40+ Birthday Bummers That Ruined The Festive Mood
According to history, birthday celebrations started with the Egyptians. The earliest mention of a birthday happened 3,000 years ago, and it was about a Pharaoh’s celebration. Nowadays, birthdays are more extravagant, and people go all out to mark celebrations of one more year in this world. However, sometimes, birthdays don’t go as planned, and there are times when none of your loved ones even remember them at all. It can be lonely and sad, but the only thing you can do is grin and bear it and continue on your way. On this list, we had compiled for you 45 times when birthdays went horribly wrong, from people eating birthday cakes without permission and people having their birthday gifts stolen by unscrupulous postal workers. Read on, and you’ll find out that your last birthday wasn’t so bad after all.
#1 That was harsh, Facebook
One of the most popular social media handles nowadays, Facebook, lets you find and get in touch with people you haven’t seen for so long. Another value-added service from the media giant is reminding everyone that it’s someone’s birthday.
It also lets birthday celebrants know who wished them a happy birthday. Sadly, for this guy, things didn’t pan out the way he planned things. Or perhaps Facebook was just extra harsh that day. They had no qualms letting him know that nobody wished a happy birthday.
#2 Why throw away a perfectly good cake?
Our first thought when we saw this photo was who in their right mind would throw a perfectly good cake, a birthday cake at that? They didn’t even get permission from the birthday celebrant if they could do this terrible deed.
Even if it’s not anyone’s birthday, you shouldn’t throw out delicious food. Think of other people in the world who don’t even have anything to eat. We feel for the birthday boy who wasn’t even able to bring his cake home.
#3 When even your parents forget it’s your birthday
How unlucky can one person get? Or does this guy’s parents and friends not love him enough that all of them forgot that it’s his special day? This has got to be one of the most heartbreaking things to happen to a person.
We figure most people would be crying if they had to go through it, but he mustered up the courage to celebrate his birthday even if he was alone, and there’s no better pick-me-upper than a tub of your favorite ice cream. But why the glass of milk, though?
#4 A gift of shattered dreams
To say that this guy’s birthday isn’t going well is an understatement. His mother got him a TV, which was thoughtful of her, for his birthday. However, something went wrong during the delivery process by FedEx. And by wrong, we mean terribly wrong.
He got one of the most unpleasant surprises of his life when he opened his package and found out that the LCD has plenty of cracks on it. There’s no point even trying to turn it on because we’re pretty sure it won’t. Hopefully, he got a replacement or his money back.
#5 This is how they show they care?
We trust our local postal service to take care of our packages and deliver them to the right person in a timely manner. We expect the last thing from our postal workers is crooks trying to steal our things in the mail.
Well, that’s what happened to this guy. His poor G Mom sent him some money with his birthday card, and let’s just say only the birthday card made it to his hands. The postal workers didn’t even do a subtle job of stealing the money. They just tore the card!
#6 We wonder how a saliva cake tastes
This either has to be one of the cutest or grossest things to happen to someone’s birthday cake. Children can be so darn cute, but sometimes they just do the most unexpected and unpleasant things, such as spitting on the birthday cake.
Look at all the spit! We’re pretty sure this changed the cake’s flavor from chocolate to something else we’d rather not taste. Perhaps next time, it’s better to give children a little cupcake with a candle on it. But we are sure this cake won’t go to waste!
#7 We didn’t know there was such a day
First of all, we didn’t even know that there was such a day as World Toilet Day. We know that people sometimes just want to celebrate days that seem insignificant to most, but this has got to be the weirdest.
Sure, they are helpful, but an entire day just to celebrate toilets? This person was very unlucky that his birthday fell on the same day as World Toilet Day. Now we know what kind of cake to give him on his next birthday.
#8 This was pretty much how most of last year’s birthdays went
2020 was the year people were encouraged to stay home and not mingle with others. That was excellent news for introverts. However, it did have one downside, and that was that we couldn’t spend our birthdays with the people we love.
We couldn’t even eat out! We had to make do with ordering food and having them delivered to our place. This guy’s 2020 birthday was pretty much how most other people’s birthdays went. He celebrated it alone, but at least he got the whole cake to himself!
#9 At least the dogs had a bite
If you have pets at home, you should ensure that all food is out of their reach. This is also a reminder to ensure that all lid covers for food containers are secured and tight. You wouldn’t want your pets having first dibs on your food.
Perhaps amidst the excitement of her birthday, this birthday girl forgot to put the lid back on her birthday cake. Somebody spent 2 hours making it, but only the dogs were able to eat it. The more troubling thing is that it was chocolate cake, and we all know that dogs shouldn’t be eating chocolate.
#10 Ice cream cake has to be in the freezer
We all know ice cream has to be kept in the freezer, or else it will melt. The fact that ice cream cake has the words ice cream in it should already be a good clue that it needs to be frozen unless you want a cake that completely looks like mush.
