“I had a birthday party with my family and friends at a house, and Chipotle catered. It was beautiful.”
Ansel Elgort, Actor
Pros and Cons of Celebrating your Birthday
Many people out there take it for granted to celebrate their birthday with their favorite people by throwing a big party.
However, you could also just enjoy your birthday without all this stress and rather have a nice day on your own.
In this article, I will show you the pros and cons of celebrating your birthday so that you can better decide whether you should throw a birthday party or if you rather want to spend a relaxed day instead.
Contents
Advantages of Celebrating your Birthday
- You can celebrate with your favorite people
- You can invite old friends you haven’t seen for a long time
- You can get many presents
- You are the focus of all the attention for one day
- Birthday cakes can be delicious
- You can strengthen your network
- Birthday parties are socially accepted
- People may expect you to have a party
- Opportunity to escape from your worries for one day
- You can release pressure
- You can make many nice memories
- You can make sure that your guests have a good time
- You can become the party master
You can celebrate with your favorite people
One advantage of celebrating your birthday is that you can invite all your favorite people.
We all know that we are quite busy in our daily lives and often don’t have time to meet up with our friends after work.
Instead, we have to care for our families, do the household and work long hours to make enough money to cover our bills.
In turn, there will just not be enough time left to see our favorite people on a regular basis.
Consequently, birthday parties can be a great way to have one day where all of your friends come over to really celebrate that you guys are together.
You can invite old friends you haven’t seen for a long time
Throwing a birthday party also allows you to see many old friends.
For instance, if you have moved to a different city quite a long time ago, you may have lost contact with people who had been good friends in the past.
In such a case, you can invite those friends over to your home to make your birthday party also a reunion party.
In fact, it can be quite nice to see all those old friends again and you will be surprised how their lives have changed.
Quite often, you will sit together for quite a long time and talk about your favorite memories together.
You can get many presents
Another upside to throwing a birthday party is that you can also get many presents.
The more people you invite, the more presents you will get and if you invite hundreds of people, chances are that you will get a real load of presents.
Sure, the more people you invite, the more expensive your party will be.
However, it can still be exciting to see a mountain of birthday presents that are just waiting for you to get opened.
You are the focus of all the attention for one day
Not only will you get many presents if you celebrate your birthday, but you will also be the focus of attention for this one day.
Whether you like this or not also greatly depends on your individual character.
I personally don’t like all this attention.
However, if you do and want to be the center of the universe for one day, throwing a birthday party is a great way to get all the attention of your guests.
Birthday cakes can be delicious
You will also have a nice birthday cake to enjoy when you celebrate your birthday.
Good cakes are awesome and your birthday may be an occasion for you to order something really special from your favorite pastry chef.
You may just choose your favorite cake or let your pastry chef create a unique cake just for you.
Of course, the latter one will be quite costly since lots of time will be needed to create those masterpieces.
However, if you have the money and don’t mind spending it on special and unique things, getting a fancy birthday cake can be great for you and your guests will also be really impressed.
You can strengthen your network
Birthday parties are not only an opportunity to meet up with your favorite people, but they also give you the chance to invite your colleagues from work.
Even though you may not like those people that much, inviting them to your party can still help you strengthen your business network.
Your colleagues may keep in mind that you have taken the effort to throw nice parties for them and your chances for promotions may therefore increase significantly in the long run.
Birthday parties are socially accepted
Most people also just take it for granted to have birthday parties.
In fact, it is just the social norm rather than the exemption to throw birthday parties and to celebrate your birthday with your favorite people.
Hence, if you are a rather insecure person and want to fit into the social narrative, you may want to give a birthday party so that you stay accepted within your group of people you regularly hang out with.
People may expect you to have a party
Many of your friends may also just expect you to throw a birthday party.
In fact, the social pressure can be quite high to do so since your friends may have birthday parties as well and expect to be invited to your party as well.
This can cause plenty of emotional pressure and even though you might not want to celebrate your birthday at all, you may still do it due to the expectation of others and to make your friends happy.
Opportunity to escape from your worries for one day
Another benefit of having a birthday party is that you can also escape from all your worries for one day. We all know that life can be difficult from time to time and that we always have to deal with adversity.
However, this is just part of life and we somehow have to deal with it.
By throwing a birthday party, you can forget about all those issues for one day and rather spend a great time with your loved ones.
