, and I did this like 3 years in a row and each time I was disappointed at the outcome. I finally discovered why it is that I don't like playing host: guests follow the hosts' lead, and they weren't sure how to read me so they looked bored, and having to greet people and make sure they're ok is mentally exhausting. Now I prefer not to make a big deal out of it, and like to celebrate with a few good friends.

Yep.

I know people who have more than one "celebration" even if it's not for a milestone year, but I HAD to do something for my 18th last year (it's sort of a cultural thing). Otherwise I see celebrations as useless as it's just another day in your life, so celebrate life everyday.

i do see the point. it's a cultural excuse for some kind of celebration, like others have said, which i'm fine with, as long as it's voluntary. what i dread is that moment when someone will say "happy birthday" to me and i'll be like "okay". it doesn't make me happy if you remember my birthday. don't force me to pretend it does...

I don't understand the point of any kind of celebrated anniversary. I don't get why changing a number is a big deal or why changing a year or so many years is a big deal. I like birthdays OK thou. I like getting cake & getting presents as a kid.

I do celebrate my birthdays, but usually on my own terms, with others it would be going out to a restaurant to eat, hanging out with each other at my place or their place, or receiving gifts. I could see that when someone gets much older (like over 40-50) there is just nothing really special, since it's just another year closer to retirement and eventually, death (mortality).

Now for the younger age group, like children or teens, I could see it being more meaningful as there are more exciting milestones in life. (13 is when someone is a teenager, and often starting high school, 18 is a very special age as it opens up a lot of rights since someone would be considered, at least legally (US), as an adult, as well as going to college, and 21 drinking age (US), etc.) However, after a certain age it all becomes pointless as there are very few milestones related to age unless someone finds something really special like the age at which they are considered a senior, or special anniversary/occasion.

I celebrate them, but not as much as I used to. Back when I was a young kid, I loved it...but like a lot of us, we grow out of it. Now I feel like it's being another year closer to dying.
A nice dinner usually happens, the occasional cake, or card, but I don't care about getting gifts.
Even as a young kid, I never did those huge parties with a bunch of school friends coming over. That NEVER happened, and I didn't want to do that.

after 30 you start counting by decades. "milestone" ages are the ones that end in zero...