Birthdays are celebrated in many different ways, from a special meal or family gathering to presents, cards, outings, and surprise parties. A YouGov Daily Survey conducted November 23–28, 2022, asked U.S. adults about birthday feelings, traditions, birthday matches, and views on children’s celebrations. The results show that a birthday party does not have to follow one standard pattern: some traditions happen nearly every year, while others appear only occasionally or not at all.
Contents
- How U.S. adults feel about birthdays
- Birthday matches and shared celebrations
- The most common birthday traditions
- Food, activities, shopping, and singing
- Gifts, cards, and surprise-party preferences
- Views on effort in children’s birthdays
How U.S. adults feel about birthdays
The YouGov Daily Survey: Birthdays, fielded November 23–28, 2022, found a broad range of feelings about birthdays among U.S. adults. The largest single response was neutral: 47% said they feel neutral about their birthday. Positive feelings were also common, with 19% saying they love their birthday and 24% saying they like it.
Negative responses were less common in the same survey. Seven percent said they dislike their birthday, while 4% said they hate it. Taken together, the figures describe birthdays as an experience that is positive for many adults, but not universally exciting. For party planning, that range matters: a celebration can be meaningful without assuming that every guest wants the same level of attention.
Another detail concerns the calendar. Eight percent of U.S. adults said their birthday is on a holiday, according to the YouGov Daily Survey: Birthdays, November 23–28, 2022. That is a distinct scheduling circumstance from the general question of how people feel about birthdays, and it can shape how a person thinks about marking the date.
Birthday matches and shared celebrations
Some people share a birthday with people close to them. In the YouGov Daily Survey: Birthdays, November 23–28, 2022, 14% of U.S. adults said they have the same birthday as an immediate family member. Another 13% said they share a birthday with an extended family member, and 15% said they share one with a close friend.
Most respondents did not report one of those three matches: 59% said they have none of them. A further 7% were not sure whether they share a birthday with family or friends. These responses are separate descriptions of the survey categories, so they should not be treated as a count of unique people with any possible birthday match.
Among respondents who share a birthday with someone, the emotional response was especially positive. The YouGov survey reported that 41% love sharing a birthday, 32% like it, and 24% feel neutral about it. Only 2% dislike sharing a birthday, and 1% hate it. In other words, a shared birthday can turn a potentially crowded date into a reason for a joint celebration, but the survey still records a range of preferences.
The most common birthday traditions
Birthday traditions vary in how consistently they occur. The YouGov Daily Survey: Birthdays, November 23–28, 2022, asked U.S. adults whether they do several activities nearly every year, in some years, or in no years. The response patterns provide a useful picture of recurring birthday habits.
| Birthday tradition | Nearly every year | In some years | In no years | Not sure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Special meal | 40% | 42% | 13% | 6% |
| Time with family | 50% | 35% | 11% | 4% |
| Time with friends | 27% | 45% | 23% | 4% |
| Presents or cards | 41% | 39% | 15% | 5% |
Spending time with family was the most frequently reported annual tradition in this group: 50% said they do it nearly every year. Another 35% do so in some years, while 11% do not spend time with family on their birthday in any years and 4% were not sure.
Special meals were also common. Forty percent have a special meal nearly every year, and 42% have one in some years. Thirteen percent reported no years with a special meal, while 6% were not sure whether they had one. Presents or cards followed a similar pattern: 41% open them nearly every year, 39% do so in some years, 15% do so in no years, and 5% were not sure.
Time with friends was more often occasional than annual. Twenty-seven percent spend time with friends nearly every year, compared with 45% in some years. Twenty-three percent do so in no years, and 4% were not sure. For a birthday party, this suggests that a recurring family tradition and an occasional gathering with friends are both represented in the survey, without making either format universal.
Taking the day off work was less consistent than several of the social and food-related traditions. Eighteen percent of U.S. adults said they take the day off nearly every year, and 29% do so in some years. Forty-five percent do so in no years. The YouGov Daily Survey: Birthdays, November 23–28, 2022, also recorded 8% who were not sure.
