Posted by Josh on October 26, 2009 in General 
Buy a vowel or solve the puzzle? That’s right, long-time Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak turns 63 years old today. Sajak was born and raised in Chicago and was brought on as the host of Wheel of Fortune in December, 1981. He replaced the show’s original host, Chuck Woolery.
Wheel of Fortune is on Twitter! Stop by and wish Pat a happy birthday!
Posted by Josh on October 25, 2009 in General 
Following right on the heels of actress Salma Hayek’s party planning crisis, Hollywood has a silver-screen take on the same situation. In the movie Motherhood, which opens this weekend, Uma Thurman plays an insanely-busy mom who juggles kids, her marriage, dog, and a blog. The movie builds up to, what else, a birthday party Thurman’s character is throwing for her 6-year-old daughter.
iVillage interviewed Thurman, a mother of two, and asked her how her real-life self compares to the party-planning mom she plays on screen.
I get caught up in the birthday party situation. I had a pirate party for my son and I designed this cake myself. I drew it on a napkin: There’s a beach and the boat in the water and I had to get it right. And the baker used brown sugar instead of cookie crumbs to make the sand. So I produced this incredible birthday party under this pressure that my life depended on it, that my entire definition as a person depended on it that day. Cut the cake up, pass it around, and one boy turns to my son and says, “Brown sugar, that’s disgusting!” And my son, who I’d hyped up with so much effort, just fell apart crying. What the hell are you going to do about it? I try too hard. In the end, there’s all the hysteria, the desperate effort, that create an overdoing, so that makes someone else resentful, so that they to turn to a 6-year-old and say, “Your cake sucks.” Of course, I overdid it a bit. As my mother said, my name should be “Overdo It Uma.” I never feel like I’ve done enough.
Posted by Josh on October 24, 2009 in General 
If you’ve ever had your party plans fall apart at the last minute, you’ll appreciate this story. Actress Salma Hayek was trying to throw a birthday party for her daughter Valentina, who turned 2 years old this week. But just 2 days before the party, the woman Hayek had hired to arrange the logistics quit. “I invited the people, she knows the whole program and I have nothing.” Hayek told the Daily Express. “I said, ”I’m gonna do this, I’m taking over… I decorated it myself… I got the tables and the little chairs… All the stuff we cooked in the house.” Of course, being a celebrity does add certain complications — Hayek got into a full disguise to go shopping for pinatas and other supplies.
She had quite an escapade trying to find entertainment for the party too:
“And the worst part was I told Valentina that Barney was coming… and she was so excited… I tried to get a Barney and they told me, ”No, no, no, that’s illegal… They copyright him and it’s illegal to have a Barney.” And I”ve already told her (Valentina) and she’s so excited. I’d never do anything illegal but I was so desperate to make her happy that I did try to go into the black market… These are the things you do as a mother.”
“Right before, I finally got him and I said, ”Valentina, we got Barney, baby…” and she goes, ”Oh mama, I don’t like Barney anymore. I want Dora or Elmo…” We fired the illegal Barney and we got Dora… There are plenty of Elmos and Doras (and) they’re legal,” she added.
Posted by Josh on October 23, 2009 in General We write a lot about birthdays here — so we often write about cake (and we seem to have a particular affinity for red velvet cake). This post, however, is about cakes that aren’t made out of cake. Check out the gallery below for some pretty amazing (and creative) creations… just don’t eat any of them!
Posted by Josh on October 23, 2009 in General 
How do you wrap your birthday presents? For me, the Sunday comics have always been a good source of wrapping paper. However, if you don’t want to give the gift of Marmaduke and Shoe along with your present, wrapping paper manufacturers have a product for any occasion. Today, gift wrap is a $2.6 billion a year industry, according to the Hallmark company. And they should know! Hallmark claims to have created the modern gift wrap industry back in 1917.
Earlier forms of gift wrap certainly exist– and in Victorian times, gift-givers began to use elaborately printed sheets of paper to their gifts. However, in the United States, the convention was to use thin, plain or colored tissue paper. During the 1917 holiday season, so the story goes, the Halls Brothers’ store in Kansas City ran out of tissue paper. Instead, they got sheets of heavier paper, intended for use as decorative envelope liners. The improvised gift wrap was a hit, and the rest is history.
Read more the history of gift wrapping at Hallmark’s site. And if you’re an especially talented wrapper, put your skills to the test– Scotch, Inc has an annual gift wrapping competition with a $10,000 prize! And, after all the gifts are unwrapped, consider reusing or recycling your gift wrap. According to the Clean Air Council, shopping bags and wrapping paper generate an estimated 4 million tons of waste every holiday season!
Posted by Josh on October 22, 2009 in General Zac Hanson wasn’t even a teenager when he and his brothers hit the top of the pop charts in 1997 with their addictive single “Mmmbop.” But today, Zac — the band’s drummer — is turning 24 years old, is married, and has a 1 year old son!
