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* The song "It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want to": The birthday girl discovers her boyfriend snogging another girl. She's not happy about it.
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* The song "It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want to": Party" by Lesley Gore. The birthday girl discovers her boyfriend snogging another girl. She's not happy about it.
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* Diane of ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'' celebrates her birthday with her husband Mr Peanutbutter. She comes home at the end of the day saying what a perfect day it's been, that anything more would be "too much". and all she wants to do now is crawl into bed and go to sleep. Unfortunately, Mr Peanutbutter has arranged a ridiculously over-the-top surprise party for her, which starts a fight while the would-be guests try to come up with excuses and sneak out. It's precisely as awkward as it sounds.
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* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation:'' Leslie thankfully takes care that Ron's actual birthday party is to his liking (meaning completely alone with a prime steak and his favorite movies), he ''does'' mention an instance we don't get to see of an attempted surprise birthday party his ex-wife Tammy set up for him. It went so wrong it didn't even get ''started'', because Ron saw people hiding in his house and called the cops on everyone.
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* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation:'' ''Series/ParksAndRecreation''
** "Eagleton": Leslie thankfully takes care that Ron's actual birthday party is to his liking(meaning completely (a quiet evening alone with eating a prime nice steak dinner, drinking his favorite whiskey, and watching his favorite movies), he ''does'' mention an [[NoodleIncident instance we don't get to see see]] of an attempted surprise birthday party his ex-wife Tammy set up for him. It went so wrong it didn't even get ''started'', because Ron saw people hiding in his house and called the cops on everyone.everyone.
** "Sweet Sixteen": Leslie tries to set up a birthday party for Jerry (whose birthday falls on the LeapDay) but as she's been overworking herself, multiple things fall through the cracks. She manages to bring Jerry to the party she's set up at Donna's family's lakeside house, but by then, everyone's either passed out asleep or looking for Andy and April's dog that ran off into the forest, with Leslie herself passing out asleep on [[SleepCute Jerry's shoulder]]. Jerry was nonetheless touched by her effort.
** "Eagleton": Leslie thankfully takes care that Ron's actual birthday party is to his liking
** "Sweet Sixteen": Leslie tries to set up a birthday party for Jerry (whose birthday falls on the LeapDay) but as she's been overworking herself, multiple things fall through the cracks. She manages to bring Jerry to the party she's set up at Donna's family's lakeside house, but by then, everyone's either passed out asleep or looking for Andy and April's dog that ran off into the forest, with Leslie herself passing out asleep on [[SleepCute Jerry's shoulder]]. Jerry was nonetheless touched by her effort.
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* The ''Literature/NintendoAdventureBooks'' series had ''two'' [[note]] 5 and 11. [[/note]] books about this, where the Mario Bros. are required to save the day when the Koopa Clan sabotages a friend's birthday party. In ''Pipe Down!'' Princess Toadstool gets a pair of red sneakers as a present that magically force her to dance ballet, and in ''Unjust Desserts'' Yoshi's tricked into eating a cherry that makes him start swallowing everything in sight. Including Luigi.
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%%* The ''Literature/NintendoAdventureBooks'' series had ''two'' [[note]] 5 and 11. [[/note]] books about this.
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The birthday party is usually fun for all the guests, and it's supposed to be a great day especially for the birthday kid. They are supposed to be the centre of everyone's attention, to receive most sincere birthday wishes for the next year of their life, get nice presents and a huge cake. However, not always. In this case, the cake ends up burnt, the candles melted and all the presents are clothes. What a ''fantastic'' birthday!
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The birthday party is usually fun for all the guests, and it's supposed to be a great day especially for the birthday kid. They are supposed to be the centre of everyone's attention, to receive most sincere birthday wishes for the next year of their life, get nice presents and a huge cake. However, not always. In this case, the cake ends up burnt, the candles melted and all the presents are clothes. [[SarcasmMode What a ''fantastic'' birthday!
a]] ''[[SarcasmMode fantastic]]'' [[SarcasmMode birthday]]!
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zce are not allowed, please explain your examples
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* The ''Literature/NintendoAdventureBooks'' series had ''two'' [[note]] 5 and 11. [[/note]] books about this.
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* The ''Literature/NintendoAdventureBooks'' series had ''two'' [[note]] 5 and 11. [[/note]] books about this.
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* Pandora's only Pandora-centric episode of ''Series/{{Skins}}'' revolves around her birthday party, which goes horribly wrong when Effy derails it with her usual destructive ways. She ends up having sex with Cook to Effy's disapproval, which in turn causes Pandora to give Effy a ReasonYouSuckSpeech.
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* ''Series/{{Skins}}'': Pandora's only Pandora-centric episode of the series revolves around her birthday party, which goes horribly wrong when Effy derails it with her usual destructive ways. She ends up having sex with Cook to Effy's disapproval, which in turn causes Pandora to give Effy a ReasonYouSuckSpeech.
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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheBerenstainBears https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/birthdaygoeswrong.jpg]]]]
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* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBerenstainBears'' episode "Too Much Birthday", Sister Bear has a bad sixth birthday because the pony she rides on gave her a bumpy ride and because it took her six tries to blow out her candles, which made her friends claim she was going to have six cubs and she only wanted three.
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* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBerenstainBears'' episode "Too Much Birthday", based on the book of the same name, Sister Bear has a bad sixth birthday because she looses at musical chairs, her friends tease her for her shyness during SpinTheBottle, she doesn't get the prize for winning pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey because it's her party, the pony she rides on gave her a bumpy ride ride, the merry-go-round gives her motion sickness, and because it took takes her six tries to blow out her candles, which made makes her friends claim she was she's going to have six cubs when she grows up and she only wanted wants three.
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Anya summoned the demon when she figured out what happened. The demon does gloat, but she didn't come to the party specifically for that reason.
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* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In keeping with the grand tradition of Buffy's birthday going apocalyptically wrong, Season 6 has the guests at her birthday party trapped in the house by Dawn's earlier wish to a vengeance demon that she could stop people leaving her. Various characters' issues are brought to a head, such as Dawn's shoplifting secret being exposed and Willow's magic addiction (as Anya demands she come off the wagon to release them) and her breakup with Tara. They're only released when the vengeance demon Dawn made the wish to comes in for a [[BondVillainStupidity gloating speech]], and gets [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard trapped herself]].
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* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In keeping with the grand tradition of Buffy's birthday going apocalyptically wrong, Season 6 has the guests at her birthday party trapped in the house by Dawn's earlier wish to a vengeance demon that she could stop people leaving her. Various characters' issues are brought to a head, such as Dawn's shoplifting secret being exposed and Willow's magic addiction (as Anya demands she come off the wagon to release them) and her breakup with Tara. They're only released when the vengeance demon Dawn made the wish to comes in for a [[BondVillainStupidity gloating speech]], is summoned to the party, and gets [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard trapped herself]].
