Birthday Gifts

The invitation stuck to the fridge says Saturday, and you have four days to work out what a 21 year old actually wants that is not another candle. Birthday shopping splits fast by who the person is and how well you know them: a dad who buys his own tools the day he needs them, a mom who insists she wants nothing, a boyfriend you have been dating two months, a woman turning 40 with strong opinions about everything.

Budget is the second question, and cheap picks matter as much as splashier ones for dads, moms, and the men and women in your life turning any age. When the date crept up on you, last minute gifts that still land are their own problem worth solving.

Parties are the rest of it. Themes and activities break out age by age, from a first birthday and a third that has to survive a dozen toddlers, through eight, eleven and fourteen, and on to the milestone years: 21, 40, 50, 60, 75 and 90. Older guests want food, seating and a reason to stay; nine year olds want something new to do every ten minutes.

And if you are mostly curious what a birth month says about someone, the facts and statistics run January through December.