My whole family forgot my birthday

This happened for my 18th birthday! I was trying to plan a night out and all my friends either said they couldn't come or cancelled the day before. I was heartbroken. I remember crying on my birthday and feeling really sorry for myself. Then of course in the evening came and there was a little surprise shindig. Which was lovely, but mostly I remember being sad all day in the lead up to it.

Happy birthday OP😊

So funny, I was wondering who would be the first person to actually blame the OP, well done🤣

And if it’s 3 hours ahead in Bahrain he’ll be going to bed by about 8 or 9pm UK time probably.

Let’s hope once he sits down for dinner or whatever he remembers. Better late than never.

Don't you talk about it on advance with your DH about any plans?

I just wondered if this was going to be one of the many birthday posts where the poster says no one does anything, but doesn't set out their expectations.

If you've gone through life without expecting the people who are supposed to love you to say "happy birthday" to you on your birthday, that is incredibly sad.

We aren't card people either. My husband generally is working late on my birthday so there is zero expectation of anything being planned. A gift might be a wee box of chocolates or it could be something bigger and well thought out, and all that is absolutely fine with me.

But, if he hadn't wished me a happy birthday and it was well into the afternoon, I'd wonder what the hell was going on. Nobody should have to outline their expectations for that.

I would not be amused. Not by my parents and OH forgetting anyway. I’d be really hurt.

I’m not big on birthdays but an acknowledgement at least from partner and family isn't too much to ask.

I’d buy a cake but put it away (for later) in case they surprise you with one.

Happy Birthday!

I was talking to a guy once, I deliberately mentioned my birthday was coming up in a few weeks. I mentioned it a number of times. Hadn’t spoke to him for a few days and my birthday came and went with nothing from him. I didn’t even expect a gift just a text would’ve been enough.

He wondered why I cancelled our date and called it a day with him. Of course there was other reasons but that helped me decide.

Some women are ok with their partners forgetting their birthdays, I’m not!

I could see it wasn’t going to be a good match and I’d be forever begging him for things that I see as the bare minimum.

Happy birthday 🎈

What an incredibly low bar you've set for the people who are meant to love you the most in the world...

Yes that’s pretty crap to not even get a birthday text

This is for you @EmbraWumman

Would be mean to pretend you’ve forgotten though, even if a surprise is coming. Surely at least the husband would say happy birthday first thing.

You don’t expect your parents and husband to remember you birthday? Wow that’s a low bar

This is for you @Oopsadaisy92 !

Why is it always up to the person who's birthday it is to remind everyone in their family that it's their birthday. I mean surely they would remember having celebrated X number of birthdays for this family member before now? There isn't a limit on the number of birthday celebrations a person can have (unless they are terribly unfortunate and pass away).

I never quite understand the people who don't get that others like, for one day a year, to be remembered and that it's usually on their birthday.

From a personal perspective, I'd like someone to organise to take me out, rather than the other way around, to celebrate my birthday. But that's just me.

Firstly happy birthday.

My DH forgot mine one year, we were on a holiday and I got texts from friends and brother but no happy birthday from my DH.

It got to about 6.30 pm and I asked if he knew it was my birthday today. He came up with a story about getting no wifi on our cruise ship so he didn’t know the date and then he said the holiday was my present so he didn’t get me a card. I didn’t say a lot, I thought about forgetting his birthday but in the end did the minimum for him. I didn’t remind our adult DC and they didn’t buy him anything or give him a card. He was genuinely in pain and shock from this and hasn’t forgotten anything since.

Some people are very low maintenance about birthdays but it doesn’t mean they want it to be forgotten about altogether.

They just want a nice text or a phone call on their birthday or at most a very small gift and card, so they leave it down to people to sort things out without needing to be nattering about it weeks in advance.

It’s not necessarily something they’d talk about.

ETA: my point above remains true for many people but I’ve just seen that Op has been talking about her birthday leading up to it which makes things even worse in this scenario.

Happy Birthday 🍾🍸

Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉

My brother recently forgot my DC's birthday even after some hints on family WhatsApp. I am pissed off with the low effort level, can't imagine how annoyed I'd be about my own day!

If you are in the "shires" in the south east, I'll join you! 😆