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* One episode of ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', aptly titled "A Piece of Cake," explored this trope, with the girls reminiscing about four particular birthday parties that went badly.
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* One episode of ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', aptly titled "A Piece of Cake," Cake", explored this trope, with the girls reminiscing about four particular birthday parties that went badly.
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* In "Film/TheRoom", Johnny and Mark have a falling out at Johnny's party when Mark and Lisa flaunt their relationship.
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minor adjustments; Tear Jerker is YMMV and should not be in articles in the main namespace
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** In a TearJerker, Rose talks about the last birthday she ever celebrated in St. Olaf, her hometown. She sets everything up and pretends that her husband Charlie planned a surprise for her--but it was actually the year after Charlie had already died, so she spends the whole time [[DeadPersonConversation talking to him as if he's there]] and telling him that she's decided to sell their home and move to Florida.
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** In a TearJerker, Rose talks about the last birthday she ever celebrated in St. Olaf, her hometown. She sets everything up and pretends that her husband Charlie planned a surprise for her--but her but it was actually the year after Charlie had already died, so she spends the whole time [[DeadPersonConversation talking to him as if he's there]] and telling him that she's decided to sell their home and move to Florida.
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** And finally, Sophia shares the story of when she turned fifty and felt old and unaccomplished (she thought she was turning 48, but her birth certificate had been messed up at Ellis Island). Dorothy encouraged her by pointing out how she's managed to raise three healthy, happy children to successful adulthood while always keeping a positive attitude and food on the table, which makes her an incredible person.
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** And finally, Sophia shares the story of when she turned fifty and felt old and unaccomplished (she thought she was turning 48, but her birth certificate had been messed up at Ellis Island). Dorothy encouraged her by pointing out how she's managed to raise three healthy, happy children to successful adulthood while always keeping a positive attitude and food on the table, which makes her an incredible person.
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** Blanche, a BirthdayHater, recalls when Rose threw her a surprise birthday party at the house. She despised the idea at first--until it turned out that Rose invited all of the guys in her address book, which is [[ReallyGetsAround the perfect present for her.]]
** And finally, Sophia shares the story of when she turned fifty and felt old and unaccomplished (she thought she was turning 48, but her birth certificate had been messed up at Ellis Island). Dorothy encourages her by pointing out how she's managed to raise three healthy, happy children to successful adulthood while always keeping a positive attitude and food on the table, which makes her an incredible person.
** And finally, Sophia shares the story of when she turned fifty and felt old and unaccomplished (she thought she was turning 48, but her birth certificate had been messed up at Ellis Island). Dorothy encourages her by pointing out how she's managed to raise three healthy, happy children to successful adulthood while always keeping a positive attitude and food on the table, which makes her an incredible person.
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** Blanche, a BirthdayHater, recalls when Rose threw her a surprise birthday party at the house. She despised the idea at first--until it turned out that Rose invited all of the guys in her address book, which is was [[ReallyGetsAround the perfect present for her.]]
** And finally, Sophia shares the story of when she turned fifty and felt old and unaccomplished (she thought she was turning 48, but her birth certificate had been messed up at Ellis Island). Dorothyencourages encouraged her by pointing out how she's managed to raise three healthy, happy children to successful adulthood while always keeping a positive attitude and food on the table, which makes her an incredible person.
** And finally, Sophia shares the story of when she turned fifty and felt old and unaccomplished (she thought she was turning 48, but her birth certificate had been messed up at Ellis Island). Dorothy
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* One episode of ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'', aptly titled "A Piece of Cake," explored this trope, with the girls reminiscing about four particular birthday parties that went badly.
** Dorothy remembers when Rose threw her a surprise bash at a [[SuckECheeses cheap children's restaurant]] called "Mr. Ha Ha's Hot Dog Hacienda." Things only got worse when it turns out that all of the birthday boys and girls--Dorothy included--had to do things like participate in the "birthday parade" and eat overly sugary desserts. It didn't help that Mr. Ha Ha himself was a {{Jerkass}} who enjoyed taunting Dorothy for the situation.
** In a TearJerker, Rose talks about the last birthday she ever celebrated in St. Olaf, her hometown. She sets everything up and pretends that her husband Charlie planned a surprise for her--but it was actually the year after Charlie had already died, so she spends the whole time [[DeadPersonConversation talking to him as if he's there]] and telling him that she's decided to sell their home and move to Florida.
** Blanche, a BirthdayHater, recalls when Rose threw her a surprise birthday party at the house. She despised the idea at first--until it turned out that Rose invited all of the guys in her address book, which is [[ReallyGetsAround the perfect present for her.]]
** And finally, Sophia shares the story of when she turned fifty and felt old and unaccomplished (she thought she was turning 48, but her birth certificate had been messed up at Ellis Island). Dorothy encourages her by pointing out how she's managed to raise three healthy, happy children to successful adulthood while always keeping a positive attitude and food on the table, which makes her an incredible person.
** Dorothy remembers when Rose threw her a surprise bash at a [[SuckECheeses cheap children's restaurant]] called "Mr. Ha Ha's Hot Dog Hacienda." Things only got worse when it turns out that all of the birthday boys and girls--Dorothy included--had to do things like participate in the "birthday parade" and eat overly sugary desserts. It didn't help that Mr. Ha Ha himself was a {{Jerkass}} who enjoyed taunting Dorothy for the situation.
** In a TearJerker, Rose talks about the last birthday she ever celebrated in St. Olaf, her hometown. She sets everything up and pretends that her husband Charlie planned a surprise for her--but it was actually the year after Charlie had already died, so she spends the whole time [[DeadPersonConversation talking to him as if he's there]] and telling him that she's decided to sell their home and move to Florida.
** Blanche, a BirthdayHater, recalls when Rose threw her a surprise birthday party at the house. She despised the idea at first--until it turned out that Rose invited all of the guys in her address book, which is [[ReallyGetsAround the perfect present for her.]]
** And finally, Sophia shares the story of when she turned fifty and felt old and unaccomplished (she thought she was turning 48, but her birth certificate had been messed up at Ellis Island). Dorothy encourages her by pointing out how she's managed to raise three healthy, happy children to successful adulthood while always keeping a positive attitude and food on the table, which makes her an incredible person.
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This trope is about ruined parties and the disappointed birthday person. See also a ShoddyShindig for boring parties and NastyParty for murderous ones. OnePersonBirthdayParty is a very lonely subtrope. NotSoForgottenBirthday is a variant when it all ends happily after all. SurpriseParty may be a reason why it goes badly because it's harder to coordinate everything. This can also occur during a ShockParty or ScarySurpriseParty.
