We celebrate birthdays every year, but your golden birthday only comes once in a lifetime. It is a special day to celebrate traditionally with lots of gold-themed items. You can decorate by hanging golden balls, setting a golden snowflake dining set, or having a golden birthday cake or even gifts such as gold personalized necklaces. Either way, your options and opportunities to be creative are endless.
Even kids will love the idea of having their very own golden-themed birthday party. For moms, this would be one of the easiest birthday themes to plan and prepare. You only need to find gold-themed party items, and you’re set! Most importantly, you can reuse the golden decorations for other family members on each of their golden birthdays. You get to save both time and money with less effort.
What is a golden birthday?
A golden birthday celebration is when the day you were born matches the age of your birthday. For instance, if your birthday is on June 17, you will celebrate your golden birthday when you turn 17 years old.
This celebration is not a new fad. It began in 1955 with Joan Bramsch, who wanted to celebrate the golden birthdays of all her five children. This concept has spread to 88 different countries, and the tradition continues until today to those who wish to follow it.
A golden birthday is different from celebrating your 50th birthday (also known as your golden age). It can also be confused with commemorating 50th anniversaries (also called the golden jubilee). The gold theme in these celebrations might confuse others, so it’s best to note the differences.
This celebration will only happen once, so planning ahead to find gold-themed birthday items will make the celebration less stressful. Here are some must-haves to help make your golden birthday party up-to-theme:
1. Golden banner
The area where you set up the banner is very significant because it will be the background where most photo ops will occur. It needs to look grand and festive. You can find gold-themed decorations online, like a golden balloon arch, golden tinsel fringe garland, or some gold hanging pompoms to help make the banner pop out.
For golden birthday themes, banners are not only limited to the usual “happy birthday” greetings. To make it more unique and exciting, you can add phrases like “golden and beautiful” or “sparkles and shines wherever she goes.”
2. Dining in gold
Adding a touch of gold color to the dining table will help tie in the theme. You don’t necessarily need to buy food with edible gold. You can simply purchase gold-wrapped chocolates, golden cake toppers, gold cupcake holders, or use golden snowflake dinnerware and cutleries to add a touch of gold color to the table.
3. Gold candles
For adults celebrating their golden birthday, you can add a bit of sophistication to the decorations by placing gold candles on the table or in different parts of the room. You can light the golden candles at night for a more magical ambiance.
4. A bit of yellow
Not everything needs to be gold. You can play with colors and use the nearest similar shade, which is yellow. For some yellowish decorations, you can add yellow corn on the cob on the table, yellow party cups, or yellow banners if you can’t find any gold.
5. Dress up in gold
A golden birthday party is a great excuse to dress up in gold or anything that shimmers! Wear your favorite pieces of jewelry or shimmery clothes. It doesn’t even need to be gold-colored. It only needs to shine and sparkle to keep with the theme.
6. Light up the place
Golden sparkles don’t need to be seen only through party decorations. It can also be through the ambiance of the party venue. Adding soft yellow lights can make any night party venue look amazing and feel magical. A gold-themed party can transition from day to night with some fairy lights or disco ball strings.
7. Golden party favors
Nothing wraps up a great golden birthday party than by giving away gold-themed party favors. Some great ideas would be golden scrunchies, chocolates wrapped in gold foil, gold-wrapped candies, scented candles in gold tins, favors in golden boxes, or practically anything that shimmers.
Missed your family’s golden birthday?
It’s never too late. Tradition dictates that you can celebrate your ‘double golden birthday’ when you double your age. For instance, if you missed celebrating your child’s 17th birthday, they can celebrate it on the 34th birthday.
Have you missed that too? Then there’s the ‘platinum birthday’ that you celebrate based on the year you were born. For instance, if you were born in 1952, you can celebrate your platinum birthday when you turn 52.
Not every family celebrates golden birthdays, but any family can adopt the tradition and start whenever they want.
