1. Posted by Danielle Bean on Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 4:09 PM (EST):
Happy Golden Birthday, Ethan! Enjoy your evening, but remember: you don’t need fondant or flaming furniture to have a good time
Golden Boy
Celebrating something big!
Posted by Rachel Balducci in Family on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 3:00 PM
Today is my oldest son’s birthday, and as he is turning twelve on November 12th, it is his Golden Birthday.
Happy Birthday, Ethan!
Do you celebrate Golden Birthdays? This has always been a big deal in my family, though I celebrated mine when I was five and I don’t really remember it much. Growing up, I always felt a little sad for my dad. He celebrated his Golden Birthday exactly one year after his birth—what a rip-off!
A few weeks ago, the boys and I were discussing the importance of this year, what a fun and exciting time a Golden Birthday is. However, when we mentioned the significance of this event to Paul, and also of the need to have a righteous blow-out party to mark the occasion, Paul rolled his eyes, just a little.
Clearly, this was not something he did growing up. What a pity!
But he did not protest much, and now he too is getting all wrapped up (relatively speaking) in the glory of the Golden.
Tonight, we are having a party with the boys in Ethan’s class (all seven of them), as well as some aunts and uncles, grandparents and a few of his beloved cousins. There will be sports and music and ALL CONSUMING FIRE!! (very contained, of course). Also some hot dogs and cake. It should be a very fine time.
My only wish is that in the days leading up to this Golden Celebration I would have had the foresight to put a moratorium on watching The Food Network. One or two nights last week, the boys caught a show called Ace of Cakes, and they now use words like “fondant” and “cake made out of fondant to look like an amp, please mom?”
To which I said: all that glitters is not Golden.
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Comments
3. Posted by Suzanne on Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 4:18 PM (EST):
In my family, we call it a Rainbow Birthday. (We just made up this term so it wouldn’t sound like anyone was turning 50.) A few years ago, my little brother turned had his rainbow birthday (19) the same week as my husband’s (24)—so we had a Double Rainbow Birthday Party. It doesn’t get any more special than that! Somehow, I think that my mom and I appreciated it more than the birthday boys did.
4. Posted by Sparki on Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 4:20 PM (EST):
I had never heard of “golden birthdays” until several years ago. Frankly, I think every one of my kids’ birthdays is a golden occasion, so I don’t see any room to do something extra when the number of their years happens to coincide with the date of their birth.
Anyway, I couldn’t possibly celebrate my children’s “golden” birthdays if I wanted to, because one was born on the 1st and wouldn’t remember it, one was born on the 30th and very likely won’t care and won’t be home when that occasion comes around and the other was born on the 9th and would cause seething amounts of jealousy among her siblings if she got some sort of extra celebration just for turning 9 when the others didn’t.
5. Posted by Celeste on Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 4:27 PM (EST):
I’d never heard of Golden Birthdays until now, but I wish I had. What a delightful custom! The only problem with them is that they can’t be celebrated beyond age 31. How sad for us old fogeys, who are fated to totter through our Golden Years without “sports and music and all consuming fire” to liven up our birthday celebrations!
6. Posted by Beth on Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 4:43 PM (EST):
Neither my husband or I grew up celebrating the “golden birthday”. Not long after we moved to where we live now, our son was turning 9--it seemed like the time to do something really special. So Joe turned 9 on the 9th and invited nine boys for nine hours of fun. They played outside all day-both organized and unorganized. The kids had a blast and to this day--three years later, it’s one of the most memorable b-day parties any of the kids have ever had--and that includes the invited guests. People will still comment about the 9 on 9th with 9....it was a good age for it.
7. Posted by Kristen [website] on Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 5:44 PM (EST):
I don’t remember if we called it a Golden Birthday but we definitely had them growing up. Luckily our birthdays were 11, 12, 7, and 8. My daughter was born on the 6th and my son is, wait for it, the 21st. Guess what his Golden Birthday might include? While I agree that all my children’s birthdays are golden, I also think most kids (and I was one of them) like having one birthday they remember that was different in a special way for them. I think, I will borrow from a friend of mine with 9 kids (including one with a Leap Year Day birthday which brings its own set of issues) and select a particular year (she does age 7) to do the “golden birthday”. This avoids all the jealousy of those with very early birthday dates and very late dates and totally does away with the question of what to do about that February 29th birthdate.
8. Posted by Kathy on Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 6:08 PM (EST):
I’ve never heard of this “Golden Birthday” thing and I think it would be neat if your child’s birthday falls somewhere between the 5th or 6th and 13th of the month. My children are the 26th, the 30th, and the 31st, so they’ll all be well into adulthood before they get to celebrate their “Golden Birthdays”. I wish my family had celebrated this: my birthday is the 12th, my sister’s is the 13th, and my brother’s is also the 12th. In my family we made a little bit of a big deal about turning ten, because you now had your “double digits”.
9. Posted by Carolyn A on Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 6:15 PM (EST):
This is the first I’ve heard of a golden birthday. Mine and my husband’s are long gone and my son and daughter will likely be out on their own when theirs arrives.
10. Posted by Rachel Balducci [website] on Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 8:39 PM (EST):
Well, thanks everyone for your thoughts. The truth is we did make the same amount of fuss over this birthday as all the others—it’s not really about the amount of energy we put into the party or celebration as the fact that we talk it up BIG. It’s just special, that’s all.
I personally think it would be fun to have a Golden Birthday in my 20s or at 30/31. It would be an excuse to have a party!
11. Posted by Liz on Wednesday, Nov 12, 2008 9:23 PM (EST):
We talked up golden birthdays big time - I’ll never forget my ride in the giant rollerskate at the roller rink - so I thought everyone did them. Then my husband had his this past year and shrugged off my excitement… and my friends were no consolation as they had no idea what a golden birthday was! Too bad for all them - it was a fun tradition growing up 
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