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This trope is about ruined parties and the disappointed birthday person. See also a ShoddyShindig for boring parties and NastyParty for murderous ones. OnePersonBirthdayParty is a very lonely subtrope. NotSoForgottenBirthday is a variant when it all ends happily after all. SurpriseParty may be a reason why it goes badly because it's harder to coordinate everything. This can also occur during a ShockParty or ScarySurpriseParty.
ScarySurpriseParty.... or even a BirthdaySuitSurpriseParty.
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* On ''Series/CriminalMinds'', agent Rossi's coworkers throw a surprise party for him only to find he is a BirthdayHater who doesn't celebrate his birthday. The day has been spoiled for him by a SerialKiller he captured, Tommy Yates, who made a deal with the FBI to reveal one of his victims' locations each year on a specific day--purposely picking Rossi's birthday. Naturally, that leaves him in no mood to celebrate.
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[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/MenageA3'' has a highly NSFW instance in a flashback, when Zii attempts to organise a surprise birthday ''orgy'' for Yuki. Zii did not previously know that Yuki’s weird psychological issues would mean that the sight of naked men would turn her into a violent raging maniac.
[[/folder]]
* ''Webcomic/MenageA3'' has a highly NSFW instance in a flashback, when Zii attempts to organise a surprise birthday ''orgy'' for Yuki. Zii did not previously know that Yuki’s weird psychological issues would mean that the sight of naked men would turn her into a violent raging maniac.
[[/folder]]
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* ''Series/ParksAndRecreation:'' Leslie thankfully takes care that Ron's actual birthday party is to his liking (meaning completely alone with a prime steak and his favorite movies), he ''does'' mention an instance we don't get to see of an attempted surprise birthday party his ex-wife Tammy set up for him. It went so wrong it didn't even get ''started'', because Ron saw people hiding in his house and called the cops on everyone.
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->'''Caterer:''' I'm sorry, but there's, um, been a problem, uh...
->'''Peggy:''' Spit it out!
->'''Caterer:''' The refrigeration went out and the chicken and prime rib were spoiled, and your ice cream birthday cake melted.
->'''Dale:''' ''[yelling]'' And there's no food! ''[everyone groans]''
->'''Peggy:''' Happy freakin' birthday to me.
->'''Peggy:''' Spit it out!
->'''Caterer:''' The refrigeration went out and the chicken and prime rib were spoiled, and your ice cream birthday cake melted.
->'''Dale:''' ''[yelling]'' And there's no food! ''[everyone groans]''
->'''Peggy:''' Happy freakin' birthday to me.
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->'''Caterer:''' I'm sorry, but there's, um, been a problem, uh...
->'''Peggy:'''uh...\\
'''Peggy:''' Spit itout!
->'''Caterer:'''out!\\
'''Caterer:''' The refrigeration went out and the chicken and prime rib were spoiled, and your ice cream birthday cakemelted.
->'''Dale:'''melted.\\
'''Dale:''' ''[yelling]'' And there's no food! ''[everyonegroans]''
->'''Peggy:'''groans]''\\
'''Peggy:''' Happy freakin' birthday to me.
->'''Peggy:'''
'''Peggy:''' Spit it
->'''Caterer:'''
'''Caterer:''' The refrigeration went out and the chicken and prime rib were spoiled, and your ice cream birthday cake
->'''Dale:'''
'''Dale:''' ''[yelling]'' And there's no food! ''[everyone
->'''Peggy:'''
'''Peggy:''' Happy freakin' birthday to me.
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[[folder:Film--Live-Action]]
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[[folder:Jokes]]
* There's an [[UrbanLegends urban legend]] (sometimes told as a joke) known as "The Nude Surprise Party". In one version, a pastor brings all of his wife's friends and family together to his home to throw a surprise birthday party for her. He hears her in the shower of their master bedroom/bath and knocks on the shower door. "I'll be out in a few minutes," she tells him, and he leaves the bedroom. With the lights out, he and the guests wait outside the bedroom door. Suddenly the door opens and there stands the wife in silhouette, naked and dripping wet. "Come and get it while it's clean," she croons. The rest of the story can only be imagined. Other variations can be found [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/birthday-suited/ here.]]
[[/folder]]
* There's an [[UrbanLegends urban legend]] (sometimes told as a joke) known as "The Nude Surprise Party". In one version, a pastor brings all of his wife's friends and family together to his home to throw a surprise birthday party for her. He hears her in the shower of their master bedroom/bath and knocks on the shower door. "I'll be out in a few minutes," she tells him, and he leaves the bedroom. With the lights out, he and the guests wait outside the bedroom door. Suddenly the door opens and there stands the wife in silhouette, naked and dripping wet. "Come and get it while it's clean," she croons. The rest of the story can only be imagined. Other variations can be found [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/birthday-suited/ here.]]
[[/folder]]
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[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/AllInTheFamily'': The episode "Edith's Fiftieth Birthday" ... although the surprise party ends in a way nobody would expect. Edith comes running into Mike and Gloria's house (after fighting off an attempted sexual assault in her own living room) out of breath and everyone starts singing "Happy Birthday," thinking she's just arrived – albeit early – for her party. [[note]](Off camera, it is presumed the party ended early once the party-goers were informed something was wrong and were sent home, as by the time the second half hour begins, Edith is in Mike and Gloria's bedroom, trying to explain what happened.)[[/note]]
* ''Series/AllInTheFamily'': The episode "Edith's Fiftieth Birthday" ... although the surprise party ends in a way nobody would expect. Edith comes running into Mike and Gloria's house (after fighting off an attempted sexual assault in her own living room) out of breath and everyone starts singing "Happy Birthday," thinking she's just arrived – albeit early – for her party. [[note]](Off camera, it is presumed the party ended early once the party-goers were informed something was wrong and were sent home, as by the time the second half hour begins, Edith is in Mike and Gloria's bedroom, trying to explain what happened.)[[/note]]
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* ''Series/AllInTheFamily'': The episode "Edith's Fiftieth
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** Discussed. Sheldon mentions what his birthday parties were like when he was a kid and says it was ''anguish''. It's connected to his general hatred of socializing and his status of genius science-oriented kid. Instead of a titanium centrifuge he wanted to separate radioactive isotopes, his parents got him a motorised dirt bike for his 12th birthday which ruined his party.
--->'''Sheldon''': Sheldon: Year after year, I had to endure wearing conical hats while being forced into the crowded sweaty hell of bouncy castles, not to mention being blindfolded and spun towards a grotesque tailless donkey as the other children mocked my disorientation.