Here’s a before and after shot of Zac back in his pre-teen idol days (he’s on the far right), and now, with his wife Kate.
Some things change, but others, well, they stay the same. Zac is currently on the road, touring with his brothers to promote Hanson’s new EP, Stand Up. A new full-length Hanson album will be released next year.
Posted by Josh on October 22, 2009 in Theme Thursday 
We’re less than a week away from opening day of the NBA regular season. What better time to throw a basketball-themed birthday party? I ran across an article today about perhaps the ultimate birthday party perk– the New Jersey Nets are offering fans the chance to have a Nets player show up in person at their party.
Here’s how it works:
For $25,000, the Nets are offering 4 courtside tickets for 10 games, parking, access to a private lounge at the Izod Center with free food and beverages and something more — a 1-hour appearance by a Nets player of your choice at your home, office, school or party.
“It will be interesting to have an NBA player come to your birthday party or come to your Bar Mitzvah or even just coming to your house for dinner for an hour when your friends are over,” Nets chief executive Brett Yormark said. “That’s a terrific thing and it’s tough to put a price tag on it.”
Of course, most of us can’t afford to hire Devin Harris (the Nets’ all-star guard). That means it’s time to get creative! Here are some neat basketball-theme ideas from birthdaypartyideas4kids.com:
Age / player invitation – On blank white note cards glue basketball trading cards or pictures of your favorite team using the player who’s jersey number corresponds with your child’s age. On the inside write – “Everyone is celebrating Johnny’s 9th birthday!”
Basketball Jersey – Another fun idea is to make a cutout of a jersey with cardstock. Draw a jersey on a piece of folded cardstock or a blank note card. Keep the top connected at the fold. Then color or paint the jerseys your team colors. For a jersey number place the age of your child and the teammates name who corresponds with that number – or your child’s last name.
Activities
Team Jerseys – buy tank tops and let the guests decorate them with fabric paint. Write their favorite players number on the front and their name on the back. If you buy two different colors the guests can use these to determine teams for a basketball game at the end of the party. (These would be great party favors!)
Check out the link for more ideas that will make planning your party a slam dunk!
Posted by Josh on October 21, 2009 in General 
The man best known for the awards that bear his name, Alfred Nobel was born on this day 175 years ago. In contrast to his famous peace prize, Nobel was a Swedish chemist, engineer, innovator, armaments manufacturer and the inventor of dynamite. However, when he wrote his last will in 1895, he left much of his wealth to the establishment of the Nobel Prize. Here’s a description of the prize from Nobelprize.org:
Every year since 1901 the Nobel Prize has been awarded for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and for peace. The Nobel Prize is an international award administered by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1968, Sveriges Riksbank established The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, founder of the Nobel Prize. Each prize consists of a medal, personal diploma, and a cash award.
Posted by Josh on October 21, 2009 in General Four weeks ago today we launched the More Birthdays Facebook page, and today I’m pleased to say we got our 1,000th fan. But more important than the number of people who signed up were the number of people who shared their thoughts, told their stories, spread the word, and helped shape the page every day. So if you haven’t yet, become a fan of the Facebook page now by clicking below, because while 1,000 is a good number, so is 10,000, 50,000…
Posted by Birthday Cate on October 20, 2009 in Birthday Cate 
A big “More Birthdays” shout out to the National Football League for its commitment to creating a world with more birthdays by raising the profile of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I have to say that I never expected to see professional athletes sporting pink cleats or arm bands, but what a kick (or should I say “catch”) last Sunday when I watched the games!
It’s all part of the NFL’s “A Crucial Catch” campaign, focused on the importance of cancer screenings, especially annual mammograms for women age 40 and older. As part of the campaign, NFL games throughout October feature players, coaches, and referees wearing pink game apparel to raise awareness about breast cancer, as well as on-field pink ribbon stencils and special K-balls and pink coins.
Seeing pink flying across the field, huddled up, and piled up made an impact on me. I’ll definitely remember it for a while. I’m also pleasantly surprised by the level of individual commitment. Players like Brett Farve, Drew Brees, Larry FitzGerald, DeAngelo Williams, Ladainian Tomlinson, and many more made a personal investment to bring this campaign to life. Most of them have a very personal connection to breast cancer just like the rest of us, but unlike the rest of us, they have a status in our society that makes their efforts particularly effective.
So many thanks to all of those involved in the NFL’s “A Crucial Catch” campaign. The attention it’s brought to the importance of breast cancer screening will surely contribute to helping us create a world with more birthdays. I hope they’ll continue their good work by joining us at morebirthdays.com.
P.S. All apparel worn at games by players and coaches and special K-balls and pink coins will be auctioned off at NFLAuction.NFL.com, with proceeds benefitting the American Cancer Society and team charities. According to the NFL, this is an issue that has directly touched the lives of so many in the NFL family, and they are committed to helping make a difference in helping people stay well from breast cancer.
P.P.S. Did you see pink flying across the field last week? What did you think?
