My daughter always felt her golden birthday was a bit of a letdown because she was a toddler at the time. Even her “double golden” didn’t have her remembering anything more significant than dim memories of cake.

For anyone not aware, a golden birthday is a date when people’s ages match their birth date. Since it can only happen once, it needs a celebration.

The Golden Birthday has a few names. Perhaps you’ve heard it referred to as Champagne or Lucky Birthdays. The credit for the concept of a lucky birthday goes to midwestern author Joan Bramsch who gave each of her five children a separate “golden” celebration when their birth dates matched their ages. The concept was conceived in the 1950s and has grown beyond the St. Louis area. However, the festivities are named, the idea is the same. Make the once-in-a-lifetime date shine like gold.

For my children, we added a few golden items to their birthdays, like chocolate coins. We didn’t go completely off the charts. We wanted it to be memorable yet simple. There are ways to make celebrations special without adding additional stress.

There are many ways the preciousness of gold symbolizes a particular time and event. The Golden Hour is the magical time of day just after sunrise or sunset when the light is warm rose gold. A Golden Jubilee marks 50 years of wedding bliss or a 50th anniversary of the accession to the throne if you happen to be Queen Elizabeth II. Turning 50 years old is a golden birthday. How to celebrate each unique event is up to the individual.

If the golden birthday was missed because of infancy, set the calendar for the Platinum Birthday. That anniversary marks the person’s age with birth year. Everyone born this year will have their Platinum Birthday on their 21st birthday. So, anyone turning 21 on the 21st in 2021 is a triple threat. I hope there are people out there able to add a bit of golden charm to any festivity. Happy Golden Birthdays to all!