Birthdays................

.Birthdaysin Scotland are.ajoyous occasion- for.children,teenagers and.adultsalike. Although.perhapssome older people.wouldprefer to forget.theirbirthday!

.Thedays and weeks before.canbring great excitement.inthe form of anticipation.ofpossible presents and.birthdaycelebrations. For.youngchildren these.celebrationshave changed.slightlyover the years although one thing stays the same. They celebrate withfriends or family and have a cake topped with the correct number ofcandles for their age. There is great excitement with the lighting ofthe candles, while everyone gets ready to sing the 'Happy Birthday'song. During this, the birthday girl or boy takes a deep breath andtries to blow out all the candles at once. If he/she is successful, awish that has been made is sure to come true!

Although some children stillhave the same conventional parties where 'party games' are played.Many now have 'theme' parties where they go with a group of friendsto play 10-pin bowling, have a swim, or book a hall to play footballin a 5-a-side tournament. If they decide to have a party thisgenerally takes place at home. Mum prepares nice things to eat likepizza slices, sausage rolls, sandwiches, crisps, sweets and juice.Prizes are bought and wrapped for the winners of the party games.Thereis a lot of laughter and running around. Whatever type of celebrationthe child chooses, one thing is sure- the child goes to bed happy,and content that their birthday, for them, wasspecial.

My Best Birthday Ever!