** Leonard mentions he never has a birthday party as a kid and that's why he doesn't celebrate birthdays. Penny, his friendly neighbour (whom he's fallen in love) thinks it's one of the saddest things she's every heard, so she organises a kick-ass surprise party for him. However, Howard is tasked to keep him from the apartment for two hours, but he ends up in hospital (eating peanuts to induce an allergic reaction) so Leonard misses the party.
--->'''Sheldon''': Sheldon: Year after year, I had to endure wearing conical hats while being forced into the crowded sweaty hell of bouncy castles, not to mention being blindfolded and spun towards a grotesque tailless donkey as the other children mocked my disorientation.
** Leonard mentions he never has a birthday party as a kid and that's why he doesn't celebrate birthdays. Penny, his friendly neighbour (whom he's fallen in love) thinks it's one of the saddest things she's every heard, so she organises a kick-ass surprise party for him. However, Howard is tasked to keep him from the apartment for two hours, but he ends up in hospital (eating peanuts to induce an allergic reaction) so Leonard misses the party.
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** Discussed. Sheldon mentions what his birthday parties were like when he was a kid and says it was ''anguish''. It's connected to his general hatred of socializing and his status of genius science-oriented kid. Instead of a titanium centrifuge he wanted to separate radioactive isotopes, his parents got him a motorised motorized dirt bike for his 12th birthday which ruined his party.
--->'''Sheldon''': Sheldon: --->'''Sheldon:''' Year after year, I had to endure wearing conical hats while being forced into the crowded sweaty hell of bouncy castles, not to mention being blindfolded and spun towards a grotesque tailless donkey as the other children mocked my disorientation.
** Leonard mentions he never has a birthday party as a kid and that's why he doesn't celebrate birthdays. Penny, his friendlyneighbour neighbor (whom he's fallen in love) thinks it's one of the saddest things she's every heard, so she organises a kick-ass surprise party for him. However, Howard is tasked to keep him from the apartment for two hours, but he ends up in hospital (eating peanuts to induce an allergic reaction) so Leonard misses the party.
** Leonard mentions he never has a birthday party as a kid and that's why he doesn't celebrate birthdays. Penny, his friendly
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-->'''Peggy:''' Ugh, I have had nothing but lousy birthdays. But getting robbed last year at Captain Bear's was the worst.
-->'''Bobby:''' Worse than the flash flood or the food poisoning or the year you got hit in the neck by a foul ball?
-->'''Bobby:''' Worse than the flash flood or the food poisoning or the year you got hit in the neck by a foul ball?
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-->'''Peggy:''' Ugh, I have had nothing but lousy birthdays. But getting robbed last year at Captain Bear's was the worst.
-->'''Bobby:'''worst.\\
'''Bobby:''' Worse than the flash flood or the food poisoning or the year you got hit in the neck by a foul ball?
-->'''Bobby:'''
'''Bobby:''' Worse than the flash flood or the food poisoning or the year you got hit in the neck by a foul ball?
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* ''[[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013 Mickey Mouse]]'': Mickey explains to his friends that he does not want a surprise birthday party, because the surprise frequently just ends up scaring him. In an attempt to make up for this, Minnie decides to make the birthday party as big as she can, and the friends spend the whole day making a massive birthday cake. Mickey, not being able to find anyone, is left in a constant state of fear all day, just waiting for the surprise. When he finds out what they are up to, the cake-making has gotten so out of hand that the cake is growing so big that it endangers Mickey and friends' lives.
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* ''[[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013 Mickey Mouse]]'': ''WesternAnimation/{{Mickey Mouse|2013}}'': Mickey explains to his friends that he does not want a surprise birthday party, because the surprise frequently just ends up scaring him. In an attempt to make up for this, Minnie decides to make the birthday party as big as she can, and the friends spend the whole day making a massive birthday cake. Mickey, not being able to find anyone, is left in a constant state of fear all day, just waiting for the surprise. When he finds out what they are up to, the cake-making has gotten so out of hand that the cake is growing so big that it endangers Mickey and friends' lives.
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[[folder:Other]]
* There's an [[UrbanLegends urban legend]] (sometimes told as a joke) known as "The Nude Surprise Party." In one version, a pastor brings all of his wife's friends and family together to his home to throw a surprise birthday party for her. He hears her in the shower of their master bedroom/bath and knocks on the shower door. "I'll be out in a few minutes," she tells him, and he leaves the bedroom. With the lights out, he and the guests wait outside the bedroom door. Suddenly the door opens and there stands the wife in silhouette, naked and dripping wet. "Come and get it while it's clean," she croons. The rest of the story can only be imagined. Other variations can be found [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/birthday-suited/ here:]]
[[/folder]]
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* ''Series/AllInTheFamily'': The episode "Edith's Fiftieth Birthday" ... although the surprise party ends in a way nobody would expect. Edith comes running into Mike and Gloria's house (after fighting off an attempted sexual assault in her own living room) out of breath and everyone starts singing "Happy Birthday," thinking she's just arrived – albeit early – for her party. [[note]](Off camera, it is presumed the party ended early once the party-goers were informed something was wrong and were sent home, as by the time the second half hour begins, Edith is in Mike and Gloria's bedroom, trying to explain what happened.)[[/note]]
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* ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' has this with Maddie and London's Sweet 16 parties. London holds her Sweet 16 party six months ''after'' her sixteenth birthday on the same day as Maddie's, and steals away all of Maddie's guests by promising gift bags filled with expensive gifts like flatscreen TVs. Maddie's attempted party at a fancy restaurant is ruined because her parents shanghai her party money to get braces for her AnnoyingYoungerSibling, causing it to be held at a bingo hall. At the actual parties, because of London no one comes to Maddie's except her grandmother, parents (who argue, loudly, the entire time), and Zack, while her brother mocks her, and then the party is hijacked by the bingo game for the night. On London's end she's constantly running back and forth from one side of the party to the other to spend time with her parents without any time for herself, party crashers are constantly attempting to show up, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking her ice sculpture makes her look fat]], and she eventually gets locked out of her own party because she doesn't have an ID and there are multiple impersonators of her trying to get in, leaving her at the "venue" for Maddie's party. Thankfully both parties work out when they start to mix together, allowing everyone to have fun (and also punishing Maddie's brother when one of Maddie's friends stomps on his foot.)