Food, activities, shopping, and singing
The survey also covered outings and familiar birthday rituals. Going out to eat was reported as a nearly annual tradition by 31% of U.S. adults. Forty-nine percent go out to eat in some years, 16% do so in no years, and 4% were not sure. This makes restaurant meals a common occasional birthday choice even among people who do not make it an annual practice.
Fourteen percent do a birthday activity such as going to the movies or hiking nearly every year. Forty-six percent do an activity in some years. Thirty-three percent reported no years with a birthday activity, and 7% were not sure. The survey examples identify movies and hiking as activities; they do not establish a ranking between them or describe other activities.
Shopping was divided more evenly between occasional and absent. Fourteen percent go shopping nearly every year for their birthday, while 40% go shopping in some years and 40% go shopping in no years. Six percent were not sure. Compared with the other traditions in this part of the survey, shopping was less likely to be a nearly annual practice.
Singing “Happy Birthday” was a regular experience for some respondents. Thirty-four percent said others sing to them nearly every year, and 40% said this happens in some years. Twenty-two percent never have others sing “Happy Birthday” on their birthday, while 4% were not sure. The YouGov Daily Survey: Birthdays, November 23–28, 2022, measures reported experience, not whether respondents prefer the song.
Together, these figures show several layers of celebration. A person might mark a birthday with family nearly every year, have a special meal most years, and choose a movie, hike, restaurant visit, shopping trip, or singing tradition only in some years. The survey records each activity separately, so it does not show which combinations occur for the same individual.
Gifts, cards, and surprise-party preferences
Opening presents or cards is a recurring part of birthdays for many U.S. adults. In the YouGov Daily Survey: Birthdays, November 23–28, 2022, 41% said they open presents or cards nearly every year, and 39% do so in some years. Fifteen percent said they do so in no years, while 5% were not sure.
The survey also asked directly about surprise birthday parties. Thirty-three percent of U.S. adults said they would love a surprise birthday party, and 30% said they would like one. These are two distinct positive responses: the figures do not say that all respondents who would love a surprise party are different from those who would like one, and the supplied survey results do not provide the remaining response categories.
For hosts, the main point is that surprise parties are appealing to a substantial share of respondents, while a preference for surprise is not universal. The broader birthday results likewise show why a party format should fit the person being celebrated. Feelings about birthdays range from love to neutrality to dislike, and traditions range from nearly annual to absent.
Views on effort in children’s birthdays
The YouGov Daily Survey: Birthdays, November 23–28, 2022, asked U.S. adults how much effort parents put into children’s birthdays today. Thirty-three percent said parents put too much effort into children’s birthdays today. Forty percent said parents put in about the right amount, and 9% said parents put in too little. Eighteen percent were not sure.
The same survey asked respondents to think about children’s birthdays while they were growing up. Sixty-three percent said most parents put in about the right amount of effort during that period. Fourteen percent said most parents put in too little effort, and 13% were not sure. The supplied results do not include a separate percentage for the “too much effort” response to the growing-up question.
| View of parental effort | Children’s birthdays today | While respondents were growing up |
|---|---|---|
| Too much effort | 33% | Not reported in the survey figures here |
| About the right amount | 40% | 63% |
| Too little effort | 9% | 14% |
| Not sure | 18% | 13% |
These responses distinguish current perceptions from memories of childhood. The 40% who say the amount of effort today is about right is not directly comparable with the 63% who gave that response about their own growing-up years, because the questions refer to different time perspectives. They do, however, show that opinions about birthday effort are not limited to a simple preference for bigger celebrations.
For families planning a children’s party, the figures support a flexible approach. Some adults see current birthday effort as excessive, some see it as insufficient, and the largest current response says it is about right. The survey also shows that many respondents remember their childhood birthday effort as about right, while some recall too little effort and others are unsure. Those are opinions reported in the YouGov Daily Survey, not a measurement of party quality or a prescription for how any family should celebrate.