This person, however, didn’t know that and bought himself an ice cream cake. He put the ice cream cake in the fridge and was surprised when the cake had already melted the next time he opened the fridge. How unlucky can you get?
#11 What would you do if this happened to you?
Aside from not getting exactly what was advertised, one of the worst things that could happen to your order is getting them in a sad and sorry state. This birthday guy happened to suffer through that when he ordered a birthday cake.
Yes, he did receive the birthday cake, but it was no longer as pretty as it was in the picture. The top layer was almost falling over, and the filling between layers was all over the place. We just hope it still tasted good.
#12 Who is responsible for this?
If we received this card and knew what was supposed to be on the card instead of this message meant for the delivery guy, we’d be the first to complain. Who screwed this up, and how can this be screwed up so bad?
If you read the message, you’d be wondering if it was the right one. Who in their right mind would write a birthday message on the card like this, which could be seen as hurtful to said 91-year-old mom? Hopefully, she laughed it off.
#13 Do you want your cake melted or solid?
If your favorite candy is not available where you currently live, the best advice we can give you is not to ask friends and family to send it to you by mail, especially if you know weather conditions will have a huge effect.
This guy found that out the hard way when his mother sent him a care package containing his favorite, Milk Duds. The heat in Los Angeles melted it, and looking at it; we doubt if it’s even a good idea to eat it.
#14 That’s one smelly house
Pets make our life more interesting, and they give our homes more love than we could ever ask for. However, at times, they also give us headaches. We have nothing against their inquisitive nature, but sometimes they do the darndest things.
This person was about to celebrate his birthday the very next day, and his pet doggo thought that the best way to start his birthday with a bang was to get sprayed by a skunk before going to bed. We’re not sure what the guests are going to say on the day of the party.
#15 You can just buy a cake from the bakery
Baking addicts and enthusiasts love to bake for others and themselves, and during special occasions, you can be sure that they will take out their mixers and whip up something yummy for everyone for dessert. These are our favorite desserts by far.
This person thought that it would be a good idea to bake her very own birthday cake. However, things didn’t go her way and what you see in the photo above was the result. Well, there’s no use crying. You just order a cake from the nearest bakery.
#16 Whose cake got left behind?
Birthday cakes first made their appearance during the Middle Ages in Germany. Each year, the child would receive a cake and a candle for every year of their life, called Kinderfest. We have certainly come a long way since then.
Nowadays, even adults get birthday cakes, and there are more flavors and varieties to choose from. However, this unlucky birthday celebrant didn’t even get to see her cake. It was left behind in a grocery cart. We’re sad for this kid.
#17 The best and worst of birthdays
Nowadays, pictures are necessary, whether you are on vacation, having a meal with friends, or celebrating someone’s birthday. Without documentation, it simply did not happen. So, when this guy was celebrating his birthday, people naturally whipped out their phones when the cake arrived.
They wanted to take pictures of the birthday boy, as well as his birthday cake. However, one of his friends dropped his phone on his cake, and the result was pretty much a disaster. We wonder how the cake tasted after the phone was dropped on it.
#18 the guy who stole the cake must have been hungry
Some people steal out of necessity, and some just steal because they feel like it. But stealing someone’s birthday cake? That has got to be one of the lowest of the lows. You could just ask for a bit if you are hungry.
This professor was supposed to have a birthday cupcake, but sadly it vanished because someone got their dirty hands on it. He left it in his room for a short time, but when he came back, it was missing. We hope the person who stole and ate it ends up with a stomach ache.
#19 We hope they got insurance for that boat
Some people love being by the ocean, and there are studies to support that being near water makes people a lot happier, and we tend to agree with that. This guy went out with his dad on his birthday, and they were on his dad’s relatively new boat.
We say relatively because it was only the second time that they had taken the boat out. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned, and on his birthday, the boat sank, and they ended up on a rock. We hope they took out insurance for it.
#20 Too many doughnuts
Birthdays are best celebrated with family, friends, and people you love. This woman was going to celebrate her 20th birthday, and she wanted to celebrate it in the office with her colleagues. So, she bought 60 Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Yum!
We want to get our hands on one of those doughnuts. After making sure the doughnuts were ready for her to bring to the office, she was told that she had to self-isolate for the whole week and work from home. Now, how is she going to eat all that deliciousness?
#21 We hate you, Whole Foods
Established in 1980, Whole Foods is one of the most recognizable names out there as far as supermarket chains go. Aside from fresh produce and other grocery items, Whole Foods also sells cakes. Yup, cakes that are ready to eat.
This family orders a birthday cake to be delivered to their home for their beloved mom’s birthday. However, something must have happened along the way to their house because when they opened the box, the cake’s aesthetic was pretty much ruined.