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* ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' has this with Maddie and London's Sweet 16 parties. London holds her Sweet 16 party six months ''after'' her sixteenth birthday on the same day as Maddie's, and steals away all of Maddie's guests by promising gift bags filled with expensive gifts like flatscreen TVs. Maddie's attempted party at a fancy restaurant is ruined because her parents [[FinancialAbuse shanghai her party money money]] to get braces for her AnnoyingYoungerSibling, causing it to be held at a bingo hall. At the actual parties, because of London no one comes to Maddie's except her grandmother, parents (who argue, loudly, the entire time), and Zack, while her brother mocks her, and then the party is hijacked by the bingo game for the night. On London's end she's constantly running back and forth from one side of the party to the other to spend time with her parents without any time for herself, party crashers are constantly attempting to show up, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking her ice sculpture makes her look fat]], and she eventually gets locked out of her own party because she doesn't have an ID and there are multiple impersonators of her trying to get in, leaving her at the "venue" for Maddie's party. Thankfully both parties work out when they start to mix together, allowing everyone to have fun (and also punishing Maddie's brother when one of Maddie's friends stomps on his foot.)
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* ''Series/TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody'' has this with Maddie and London's Sweet 16 parties. London holds her Sweet 16 party six months ''after'' her sixteenth birthday on the same day as Maddie's, and steals away all of Maddie's guests by promising gift bags filled with expensive gifts like flatscreen TVs. Maddie's attempted party at a fancy restaurant is ruined because her parents shanghai her party money to get braces for her AnnoyingYoungerSibling, causing it to be held at a bingo hall. At the actual parties, because of London no one comes to Maddie's except her grandmother, parents (who argue, loudly, the entire time), and Zack, while her brother mocks her, and then the party is hijacked by the bingo game for the night. On London's end she's constantly running back and forth from one side of the party to the other to spend time with her parents without any time for herself, party crashers are constantly attempting to show up, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking her ice sculpture makes her look fat]], and she eventually gets locked out of her own party because she doesn't have an ID and there are multiple impersonators of her trying to get in, leaving her at the "venue" for Maddie's party. Thankfully both parties work out when they start to mix together, allowing everyone to have fun (and also punishing Maddie's brother when one of Maddie's friends stomps on his foot.)
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* In the "Giant Asian Mantises" episode of ''Series/EverythingsGonnaBeOkay'', Genevieve tries to throw herself a "low-key" birthday party, but then Nicholas gets involved and overdoes the decorations, while Tellulah raids Genevieve's dad's medicine cabinet and goads Genevieve and Barb into taking prescription drugs with her... which turns out to be high blood pressure medication. Meanwhile, Genevieve banishes Nicholas, Alex, and Matilda to the guest house, where they decide to get trashed on peach schnapps so that Matilda can experience being "white-girl wasted" before going to college.
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*** Monica comes home completely wasted because she felt nervous about turning thirty. Turns out Chandler is throwing her a formal party with her parents. Monica overreacts and makes a huge scene.
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*** Monica comes home completely wasted because she felt nervous about turning thirty. Turns out Chandler is throwing her a formal party with her parents.parents who have a camcorder. Monica overreacts and makes a huge scene.
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*** Ross's party is ruined because has bought himself a red sports car, claiming he's a sports car enthusiast and he shows off his car to his friends. The car gets locked in by two cars in the street. He spends his birthday trying to get out. Finally, his joy is completely spoilt in TheTag when an unattractive and much older man in the very same red car waves at him and greets him with a lame, "How hot are we?"
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*** Ross's party is ruined because he has bought himself a red sports car, claiming he's a sports car enthusiast and he shows off his car to his friends. The car gets locked in by two cars in the street. He spends his birthday trying to get out. Finally, his joy is completely spoilt in TheTag when an unattractive and much older man in the very same red car waves at him and greets him with a lame, "How hot are we?"
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* In the "Giant Asian Mantises" episode of ''Series/EverythingsGonnaBeOkay'', Genevieve tries to throw herself a "low-key" birthday party, but then Nicholas gets involved and overdoes the decorations, while Tellulah raids Genevieve's dad's medicine cabinet and goads Genevieve and Barb into taking prescription drugs with her... which turns out to be high blood pressure medication. Meanwhile, Genevieve banishes Nicholas, Alex, and Matilda to the guest house, where they decide to get trashed on peach schnapps so that Matilda can experience being "white-girl wasted" before going to college.
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* There's an [[UrbanLegends urban legend]] (sometimes told as a joke) where a pastor brings all of his wife's friends and family together to his home to throw a surprise birthday party for her. He hears her in the shower of their master bedroom/bath and knocks on the shower door. "I'll be out in a few minutes," she tells him, and he leaves the bedroom. With the lights out, he and the guests wait outside the bedroom door. Suddenly the door opens and there stands the wife in silhouette, naked and dripping wet. "Come and get it while it's clean," she croons. The rest of the story can only be imagined.
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* There's an [[UrbanLegends urban legend]] (sometimes told as a joke) where known as "The Nude Surprise Party." In one version, a pastor brings all of his wife's friends and family together to his home to throw a surprise birthday party for her. He hears her in the shower of their master bedroom/bath and knocks on the shower door. "I'll be out in a few minutes," she tells him, and he leaves the bedroom. With the lights out, he and the guests wait outside the bedroom door. Suddenly the door opens and there stands the wife in silhouette, naked and dripping wet. "Come and get it while it's clean," she croons. The rest of the story can only be imagined. Other variations can be found [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/birthday-suited/ here:]]
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* There's an [[UrbanLegends urban legend]] (sometimes told as a joke) where a pastor brings all of his wife's friends and family together to his home to throw a surprise birthday party for her. He hears her in the shower of their master bedroom/bath and knocks on the shower door. "I'll be out in a few minutes," she tells him, and he leaves the bedroom. With the lights out, he and the guests wait outside the bedroom door. Suddenly the door opens and there stands the wife in silhouette, naked and dripping wet. "Come and get it while it's clean," she croons. The rest of the story can only be imagined.
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* There's an [[UrbanLegends urban legend]] (sometimes told as a joke) where a pastor brings all of his wife's friends and family together to his home to throw a surprise birthday party for her. He hears her in the shower of their master bedroom/bath and knocks on the shower door. door. "I'll be out in a few minutes," she tells him, and he leaves the bedroom. bedroom. With the lights out, he and the guests wait outside the bedroom door. door. Suddenly the door opens and there stands the wife in silhouette, naked and dripping wet. wet. "Come and get it while it's clean," she croons. croons. The rest of the story can only be imagined.imagined.
[[/folder]]
[[/folder]]
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[[folder:Other]]
* There's an [[UrbanLegends urban legend]] (sometimes told as a joke) where a pastor brings all of his wife's friends and family together to his home to throw a surprise birthday party for her. He hears her in the shower of their master bedroom/bath and knocks on the shower door. "I'll be out in a few minutes," she tells him, and he leaves the bedroom. With the lights out, he and the guests wait outside the bedroom door. Suddenly the door opens and there stands the wife in silhouette, naked and dripping wet. "Come and get it while it's clean," she croons. The rest of the story can only be imagined.
