The party CAMPUS CORNER

Christmas and New Year’s Day are undoubtedly, the most celebrated holidays of the year. Yet, when someone is asked about their most cherished day on the calendar, one always thinks of one’s birthday. While holidays like Christmas, Easter and New Year possess a general happy mood, birthdays are more close to the heart; It’s a personal occasion of celebration. It’s one’s own day; as if the day was made only for the one born on that day. This makes one feel so very special. In fact, wishing Happy Birthday brings forth a wider smile than a Merry Christmas. Friends would forgive you, if you forgot to wish them a Happy New Year (they understand, you must be busy partying), but forgetting to wish your friend on his or her birthday is a crime and considered illegal by the laws of friendship.

The gift need not be a huge or expensive gift packet from your end, a short SMS or Ecard is sufficient to make your friend feel special. And birthday surprises are the cherry on the cake. Who doesn’t like surprises in this world? It can be a surprise gift, a surprise visit or a surprise party. But keep in mind, surprises need a bit of prior planning. It also requires a bit of acting, sometimes particularly when you meet the birthday boy or girl on that day, and pretend not to remember about anything. Surprise parties or gifts need to be well hidden from the person concerned. For example, if you live away from your family or friends you can pay a visit on their birthday. For sure, it would make their day (or rather make their birthday).Make sure, they don’t get any idea beforehand; not even a hint.

When it comes to birthday parties, buy all the ingredients of your party few days before, book and decorate your venue ahead of time, and food should also ready right on cue. The birthday cakes, candles and gifts are a must. But all these should be done in secret. The venue can be also a surprise. One common idea is to decorate the birthday person’s office before they arrive for the day or their home before they return. Apart from that, a novel idea would be to blind fold the birthday guy and make them sit in a car (Yes! Sounds like kidnapping) and drive them to the venue, which could be a restaurant, a hotel or another friend’s place.

While deciding on the gift, try to recall something that the birthday person desired, but was unable to get up till now. For example, may be someone wanted to watch an old movie (their childhood favorite) for a long time but could not find the DVD anywhere. Do some research and find it for them. It can also be any dress that the birthday girl yearned for, every time she passed by a particular shop window. Or as an even more professional gesture make the birthday boy’s favorite barbecue chicken, which he believes only you have the magic recipe for. It can be just anything that the person longs for and is not expecting at all.