#22 Sometimes we just hate older brothers
Older brothers are supposed to protect you and be your guardian, but sometimes they can be a pain in the you-know-where. Sometimes, they seem to enjoy making life a living hell for younger brothers. This is an age-old tradition, of course.
A case in point is this guy who bought himself a birthday cake, and it looks like a cheesecake. Before he even celebrated his birthday, his older brother already managed to eat half of the cake. Just look at that!
#23 You should watch over the kids at parties
Children will always be children. They just can’t help it, and when you’re with them, you better be on the lookout because they might just do some of the most unexpected things. A children’s party can be raucous but fun.
But it can also end up in a disaster. This lady’s son was invited to a birthday party, and when no one was looking, he lunged for the birthday cake and ate all of it. Look at him lying on the grass with cake on his face!
#24 Where did the icing go?
The icing on the cake, it’s often used to refer to people or things that are attractive but are an inessential enhancement. However, when it comes to birthday cakes, icing is necessary. It makes the cake look better and, in our opinion, tastes better too.
However, when this guy’s birthday cake was delivered, they noticed that the icing vanished. It ended up sticking to the cake box, and the cake ended up looking very plain and uninviting. In a word, it was ruined. This is why wax or parchment paper is necessary between the box and the cake.
#25 Celebrating a birthday all by himself
2020 was a memorable year for all the wrong reasons. We all had to stay at home, and our daily lives were disrupted. But this guy made the best of his lonely birthday situation and made it a memorable one.
He was the only one who turned up on his birthday, so he blew up some balloons and made them his guests to make things less lonely. At least he found some humor in the situation and took a funny photo to commemorate the day.
#26 Well, that’s a bummer
Aside from cakes and candles, one of the most ubiquitous things you will see during birthdays and other celebrations are balloons. A party just isn’t a party without them. This person bought balloons for a child’s birthday thinking the same.
However, they got caught on the rose bushes, and one of them ended up with a hole, and when they were brought in, one of the balloons got deflated. We just hope that the birthday girl didn’t throw a tantrum after seeing this.
#27 If you baked for four hours, you’d do the same thing
Baking is therapeutic, but when things don’t go your way, you could also end up tearing your hair out over it. This lady spent 4 hours cooped up in the kitchen baking a cake for her BBQ birthday party. However, she ended up dropping the cake on the kitchen floor.
This meant that the cake could no longer be served to guests. Well, she wasn’t going to let something as little as that ruin her special day. So, she sat on the kitchen floor and proceeded to eat all her chocolate birthday cake. We like her attitude!
#28 She can’t read but she knows something is wrong
This little girl can’t read yet, but if you look at her face, she looks like she knows something is wrong with her birthday cake. Instead of saying, “Happy birthday, Lizard,” her nickname, the cake said, “Happy birthday, Loser.” Poor baby!
This is why it is always good to send the baker an SMS about what you want to put on the cake. You don’t want any misunderstanding, especially if the person on the end of the phone is hard of hearing.
#29 What would you do if this happened to you?
This guy was celebrating his birthday in the office, and someone bought him a birthday cake. The cake was for him as his name was on it. However, one of his colleagues had the gall to cut the cake first.
Yup, the cake was cut without anyone’s knowledge in the break room. It wasn’t even cut nicely. We think that only a psychopath would cut a cake this way. Someone in the office must hate him so much, and this was their way of showing it.
#30 It’s not a very good morning
One of the best things to have in the morning, whether it’s your birthday or not, is a cup of joe. We love the aroma of coffee in the morning, and it’s the perfect thing to perk you up and get you ready for the day ahead.
However, this guy’s morning coffee on his birthday didn’t go as planned. He ended up with dirty counters and dirty floors. We can’t tell what went wrong with his morning coffee, but there are coffee grounds everywhere in any case.
#31 Well that’s unfortunate
AirPods are not cheap; they cost over $200, but they make good gifts for people who own and love Apple products. This guy thought it would be a good thing to get himself AirPods for his 30th birthday. He was quite excited, as you can imagine.
He only got to use them for a few days because he ended up losing them. He was still paying them on installment and what he got left now is only the box. That’s one expensive box if you ask us.
#32 We wouldn’t call that a cake
We wouldn’t dare call this a cake because it looks like something else, something we wouldn’t even attempt to put near our mouths. It looks like a stone with candles on top of it. The cake is not even the saddest thing about this photo.
The saddest thing about this photo is that his parents gave it to him on his birthday. They couldn’t even give him a store-bought cake. But he needs to look at the bright side, it has fewer calories, and it won’t get spoiled.
#33 Next time, just buy a cake
Making something from scratch, whether it is DIY furniture or baking a cake, is rewarding. It shows that your hands can create something out of nothing. It also shows that you have the effort and determination to see something through until the end.
