My 17th Birthday we went to the beach because my mom's best friend was in town. I was dragged around to do what they wanted to do the whole trip. No Cake, no song, nothing, and No one bothered to realize it was my birthday. So a couple weeks later when it was my Mom's BF's birthday (he got two cakes, bastard.) I took a piece of birthday cake, put a big votive candle in it and sung "Happy Birthday To Me". I've kind of lingered on this for a good amount of years. I'm probably over reacting about it but it was a really bad birthday for me.

Umm, almost every year.

Gave myself treats, went to movie theatres on my own.

Mainly because it's always during the school holidays/semester breaks and I'm always staying at the apartment instead of going back to my hometown.

The only times I've had cake was when I was 5 (from my parents back when I was an only child), 20 (from my 5 best friends) and 23 (just a little slice).

on my 18th birthday, my parents threw a party for their friends, not me, and had me be bar tender. as revenge, i got piss drunk and had a great time.

My first birthday away from home (at college across the country) I spent it going to 4 classes and then eating a big cookie cake all alone in my dorm room. Not one of my fondest memories...

oops! Didn't post anon. the 1st time... ;)

my 25th, I'd just ended my 4 year relationship with a married man, 24 years my senior. He was a college prof, and I had finally realized that all his droning on about the 2 of us having a life together for months and months was utter bullshit.

So I dumped him right before my b-day, which usually falls on or around Labor Day in Canada, so nothing is ever open. I sat at home by myself, because I was living in a city which was an hour away from family & friends I'd grown up with. I drank myself stupid, tried to contact my father (who hadn't bothered with me for years) and cried like a loser

Not yet, but this year i most likely will have to.
My birthday is in 2 weeks, so we'll see.

My last birthday was the first time by myself...

Basically, I'm away are uni, and my uni friends are useless, all bailed on me, wouldn't even go down the pub which was just down the road and said they'd "stay in and drink" with me instead.. apart from they didn't drink, so I drank to myself and got incredibly drunk. Not totally by myself because they were there.. but with how much they let me down by the end of it all I would have prefered to have been by myself.

Nope.

My 19th birthday. My parents forgot. No card. No cake. Nothing. So I sat in my room & played video games.

The last few years' birthdays are a bit of an anonymous blur. They've been days as normal. At work, or in the lab at uni, or stuck in traffic on the M4. A card from my mother, a phone call from my father and that's it. I've done nothing special for myself at all.

There was one odd year where I shared a birthday with someone and we arranged a joint party which was excellent fun. But that's just the anomalous blip on the radar.

yesterday was my birthday and it was a normal day. but 2 years ago, i had to work 14 hours, so i stopped at target on my way home just because it wouldn't have been crowded. i bought myself an iron, and then went home to eat chips and salsa while sitting on the floor in my underwear.

it was awesome.

I never have. Strangely, I wish I had though.

I was fifteen and went to visit some of my family down in florida, part of which are from mexico/mexican (by marriage). They were planning a big quinceanera for me, but then my uncle's (by marriage) nephew (his sister's son, not related to me) died in a motorcycle accident a couple days before. There was a big memorial service for him on my birthday, I never knew the guy, and though it was sad for all of us, it kind of sucked because I wasn't with any of my immediate family already to celebrate my birthday with, and then I was at a memorial service for a guy I didn't know. I wasn't too upset about my whole birthday thing, I understood other things were more important. Basically to celebrate my birthday that year, I sang to myself and went for a 5 mile run. Big year for me.

I've never had to do this, but this year my boyfriend was alone for his birthday in another part of the country. I knew it would be hard for him because he's been really lonely and it's been a strain on our relationship so I sent him a big box of stuff and on the outside I wrote not to open it before the day of his birthday in case it came early. Inside there were stickers, a slinky, his favorite candy, a cat toy, and some other "goodie bag" type things, not to mention a big handmade card and a hallmark card and some other cute stuff, including a picture of me as a little girl. (I saved his real presents for when he came to visit me later that week when he didn't have to miss work.)

We talked a lot during the day and that night at like 11:50 he mentioned that this would be the fist birthday no one had sung happy birthday to him, so I sang it to him over the phone. My mom always said it's bad luck for you to not get sung happy birthday, and that you should always have a cake even if you have to buy it for yourself.

I hope I made him have a good birthday. I tried my best. Long distance is tough.

I've never celebrated a birthday by myself because thankfully my family pull through via birthday dinners. Though every year I'm terrified I will.

A year ago, it would have been wrong to celebrate at all, because my grandma's funeral was the very next day. Since then, it's kinda lost its joy; it's not really great or really terrible. I just treat it like any other day.

On my 17th birthday both of my parents were working night shifts, I spent the evening by myself and then lay there awake for ages watching midnight come and go and thus the end of my day :(

both my parents got arrested a week before my 16th birthday. I basically pretended I forgot it was my birthday.