Making the Happy Birthday Song Special All Over Again

Considering the fact that I moved away from my family and across the world three years ago, it isn’t often that I hear the happy birthday song on my birthday anymore. It’s a sad fact, but it’s something I’ve grown accustomed to—especially since I never particularly liked hearing it anyway. Some people love all of that attention on them when they’ve dressed up for their own personal holiday, but there’s something so awkward about the eyes of everyone in the room on you while they’re all simultaneously singing–for you. But this isn’t about me and my quirks, but about how you can take the once unique song, inject a few new ideas, and turn ‘Happy Birthday To You’ back into a special song!

The thing is that what was once a celebratory song sung to marvel over the birthday boy or girl is now a routine that everyone has fallen into.  If it happens to be your birthday, then odds are you are going to get a song. Especially if you’re dining out and inform the server that today is the day you were born some number of years ago, you’ll likely not only get a song but a small cake or ice cream. I wasn’t so lucky this year; although, I did inform my server that it was my birthday. (I had to in order to get my free birthday burger from Red Robin—I wasn’t just trying to “brag” that I was born on that day and they weren’t) I wasn’t expecting a song, that doesn’t seem to be in their ‘birthday code’; however, I was expecting my bill to be $12 lighter, to receive the mandatory birthday ice cream, or, at the very least, to not have to wait thirty minutes to pay for the bill. The eventual discount did come after I reminded the waitress, but unfortunately I had to endure the rest of that painful experience.  Where was the free dessert?

Mix the Happy Birthday Song Up

We have moved all over and my family is also from all over, so on my birthday—when I am with my family—I get to hear my happy birthday songs in three whopping different languages. It’s kind of cool, because with the mix of guests there’s always someone looking dumbfounded at what the language is or what’s being sung. Note: the dumbfounded look doesn’t always happen when it’s in English. Regardless of whether or not you know the happy birthday party lyrics in one language or six, there are a couple of ways to make the song more exciting or awkward. It really depends on your execution of it, plus a little prior choreography.

Firstly, you could look the birthday person right in the eye and maybe grab a spoon and use it as a microphone, if nothing else then this will hopefully gain you a smirk. For attention-grabbing tactics, make sure to add a nickname before you say their name (e.g. “Happy birthday, dear sugary sweet Darla”). For children’s parties, there are a couple of extended endings to the song, such as the one that begins with “and many more on channel four, and Scooby Doo on channel two”. There’s more to that, but I’m sure there’s a new, hip version out there somewhere so you needn’t waste your time learning the one from the 1990s.

Happy Birthday Song from a Distance

If you’re like me and your relatives and dear friends are far, far away, then you can thank the Internet for what I’m about to tell you. Firstly, there are a lot of websites for delivering flowers and chocolates and such, so if you know the address of whomever’s birthday it is, then sending them flowers is a sure way to make them feel extra special. Other than that, something my mom always does is send me a free happy birthday song she’d found online!I have finally stopped clicking the link now, but it’s still heartwarming that she goes through the effort every year.  Her choice of birthday song is usually The Chipmunks, unfortunately, but it is the thought that counts.

In the unlucky circumstance that you don’t have someone to e-mail you the song; additionally, you don’t have anyone to sing it to you; and your waitress is as useless as mine was, then you could go online and get a happy birthday song download. It really won’t be the same, but sometimes the happy birthday party lyrics are soothing enough. If this is the case for you, then make sure to film it and sing along to the happy birthday song, then subsequently upload it to YouTube.  Make that video unique enough that it goes viral and at least you’ll make some money off of all of the views.

written by Rebecca, birthday December 3rd

Tagged: birthday song, happy birthday, Rebecca, singing