This person wanted to bake a cake for someone’s birthday and was excited to start whipping butter, flour, and other ingredients together. However, she wasted the cake because it ended on the floor, along with the baking dish. Maybe next time!
#34 That’s a lonely birthday
Here is one more photo proof of birthdays last year or a very unlucky and unlikable guy people didn’t want to celebrate. Look at him, lonely and in despair because no one showed up. This one has us in our feels.
Luckily for him, he had two balloons at home, which served as his guests of honor. We’re wondering where the rest of the food is, though. We just see a half-eaten cake. And we have a feeling that someone ate that half alone. Or maybe the photographer got in on it too.
#35 He doesn’t look very scary to us
Look at the little guy running away, and we could almost hear him telling his mother not to let the huge lion get him. This has got to be his first trauma ever, and the bad thing about it is that it was his birthday party.
That’s not quite the reaction people were expecting, and everyone was laughing out loud when the kid starting running away from the mascot. Say what you want about this party, but one thing is for sure, it was not uneventful.
#36 He’s scared out of his pants
If we didn’t know any better, we’d think that the photo below was a recreation of the photo on top. You know those photos from their childhood that people like to recreate after a few years have passed? Yeah, one of those.
The child is seriously scared out of his pants. He doesn’t look happy at all, and if he could have things his way, we’re sure that he’d like to drive away, never come back, and forget about this unfortunate day. For some, birthday safaris are not the best idea.
#37 We’re not sure if this social distancing or inviting imaginary friends
This man said that he was socially distancing during his birthday, but not how you would think. We aren’t quite sure if no one showed up for his birthday or the only people he invited were imaginary friends. Looks like he made the best of it.
So, as you can see, he is all alone, and he’s going to have all the food to himself. We love the décor, though; he put a lot of thought into making sure he had birthday hats and balloons. The décor can still be recycled for this year.
#38 Another lonely birthday
If you haven’t seen enough lonely birthday photos, we have another one for you. This guy’s birthday last year was similar to most other people’s birthday, lonely and quiet. If you think it’s all bad, there were many upsides to these quiet birthdays.
There was no need to spend a lot of money to buy food for everyone to eat, and there was no need to decorate either since no one showed up. Birthday celebrants last year also got to keep all the cake for themselves.
#39 That doesn’t look like a pan of brownies
The first brownie ever made, like most foods, came about by accident. The person baking didn’t have baking powder, so he ended up with a fudgy, unleavened treat. We’d like to thank that guy because we wouldn’t have known just how good brownies are without him.
This guy’s mom decided to bake him a pan of yummy brownies. However, his son insisted on carrying it on the way home, and when they reached home, the brownies turned into something else. Did his son just step on the brownies?
#40 Another forgotten birthday
A forgotten birthday is a sad birthday. If this happens to you, it’s either you’re very unpopular, or everyone else is busy with their own lives. We don’t know which category this guy belongs to, but no one remembered his birthday except one person.
That person also happened to have the same birthday and gifted him with a used pen. He should keep the pen because it’s quite thoughtful. The pen is a remembrance of a birthday that was sad and sweet at the same time.
#41 No one showed up to his birthday
This guy’s birthday is sad because not one person invited even cared to show up. The restaurant is ready, and the table is ready, but it sat vacant the whole night, except for the birthday boy. Another cringey moment we don’t wish on anyone.
This is just plain rude, especially when the birthday boy already paid for everything ahead of time. How is he going to devour all the food meant for his birthday? Perhaps he can take them away and just give them to people on the streets.
#42 She ruined her birthday cake
It’s always a good thing to get pleasant surprises during special occasions such as birthdays. If someone bakes you a cake from scratch for your birthday, you can tell that the person loves you. Otherwise, they wouldn’t spend their time, energy, and effort baking you a cake.
This lady’s thoughtful husband baked her a cake, and to keep the cake safe from the dogs; he put it in the oven. However, she didn’t; know about it, so she ended up turning the oven on, and the result was disastrous. She ruined her surprise cake!
#43 We have this guy’s family
This is one family we don’t want to be a member of. Who eats random cakes in the freezer when it wasn’t offered to them in the first place? And if you see a cake in the fridge, isn’t that a clue that there’s a special occasion?
This guy bought himself a birthday cake and put it in the fridge. Obviously, the rest of the family saw it when they opened the fridge, but they didn’t even care to ask. They just proceeded to devour the whole thing.
#44 The unluckiest birthday ever
This guy has got to have the worst birthday ever on this list. Not only did no one come for his pizza birthday night, but the power also didn’t seem to agree with him either and went out the entire night. He also gifted himself with a twisted ankle.
He was trying to get down the stairs, and because there was no power, he couldn’t see properly. Now he is trying to entertain himself by playing music on his guitar while nursing an injured ankle—way to go. Happy birthday, man.