The British
Birthday Breakdown

Birthdays – reason to celebrate or a time to commiserate? Whilst some of us love to go big on our birthdays (hello week long celebration in our honour!), others prefer to shun their special day altogether, even preferring to lie about their age as the years clock up. So how does the UK really feel about getting older? We surveyed 2,000 Brits and quizzed them on all things birthday related.

Here’s what we found

According to our research 39% of us intend to stop celebrating our birthday with 1 in 4 confiding that they don’t like the stark reminder of getting old. We also found that more men (33%) than women are choosing not to celebrate their special day women (22%).

Interestingly Brits plan to stop celebrating their birthday around the age of 37, which funnily enough is around the same time they admit to starting to lie about their age. But who is hiding their real age the most? It’s men! With 20% admitting to having pretended to be younger than they are compared to just 17% of women.

How do you feel about your own birthday?

Congratulations you’ve made it another year! But how do you really feel about your birthday? Does the mere thought of your birthday fill you with dread or are you excited about celebrating another year older with your friends and family? Asking people from up and down the country, we found out just how the thought of turning another year older makes you feel.

Excited
Stressed
Upset
Happy
Anxious
No feeling in particular

Moments that Matter

Sometimes there are things in life that come around once in a blue moon like a new baby or celebrating a job promotion. But, do we value these more than our own birthday? Interestingly 50% of people surveyed thought a job anniversary was more important than their own birthday. However, we’re not complete party poopers it seems, as only 13.5% said that someone else’s birthday would be less important than their own with 86.5% giving someone else’s birthday the same or more importance than their own. What percentage ranked these occasions less important than our own birthday:

Job Anniversary

50.2%

Valentine’s Day

46.9%

Hen/Stag Party

34.5%

Weight Loss

34.3%

Baby Shower

29.9%

Christening (or other religious ceremony)

24.2%

Mother’s/Father’s Day

23.5%

Promotion

22.3%

Passing Exams

17.1%

New House

15.5%

Wedding Anniversary

15.5%

Someone else’s birthday

13.5%

Christmas

11.9%

Engagement

10.4%

New Baby

9.9%

Birthday Wishes

Birthdays are celebrated in many different ways, from cards and presents to surprise parties and weekend getaways. We found that 37% of our birthday celebrations go on for 2 days or more (well why not!?).

On average two thirds of us will receive between zero and two phone calls for their birthday, whereas each person will receive over six social media messages wishing them a ‘happy birthday’. Interestingly Londoners say they’ll receive four phone calls on their birthday, double most other regions and they are twice as likely to be surprised with a bouquet of flowers too (lucky them!).

We spoke to an expert on Organisational Psychology and Interpersonal Relationships, Dr Daniel Farrelly from The University of Worcester to find out exactly why we celebrate birthdays and the benefits these milestones have on us as human beings:

Dr Daniel Farrelly, Senior Lecturer, University of Worcester

There are a lot of interesting and often quite surprising findings here, which reveal a lot about the role of the ritual of giving and receiving birthday gifts in our modern world. Humans are a very social species, and vital to this is our ability to live and work with each other. Part of this process of cooperating with others is making sure these friendly collaborations are maintained regularly, this is where the ritual of giving gifts becomes essential to our social lives. Even if we place less importance on birthdays, it’s clear that milestones and major life events (such a promotion or the birth of a baby) are still considered worthy of celebration.

Also, we can see the way in which we share the love around birthdays has changed, for example we receive more social media messages. Even though we might think of these as quite basic and meaningless, they still create the same glow and happy vibe that more substantial gifts can do. So, although fashions, culture and technology may shift around these rituals, they will always be there in every corner of our lives, as they are part of the rich tapestry of what it is to be human.

Whether you want to send birthday flowers or are already thinking ahead to those special moments in 2020, we’ve got flower delivery covered.

Designed by expert florists and curated by us, our range of hand-crafted bouquets includes Valentine’s Day flowers as well as anniversary and Mother’s Day flowers, to help you find the perfect gift.

Data Methodology: Nationally representative survey of 2000 UK adults conducted November 2019 using OnePoll.

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