Oz and I each have celebrated birthdays in recent weeks. Another year around the sun. We celebrate our existence by enjoying an annual party. We’re surrounded by family and friends. We sing. We blow out candles. We eat cake. We open presents. 

Birthday parties in movies can represent times of joy, humor, and transition. I present to you the unequivocal and inarguable list of Best Movie Birthday Parties. Don’t see a movie birthday party that you treasure? Then COME AT ME, BRUH in the comments below.

Buck gets stuck babysitting his brother’s three kids. With no parents available, Buck gives middle child Miles the best birthday he can pull off. This includes a stack of pancakes so large that Buck needs a snow shovel to prepare and serve them. After leading a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday,” Buck notices that hired birthday clown Pooter is wildly drunk. Buck demonstrates his commitment to the kids by punching a belligerent Pooter and kicking him out. From this point forward, Miles and his younger sister Maizy accept and trust Buck. The giant pancakes helped too.

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It’s Samantha’s sixteenth birthday, but she’s ignored because of her snide older sister’s wedding. After some WILD antics from an ensemble cast, Samantha is finally given her birthday dues by Jake Ryan, the HOTTEST GUY IN SCHOOL! He romantically waits for her outside of the church hosting her sister’s wedding and takes Samantha back to his house where a cake with sixteen perfectly lit candles awaits. Quite a swing going from having your grandparents comment about your “boobies” to having the HOTTEST GUY IN SCHOOL make you feel seen.

The Birds doesn’t have the most significant birthday party scene ever, but it has the scariest … and the unintentionally funniest. In the seaside community of Bodega Bay, mother Lydia throws an outdoor party for her daughter Cathy. Along with Cathy’s older brother Mitch and his paramour Melanie, the picturesque party is going well – until The Birds attack! Pouring out of the harbor, The Birds descend on the party, attacking children and adults alike! This moment established The Birds as a true threat to the community and beyond. 

Amongst the horror, a moment of unintentional humor stands out. In the midst of the attack, a little girl lies on her tummy, kicking her arms and legs while being pecked at by a Bird. Out of context, this moment is among my favorite GIFs. I am a terrible person.

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One of the best birthday gifts I’ve received was a record player from my wife. It’s a great gift that helps me better engage with music. I’m glad I’ve never received a birthday present like in The Game. Nicholas’s estranged brother Conrad provides an immersive experience that may or may not be real. The experience includes Nicholas being buried alive, having his wealth and home taken, discovering an acquaintance is working against him, accidentally killing his brother, and committing suicide by leaping from a tall building. Turns out it was all just The Game. Happy birthday!

While his corporate wife Miranda is at work, man-child Daniel throws a HUGE birthday party for his son. After breaking up the party that included farm animals, noise ordinance complaints, and no other adult supervision, Miranda decides this is the last of MANY insinuated straws and divorces Daniel. This sets off the plot of the movie that involves Daniel dressing in drag as Miranda’s housekeeper to stay close with his kids. At least Daniel got to dance to House of Pain’s “Jump Around” with a house full of twelve-year-olds.

It’s Damien’s fifth birthday! His parents, Robert and Katherine Thorn, are throwing a HUGE party at their lavish family estate. There are children everywhere as well as rides, carousels, puppets, members of the press, and even a roving rottweiler! As the party hits its climax, Damien’s nanny steps out onto an upper balcony ledge, gets everyone’s attention, and cries out, “Damien, look at me! It’s all for you!” She then ties a noose around her neck, leaps from the ledge, and kills herself as her lifeless corpse horrifically and gruesomely swings through a huge glass window. Aw!

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Although technically not a birthday party, Alice in Wonderland’s Un-Birthday Party still counts. Stumbling her way through Wonderland, our titular character Alice comes across two inane and nonsensical characters, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. Dancing around and spilling tea everywhere, they celebrate everyone’s Un-Birthday, as it is literally none of their respective birthdays. Deepening her confusion and disorientation, Alice eventually storms off after she can take no more of their bizarre antics. Although everyone loves a party, throwing the same party every day would quickly become redundant and Un-Fun. I’m sure the mushrooms helped.

What do you think? Did I miss a glaring example of a better on-screen birthday celebration? I doubt it. Sound off in the comments below and let me know which movie birthday you think deserves a spot on the list.