nikki tate and dani tate-stratton Blow out your candles and make a wish for the upcoming year Remember to keep your wish a secret Getty Images 6
Introduction Nikki’s fifth birthday party featured pony rides for all the guests Helga Williams In our family birthdays have always been eagerly antic ipated and considered to be a great reason to celebrate We’ve lived studied and traveled in many countries and our relatives come from Germany the United Kingdom Japan Sweden and Italy Over the years we’ve enjoyed borrowing birthday traditions from many different places and had a lot of fun inventing ways to celebrate that are unique to our family A few years ago my daughter Dani organized a memorable surprise birthday party for me With so many friends and family gathered in one place it was inevitable that we shared memories of other birth days We talked about birthday camping trips the year we held a murder mystery party and the time there were pony rides We’ve stayed up late watching movies at sleepover parties played classic North American games like Pin the 7
nikki tate and dani tate-stratton Dani attended a friend’s fourth birthday party that had a country and western theme complete with costumes Helga Williams Tail on the Donkey Hot Potato and Pass the Parcel and feasted on treats like cake ice cream hot dogs and potato chips I love to dress up in costumes and have been known to show up at parties dressed as a pirate a fairy or a clown Memories of fabulous past parties were a source of inspiration for this book We wondered if birthdays affect other families in the same way How much does where you grow up influence the way you celebrate getting a year older Have people always celebrated birthdays The more we investigated the more we learned there’s a lot more to birthdays than cake presents a few games and perhaps a goody bag We discovered there are as many ways to observe birthdays around the world as there are places in which to do it We found birthdays involving bullet ants red eggs flour throwing door knob polishing and horse racing Maybe next year we’ll be asking our friends to wish us saeng-il chukha hae Happy Birthday over bowls of miyeok-guk seaweed soup How will you celebrate the start of your next year on Earth 8
running head Papel picado cut paper banners indicate a celebration such as a birthday is in progress AugustineChang iStock com 9
