My Birthday Parties

I had a total of six parties at my house in Kulim. Five of the parties were birthday parties while the other one was a farewell party. My birthday is on 23 March. I had all the parties at my house as I did not like having it elsewhere. Usually, my grandmother would cook most of the food, and at the same time she would order some outside food. I would also order a big birthday cake from a bakery for every birthday party. My parents would travel to Kulim from Kuala Lumpur during every party.

Before 2005, I never had any birthday party. During my birthday every year, I celebrated it with my grandparents. Usually, my parents would also come to Kulim from Kuala Lumpur to celebrate with me. However, in 2005, I and my grandparents moved to a new house. One of my classmates was my neighbour. On 17 March 2005, she had a party for her birthday and I attended it. As a result, I wanted to have a party for my birthday as well. I had my birthday party on 26 March 2005 which was a Saturday. My mother photocopied the invitation cards and sent them to me. Initially, I planned to invite just 10 friends, but later this number increased to more than 30. Therefore, I had to make more photocopies of the invitation cards. More than 20 of my friends attended the party. However, as this was the first time I had a party, it did not run well. I tried playing hide-and-seek with my friends, but it did not go smoothly. Later, I decided to open the presents given by my friends. I was overjoyed when I received a toy car that required self-assembly. However, it was too difficult to assemble so I asked my friends to help. A lot of time was wasted on that, and by the time the party ended we were not successful in assembling the car.

On the following year 2006, I decided to have a birthday party again. This time, I asked my father to design and print the invitation cards. The party was on 17 March 2006. I invited a lot of people this time, including most of my classmates, one of my teacher and my mother-side relatives. Coincidentally, my relative who lived just beside my house would be having a wedding two days later. As a result, my uncle, aunt, cousins and father-side relatives were back in Kulim so attended my birthday party as well. A total of more than 40 persons attended my party. I managed to choose the exact same birthday cake as the one in the previous year. This party was much more fun than the previous one. I did not play hide-and-seek with my friends, instead we played board games such as chess. I received a lot of birthday presents.

In 2007, I wanted to have a birthday party once again. Initially, my grandmother opposed it because I would be sitting for the UPSR examination on that year, but she eventually agreed. My parents bought me a printer so I could print the invitation cards myself. I invited most of my classmates but not my relatives unlike the previous year. I had the party on 23 March 2007 which was the exact date of my birthday, since it was a Friday. For the first time, I prepared a piece of paper for my friends to sign their names. A total of 32 persons attended. I wanted to choose the same birthday cake like the past two years but it was no longer available, so I had to choose another one. During the party, I played board games with my friends.

In November 2007, I decided to have a farewell party after I and my friends completed primary school. I also wanted to celebrate my victory for getting 7A's in the UPSR examination. I had no time to print the invitation cards so I announced it in class using the blackboard. The farewell party was on 24 November 2007. This time, we used the catering service by Libra Cafe in Bukit Mertajam. Obviously, I did not order a birthday cake. It turned out that less than 30 of my friends attended and my best friend did not attend. I again let my friends sign their names on a piece of paper. For the first time, I let my friends use my computer. My friends did not give me any presents because this was a farewell party. However, the party did not go quite well. I wanted my friends to sing our graduation song together but they would not cooperate and they kept interrupting it. We wasted about 45 minutes because of that. Besides, the food provided by the catering service was not very tasty and there was a lot of waste.

In 2008, I was in Form 1 at SMK Sultan Badlishah. Most of my primary school friends studied at SMJK Chio Min instead. I again had a birthday party and I invited my primary school friends, using this opportunity to meet them. At that time, a few of them would sometimes come to my house to visit me. When they visited me, I gave them the invitation cards and asked them to distribute the cards to the others. I also invited a few friends in SMK Sultan Badlishah but none of them attended since I invited them only at the last moment. I planned to have the party during the holidays, but SMJK Chio Min was having exams after the holidays. Therefore, I postponed my party to 5 April 2008. Around 30 persons attended this party. This time, I let them use my computer. They copied some games and songs to and from my computer using their pendrives. They saw my brother playing a computer game and they liked it very much. However, I did not have that game on my computer so they could not play it.

In 2009 when I was in Form 2, I once again had a birthday party. Once again, I invited most of my primary school friends. I went to one of my friend's house and asked him to distribute the invitation cards to others. I also invited some of my Chinese friends in SMK Sultan Badlishah. The birthday party was on 4 April 2009. This time, 32 persons attended and 3 of them were from my secondary school. This party was quite similar to the one in the previous year. I had installed on my computer the game which my friends' liked very much in the previous year and they were really happy to be able to play it. I tried to introduce my secondary school friends to my primary school friends, but they weren't interested.

In 2010, I did not have a birthday party. I told my friends that it was because I wanted focus on studying for the PMR examinatien. In reality, that wasn't the actual reason. After my birthday party in the previous year, I realised something. Since I entered secondary school, I had made many new friends, but I never really appreciated them. Instead, I kept having the feeling that my primary school friends were more important. Thinking of that, I realised that I should have appreciated my secondary school friends more and that they were actually more important compared to my primary school friends. I also realised that my birthday parties would be meaningless without my secandary school friends. However, most of my secandary school friends were Malays and I couldn't invite them because I was unable to ensure that the food is Halal, unless I have my party at Pizza Hut or KFC which I did not like. Therefore, I decided not to have a birthday party on that year.

When I was in Form 4 in 2011, many of my primary school friends attended my grandfather's tuition class for Mathematics and Additional Mathematics. I attended his tuition class too, so I had the opportunity to be with my primary school friends again. As a result, I decided to have a birthday party on that year. My birthday party was on 16 April 2011 from 5:00PM to 9:30PM. I printed out the invitation cards and asked my friends who attended my grandfather's tuition class to help me distribute the invitation cards to my primary school friends in SMJK Chio Min. I also gave them a form to state whether or not they would be attending my birthday party. I also invited my Chinese friends in SMK Sultan Badlishah. My grandmother cooked the food for the birthday party. However, it turned out that only 23 attended my birthday party. Many who stated in the form that they would be attending my birthday party did not actually attend. Many of my friends also came quite late, around 6PM. During the party, unlike the previous years, they were less interested in playing computer games, instead they were more interested in singing. They used my computer to play songs while singing at the same time. This party was the least interesting of all due to the fact that very few attended and that made me feel quite disappointed.

I did not have a birthday party in 2012. Initially, I did think of having one since that was the last opportunity for me to have a birthday party, because on the following year I would have graduated from secondary school and I probably would not be living in Kulim anymore. However, I was disappointed by the fact that many of my primary school friends did not attend my birthday party in the previous year. Besides, I would be sitting for the SPM examination in November 2012 so I wanted to focus on my studies. In the end, I decided not to have a birthday party.