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* The ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' episode "Eugene's Birthday" has Eugene go through several failed birthday parties. Nobody except for Arnold went to his first one because the invitations were lost, Arnold then throws a makeup party at the aquarium with Gerald but the other kids don't attend because Sid and Stinky (who were responsible for inviting the other kids) got the venue wrong and had a party at the roller rink. Finally, Arnold sets up a third party at his backyard with all the other kids, except for Eugene who refuses to attend because he worries the third party will just be a screw up like the last two. He eventually comes around and shows up only for the party to be rained out, but Eugene expresses his gratitude towards Arnold making such an effort to make him happy.
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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheBerenstainBears https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/birthdaygoeswrong.jpg]]]]
->'''Caterer:''' I'm sorry, but there's, um, been a problem, uh...
->'''Peggy:''' Spit it out!
->'''Caterer:''' The refrigeration went out and the chicken and prime rib were spoiled, and your ice cream birthday cake melted.
->'''Dale:''' ''[yelling]'' And there's no food! ''[everyone groans]''
->'''Peggy:''' Happy freakin' birthday to me.
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', "Strangeness on a Train"
The birthday party is usually fun for all the guests, and it's supposed to be a great day especially for the birthday kid. They are supposed to be the centre of everyone's attention, to receive most sincere birthday wishes for the next year of their life, get nice presents and a huge cake. However, not always. In this case, the cake ends up burnt, the candles melted and all the presents are clothes. What a ''fantastic'' birthday!
In fiction, especially if the celebrating character is a ButtMonkey, their birthday party will go wrong in every direction. It should have been their day, but instead, they end up unhappy and crying, or just dissatisfied or disillusioned. Or apathetic if it happens all the time. It may result in them becoming the BirthdayHater who don't want any celebration ever again. Some characters might take it on the chin and at least pretend they don't care.
Sometimes this trope ends with ThrowTheDogABone. Especially if the birthday person's lucky enough to have a loving and caring family or loyal friends, they'll try their best to cheer them up or make it up for them somehow.
ABirthdayNotABreak is a trope when something terrible or downright tragic happens on a character's birthday, and it's unrelated to the celebration. IronicBirthday is a sister trope when the person who should be celebrating their birthday experiences something nasty but they have to pretend they're fine for their guests' sake.
This trope is about ruined parties and the disappointed birthday person. See also a ShoddyShindig for boring parties and NastyParty for murderous ones. OnePersonBirthdayParty is a very lonely subtrope. NotSoForgottenBirthday is a variant when it all ends happily after all. SurpriseParty may be a reason why it goes badly because it's harder to coordinate everything. This can also occur during a ShockParty or ScarySurpriseParty.
----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Film--Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/ProblemChild'', Junior goes to a girl's birthday party. She mistreats him and excludes him from many activities, so Junior takes his revenge on her by doing the following: Filling the pinata with the contents of several pickle jars, throwing her presents in the pool, putting a live frog in the punch bowl, and replacing the cake's candles with firecrackers.
* In ''Film/TheSixthSense'', the birthday boy bemoans the fact that his parents forced him to invite the weird kid Cole to his party. When Cole hears a deceased person's voice from upstairs, the boys lock him in the attic. It ruins the party for everyone else and Cole has to go to the doctor.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/{{Candyfloss}}'' by Jacqueline Wilson, Floss' birthday starts out great but turns out bad when she finds out her mother's family is moving to Australia for six months because of her stepfather's promotion.
* In the ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' book ''Dog Days'', exaggerated for Greg's birthday. His presents are lame, his birthday money in confiscated, his uncle's dog eats the cake, and his 'make-up' present of a fish is eaten by Rodrick's fish
* In the ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' book "The Cuckoo Clock of Doom'', the main character's birthday is ruined by his AnnoyingYoungerSibling, even falling face first into his own birthday pie. When he starts to travel back through time due to the titular ArtifactOfDoom, he's forced to relive the same day. While he doesn't make the same mistakes as the day before, his sister just messes it up some other way.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'':
** Discussed. Sheldon mentions what his birthday parties were like when he was a kid and says it was ''anguish''. It's connected to his general hatred of socializing and his status of genius science-oriented kid. Instead of a titanium centrifuge he wanted to separate radioactive isotopes, his parents got him a motorised dirt bike for his 12th birthday which ruined his party.
--->'''Sheldon''': Sheldon: Year after year, I had to endure wearing conical hats while being forced into the crowded sweaty hell of bouncy castles, not to mention being blindfolded and spun towards a grotesque tailless donkey as the other children mocked my disorientation.
** Leonard mentions he never has a birthday party as a kid and that's why he doesn't celebrate birthdays. Penny, his friendly neighbour (whom he's fallen in love) thinks it's one of the saddest things she's every heard, so she organises a kick-ass surprise party for him. However, Howard is tasked to keep him from the apartment for two hours, but he ends up in hospital (eating peanuts to induce an allergic reaction) so Leonard misses the party.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In keeping with the grand tradition of Buffy's birthday going apocalyptically wrong, Season 6 has the guests at her birthday party trapped in the house by Dawn's earlier wish to a vengeance demon that she could stop people leaving her. Various characters' issues are brought to a head, such as Dawn's shoplifting secret being exposed and Willow's magic addiction (as Anya demands she come off the wagon to release them) and her breakup with Tara. They're only released when the vengeance demon Dawn made the wish to comes in for a [[BondVillainStupidity gloating speech]], and gets [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard trapped herself]].
* ''Series/{{Community}}'', "[[Recap/CommunityS2E10MixologyCertification Mixology Certification]]": Troy's celebration starts off happy when the study group have a cake for Troy in the study room, but when they learn that Troy is actually of drinking age and they decide to celebrate "properly" and hit the bar. Everyone just ends up getting drunk, miserable and/or disillusioned with their lives and ruining the celebration. Troy decides not to have a drink, and instead drives his drunken friends home.
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'', "Return to Sender": Dexter's girlfriend Rita plans a birthday party for her daughter Astor. Astor gets really worried about her party getting ruined when their violent abusive father of a criminal gets released from prison and wants to come to the party. Her brother Cody tells everyone about it and Astor's friends are no longer allowed to come. However, vulnerable Rita actually manages to tell Paul he can't come because of the restraining order. The party turns out fine.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'':
** "The One with Two Parties": Rachel's recently divorced parents both show up at her surprise birthday party, so the friends have to keep them separated otherwise they'll start fighting. Quickly things begin to go wrong. Monica rules over her formal party with an iron fist and wants to play boring games. Most of the guests want to sneak out to Chandler and Joey's second party, started as a distraction, because it is more fun and relaxed. Rachel's boyfriend Ross tries to bond with her parents only to make a fool of himself. Rachel tries to spend time with both her mother and her father who say only nasty things about each other, which is driving Rachel the birthday girl crazy.