In turn, you may get additional energy to deal with your problems later and you may also be faster able to overcome them.
You can release pressure
Celebrating your birthday can also be a great way to release pressure.
You may have plenty of stress at work or also in your private life and may need a good party to get rid of all the bad energy that has built up inside your body and your mind over the past weeks or months.
Throwing a birthday party can be great in this regard since you can enjoy some drinks and talk to your favorite people who will encourage you to carry on.
In turn, you may become much more confident and willing to take on challenges in the future and will no longer be afraid of those things.
You can make many nice memories
Another advantage of having a birthday party is that you can also make many nice memories.
One day when you are old, you will look back at your life and remember all the things you have and haven’t done.
Consequently, you may also regret not have celebrated your birthday as often as you secretly wished to do but you will not have the opportunity to turn back the clock.
Thus, also make sure that you are really sure that you don’t want to have a birthday party since you may just regret it later in your life.
You can make sure that your guests have a good time
Throwing a birthday party can not only be quite a lot of fun for you, but it can also be nice for your guests.
In fact, many people not only want to have fun themselves, but they also want to make sure that their guests have a good time and can escape their stressful daily life for a while.
Hence, celebrating your birthday with your friends can also make quite a lot of sense for you in case you have an altruistic attitude towards life and just want to do good for others.
You can become the party master
If you are willing to put in the work and also to invest some money, your birthday parties can be really special.
Instead of having all the standard things, you can really stand out by ordering fancy birthday cakes or other dishes your guests will rarely have enjoyed before.
You can also decorate your home in a special way and have a theme party for your birthday.
The more time and money you put into your party, the better your party tends to be and if you are really willing to put in the hours for planning your party, chances are that people will talk about it for quite a long time and you will also become the party master among your circle of friends.
As you can see, throwing a birthday party can make quite a lot of sense.
However, there are also some issues that come along with it that I want to discuss for you in the following so that you can better decide whether you still want to celebrate your birthday or not.
Disadvantages of Birthday Parties
- Birthday parties can be expensive
- You have to organize a lot of stuff
- Some things may not work out as you want them to be
- People may invite guests you don’t like
- People may crush your party
- People may talk badly behind your back
- Organizing birthday parties is time-consuming
- Having many guests can be stressful
- Accidents may happen
- You have to clean up many things the day after your party
- People may not appreciate your work
- You may not have time for your guests
- Celebrating your birthday may become boring
- You may have too high expectations
Birthday parties can be expensive
One problem with having a birthday party is that those parties can be quite costly.
The more people you invite over to your place, the higher the costs will be.
Moreover, costs can also skyrocket if you want to have fancy meals and outstanding decoration.
Sure, you can also throw rather cheap birthday parties.
However, if you want to have something special, you will have to pay the price for it and you should make sure that you are financially able to afford it and don’t have to go into debt.
You have to organize a lot of stuff
You should also not underestimate the organizational effort that comes along with celebrating your birthday.
Not only do you have to invite many people, but you will also have to make sure that they get enough food, drinks and so on to make your party a success.
If you fail in the planning phase, you will likely not be able to make up for it once your party takes place and this means that you have to put in lots of work at this point in time to make sure that everything is organized well.
Some things may not work out as you want them to be
You should also not expect that everything works out as planned at your party.
While planning is important, there can always be things that prevent you from having a great party and you just cannot hedge against every risk that may come along with it.
Hence, don’t be disappointed if minor things don’t work out as you want them to since you may just not be able to enjoy your party that much with this attitude.
People may invite guests you don’t like
Another downside of having a birthday party is that people you don’t like may come over to your party as well.
Even if you only invite your favorite people, they may still bring some other people with them whom you often have to tolerate, even though you might not like them at all.
Consequently, also make sure that you are a little bit flexible when it comes to the people you will have at your party and don’t get disappointed if the guest list exceeds your inner circle of friends.
People may crush your party
If you are unlucky, there may also be people who may just crush your party.
This often happens if you are not careful regarding whom you invite to your home.
Not only may people ruin your party, but they may also mess up or even damage your home.
Consequently, choose the people you want to invite to your party wisely to minimize the risk in this regard.
People may talk badly behind your back
Even though you might have done everything to make your party a success, some people are never happy and will try to deal with their frustration by talking badly behind your back.
While this may not bother you if you are a confident person, you may become quite sad if you are not able to recognize that it’s their fault not yours.
Hence, also make sure that you have a stable mindset to ignore those haters and to ignore any negative comments about your party.
Organizing birthday parties is time-consuming
You should also not underestimate how much time it takes to organize a big birthday party.
Quite often, you will have to plan your party for weeks to make sure that everything is fine and that your guests can have a great time.
Hence, if you currently work in a job that requires you to work long hours every day, you may just not have the time to organize your birthday party.
Sure, you could also rely on a party planner to do all the work for you.
However, if you don’t rely on third parties, you may just not be able to spend enough time planning your party and may therefore just don’t celebrate at all.
Having many guests can be stressful
Another downside to celebrating your birthday is that you will always have to care about the well-being of your guests.
Quite often, you will barely have time to really talk to them since you will rather have to get food and drinks for your guests all night long.
In turn, while your guests may have a great time, you may just not be able to enjoy your party that much and may also have a high stress level since you want to make sure that everything works out as best as possible.
Accidents may happen
While most birthday parties will be nice, others can also turn into tragic evenings.
For instance, if serious accidents happen, your birthday party will be over immediately and everyone will remember your party for this unpleasant thing.
Moreover, you may also be even liable for this accident.
Consequently, make sure to take some safety measures to minimize the risk of serious accidents at your birthday party to guarantee the safety of your guests.
You have to clean up many things the day after your party
Another disadvantage of celebrating your birthday is that you also have to clean up a lot of things the day after your party.
While you may still be quite tired, there will be dozens or even hundreds of plates and glasses waiting for you to be cleaned.
This can take quite a long time and can also be really annoying.
Hence, if you are a rather lazy person, you may celebrate your birthday at a restaurant or don’t throw a birthday party at all.
People may not appreciate your work
While most of your guests will be grateful for the work you have put into your party, others may just not appreciate your efforts at all.
In fact, there are some people out there who can never be happy and try to deal with their own misery by bringing other people down.
Therefore, make sure not to invite those people over to your place to avoid any negative energy at your party.
You may not have time for your guests
Since you will have to make sure that everything is fine and that your guests will have everything they need, you may also not be able to have deep conversations with your friends but you will rather run back and forth all day long.
Even though you can do good for your guests, this may be a little bit sad since you may have had the expectation to spend more time with your favorite people.
Celebrating your birthday may become boring
We all loved birthday parties as kids.
However, once we get older, we have celebrated many birthdays and every birthday party feels kind of similar.
The more friends you have, the more birthday parties you will have the opportunity to attend and you may therefore be just fed up with all of this.
In turn, your motivation for throwing birthday parties yourself may be close to zero and you may therefore rather want to skip your own birthday and rather spend it in a different way instead.
You may have too high expectations
You should also not have too high expectations for your birthday party.
Minor things can always go wrong and you should just not be unhappy in case something doesn’t work out as planned.
Otherwise, you may just not be happy with your own party and there are not many things that could be sadder than that.
Top 10 Birthday Party Pros & Cons – Summary List
| Birthday Party Pros | Birthday Party Cons |
|---|---|
| You can invite your favorite people | Having a birthday party can be costly |
| You can reconnect to old friends | You may have too high expectations |
| Your friends can have a great time | Your guests may talk badly about it |
| You get many birthday presents | Birthday parties can be stressful |
| Can help you strengthen your network | Organizing parties is time-consuming |
| You can become the party master | You may have lots of pressure |
| All the attention is on you | Accidents may happen at your party |
| You can escape your worries for a day | Your guests may not appreciate it |
| Birthday parties are the social norm | People may crush your party |
| You can get a nice birthday cake | You have to clean up the day after |
Should You Throw A Birthday Party?
Now that you know all the advantages and disadvantages of celebrating your birthday, it is on you to decide whether you still want to throw a birthday party or rather want to enjoy your birthday in a more quiet and relaxed manner.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party#Birthday_party
https://www.mydomaine.com/best-adult-birthday-party-ideas-4788051
About the author
My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people of all ages about our environmental problems and how everyone can make a contribution to mitigate these issues.
As I went to university and got my Master’s degree in Economics, I did plenty of research in the field of Development Economics.
After finishing university, I traveled around the world. From this time on, I wanted to make a contribution to ensure a livable future for the next generations in every part of our beautiful planet.
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