** In "The One with Two Parts, Part 2", Phoebe's SurpriseParty doesn't go very well. Ross brings the cake which he drops because others scare him, shouting "Surprise!" prematurely. They try to save the cake somehow and completely miss Phoebe is coming. What's worse, Joey, one of her closest friend whom she really wanted to see, doesn't even show up at the party because he's dating Ursula, Phoebe's EvilTwin.
** "The One Where They All Turn Thirty":
*** Rachel gets really depressed when her friends throw her a party for her 30th birthday. She feels old and it gets worse when Chandler's birthday card says "grandma" and she realizes she's "behind" regarding her career and mostly her life plan to get married and have a family. Eventually, she breaks up with her 'boy-like' boyfriend Tag whom she really likes but realizes he's too young and immature.
*** Monica comes home completely wasted because she felt nervous about turning thirty. Turns out Chandler is throwing her a formal party with her parents. Monica overreacts and makes a huge scene.
*** Joey's party goes wrong because he gets whiny and complaining about getting too old, talking to God that they had a deal about others getting old, not him and his friends.
*** Chandler's party for his 30th birthday gets ruined when Joey once again cries about it not being fair that their gang is getting old.
*** Ross's party is ruined because has bought himself a red sports car, claiming he's a sports car enthusiast and he shows off his car to his friends. The car gets locked in by two cars in the street. He spends his birthday trying to get out. Finally, his joy is completely spoilt in TheTag when an unattractive and much older man in the very same red car waves at him and greets him with a lame, "How hot are we?"
*** Phoebe looks pretty ok with turning thirty, with her party and crossing off wacky adventures of her bucket list. That is until her twin sister Ursula tells her they are in fact thirty-one. Suddenly Phoebe's plan for things she wanted to accomplish falls apart and she feels depressed.
** "The One With Phoebe's Birthday Dinner": Phoebe wants to celebrate her birthday with her closest friends in an expensive restaurant. Her boyfriend Mike can't come because he works. Only Joey comes on time and the waiter tries to move them to a table for two. Both Phoebe and Joey are hungry and cranky. When the others finally show up, Monica and Chandler are still visibly angry because of their argument and Rachel is anxious to get back to her baby girl. Then Phoebe announces she's going to see her boyfriend instead who is unexpectedly available. Joey ends up sitting there alone, but completely satisfied because he got to eat six dinners and a cake.
** "The One With The Cake": Emma's first birthday is not going well. Emma sleeps when the guests start arriving who then become cranky. The cake is not delivered, and later when they go to pick it up, it turns out they made a cake with some erotic images, which is totally inappropriate for a baby. Luckily, it ends up fine with the cake rearranged to resemble a bunny and the six close friends play with the little girl.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'':
** Ted says he broke up with his girlfriend Natalie [[DumpedViaTextMessage over an answering machine]] right before her birthday. It's revealed it was on her actual birthday and she was having a surprise party. All her friends heard Ted's embarrassing voicemail.
** Marshall organizes a surprise party on the roof for Ted and tries to lure him there, but Ted keeps not coming. He claims he needs to work. He also ends up beaten by a goat. (The goat has been brought to their apartment by Lily who tries to save Missy from being slaughtered for meat. She's a kindergarten teacher and the goat was shown to kids by a farmer.)
* Pandora's only Pandora-centric episode of ''Series/{{Skins}}'' revolves around her birthday party, which goes horribly wrong when Effy derails it with her usual destructive ways. She ends up having sex with Cook to Effy's disapproval, which in turn causes Pandora to give Effy a ReasonYouSuckSpeech.
* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'': Downplayed with Amber's birthday. Though the mood was ruined by Fabian screaming at and trying to attack Eddie just minutes into the party, Amber still managed to have a decent party thanks to the amount of gifts...most of which she'd bought ''for herself.'' She did, however, get frustrated when everyone seemed more concerned with what Fabian was doing, rather than focusing on the celebration.
* Played with in the B-plot of an episode of ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' where younger brother Dewey manages to make friends with [[NaiveNewcomer a new boy in the neighborhood.]] The boy's parents pull Dewey aside to get his help in planning their son's birthday, wanting to make his first one in a new home special. [[ManipulativeBastard Dewey]] instead shanghais the party by changing it to be more to his tastes, replacing the space theme with a cowboy one, getting a bounce house, and even making the cake different. During the party, the birthday boy angrily confronts Dewey about ruining his day, though Dewey is too enamored with his success to care. Unfortunately for him, Malcolm undergoes a minor freakout in the A-plot and attempts to escape back into childhood, accidentally causing the bounce house bust and setting off a domino effect which leads to the party collapsing into panic and chaos. The last scene of the birthday boy has him smiling in satisfaction as everything goes to hell.
*''Series/RaisingDion'': In "Days Of Marks Future Past", Dion and Andre, Dion's best friend before he was forced to move, collectively celebrate their birthdays at Andre's house so Dion can see his old friends again. However; first the cool kids Dion hoped to invite all fail to show up, leaving him with only Esperanza as a guest (whom he still considers annoying). Then he finds out Andre and his other old friends outgrew the game Reptile Repo, which Dion himself still loves and even had his birthday cake modelled after. Then he is mocked for said birthday cake, and he storms off in frustration. The final nail in the coffin is when, in his anger, Dion suffers an asthma attack, and when he telepathically summons his inhaler, it perforates the bouncy castle Andre's mother rented for the party, causing it to deflate. There is some silver lining at the end of the episode, when Dion finally warms up to Esperanza and they eat his birthday cake together.
* In the "Giant Asian Mantises" episode of ''Series/EverythingsGonnaBeOkay'', Genevieve tries to throw herself a "low-key" birthday party, but then Nicholas gets involved and overdoes the decorations, while Tellulah raids Genevieve's dad's medicine cabinet and goads Genevieve and Barb into taking prescription drugs with her... which turns out to be high blood pressure medication. Meanwhile, Genevieve banishes Nicholas, Alex, and Matilda to the guest house, where they decide to get trashed on peach schnapps so that Matilda can experience being "white-girl wasted" before going to college.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Music]]
* The song "It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want to": The birthday girl discovers her boyfriend snogging another girl. She's not happy about it.
* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Your Horoscope For Today" informs Geminis that "Your birthday party will be ruined [[OhNoNotAgain once again]] by your [[{{Gasshole}} explosive flatulence]]."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'': [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. Ruby's birthday falls on Halloween, so she uses it as an excuse to get extra candy and even take candy from her friends. When she requests her friends get her a costume to wear to the Halloween party that night, the friends get their revenge by dressing her up as a trash can, leaving her frustrated and upset at the party.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The main plot of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' special "D.W. and the Beastly Birthday" is started by D.W. having a lousy birthday party. It's raining outside, the cake isn't the flavor she wanted, the party guests are annoying her (although they don't know it), she didn't get the gift she really wanted, and her brother Arthur isn't attending. She goes to hide in an area beneath the stairs, where her imaginary friend takes her to an island called Ukubonga, which she enjoys. She soon gets tired of Ukubonga and realizes that her own friends are lame and that she should hang out with Arthur because he's more interesting; Arthur soon arrives with the present she was expecting, and she teaches him a song she learned on Ukubonga.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBerenstainBears'' episode "Too Much Birthday", Sister Bear has a bad sixth birthday because the pony she rides on gave her a bumpy ride and because it took her six tries to blow out her candles, which made her friends claim she was going to have six cubs and she only wanted three.
* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': Holden hates his ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'' [[ThemedParty themed]] birthday party because it was forced upon him by his parents when he just wanted a simple pizza party. The party is less about him than about his parents having lots of photos for social media because they felt pressure from other parents and the elaborate birthday parties they threw for their kids. The kids feel that Holden is a smug, greedy kid who just wants to get to his presents, and plan to replace their gift with Gene's smelly socks. Then Louise talks to Holden and learns that the elaborate party was his parents' idea and only wants to open his presents sooner so he could get the party done and over with. Louise decides to help Holden by sabotaging the group photo.
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' episode "Pebbles' Birthday Party", Fred arranges both his daughter's b-day party and the Water Buffalo lodge's stag party with the same caterer. The apathetic "only caterer in town" carelessly mixes them up, sending a clown to the lodge, and a troupe of dancing girls to the kiddie party.
*''WesternAnimation/HarveyStreetKids'': In the season 3 finale, the Harvey Girls throw ComicBook/RichieRich a birthday party (which he [[NeverHadABirthdayParty never celebrated before]] since he didn't feel the need to). While the party goes exactly as they planned, it still ends on a sour note when all the emotions prove too much for Richie to handle (since he never experienced he joy of a birthday before), and he runs away from Harvey Street, forsaking the concept of childhood. This ends the season on a cliffhanger, with the girls having to convince Richie to come back at the start of season 4.
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': In "Strangeness on a Train", it is revealed that Peggy's birthday parties have always been colossal disasters and [[{{Jerkass}} Dale]] not only finds funny to recount tales of how these disasters happened but he is [[PassThePopcorn gleefully looking forward to how this birthday will go to hell]]. This year Peggy plans a ThemedParty on a train: a mystery theater train ride with 70's disco theme. Hank is not sure it's such a great idea, especially the disco part, but agrees to make Peggy happy. The mystery is solved in two minutes because ditzy Luanne blabs and Dale screams it for everyone to hear. The actors leave just as the train departs. Then the train caterer announces to Peggy that the refrigeration has gone out and spoiled their dinner as well as melted Peggy's ice-cream birthday cake. They only have cheese-and-cracker snacks. Also, they've just entered a dry county so they can't serve any alcohol. Peggy runs to the bathroom in tears. Hank consoles her, and they have sex in the train's bathroom while [[ShoddyShindig everybody is grouching in the dining car]]. Peggy is cheered up. Others soon discover that someone had sex and decide to try to find out who did it to entertain themselves, which forces Peggy and Hank to double-team to clean up the evidence. This gets the whole group kicked out of the train in the middle of nowhere. Desperate Peggy breaks down and starts crying. However, they soon spot a bar and head there. Dressed in their disco clothes, the patrons look at them with suspicious but then happily cry that "Disco's back!" The bartender hangs up a disco ball and finds a 70's soundtrack, throwing a small disco-themed party for Peggy [[DancePartyEnding while everybody dances]].
-->'''Peggy:''' Ugh, I have had nothing but lousy birthdays. But getting robbed last year at Captain Bear's was the worst.
-->'''Bobby:''' Worse than the flash flood or the food poisoning or the year you got hit in the neck by a foul ball?
* Defied in ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode "No Spoilers": the kids (except Leni (because they think she'll spoil the surprise) and Lily) are making a surprise birthday party for their mother Rita. However, things don't work out: Lana uses toilet paper, gum, and brown balloons (which Lynn thinks look like poop) as decorations, Lynn's subs she provides are covered in BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce, Lola's cake is too sweet, Luan's jokes are all about Rita being old, Luna can't think of a song Rita would like, and Lisa has invited three men Rita doesn't like. However, this all happens before Rita gets home and when they realise things are going south, they get Leni over, who throws a successful party for Rita.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013 Mickey Mouse]]'': Mickey explains to his friends that he does not want a surprise birthday party, because the surprise frequently just ends up scaring him. In an attempt to make up for this, Minnie decides to make the birthday party as big as she can, and the friends spend the whole day making a massive birthday cake. Mickey, not being able to find anyone, is left in a constant state of fear all day, just waiting for the surprise. When he finds out what they are up to, the cake-making has gotten so out of hand that the cake is growing so big that it endangers Mickey and friends' lives.
* Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "[[Recap/PhineasAndFerbDudeWereGettingTheBandBackTogether Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together]]", where Dr. Doofenshmirtz arranges a birthday party for his daughter Vanessa and invites all her friends. She hates it because she feels she has outgrown all the hearts and ponies. However, the place gets trashed when Perry the Platypus escapes, and Vanessa's friends are impressed by the result.
*''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': In the season 2 episode "Birthday Bash", the girls celebrate their birthday with all of Townsville. However, Mojo Jojo, Princess and HIM all seize the opportunity to attack and hopefully kill the girls with their "gifts" (Mojo sends a giant robot, Princess a missile, and HIM a giant, living pinata). The Amoeba Boys also make an attempt to harm the girls with Voodoo Dolls, but [[HarmlessVillain screw up as usual]].
* A ruined birthday celebration is discussed briefly in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' when Stu mentions Dil spitting up on his birthday cake.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Radio Bart", Bart's birthday party ends up being underwhelming when his presents are really lame (such as a label maker, a cactus, and a matching suit) and he doesn't like some of the guests who attend.
* The ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Whale of a Birthday" is about Mr. Krabs throwing a very cheap birthday party for Pearl. This includes a banner reading "IT'S A BOY!" with the "boy" crossed out and "girl" written above it, a statue of Pearl made of raw meat, dishwater served as drinks, a cake made of cardboard, and one of Mr. Krabs's employees singing as entertainment. Pearl is very unhappy with this until [=SpongeBob=] gets her a bunch of presents she wants, using Mr. Krabs's credit card.
[[/folder]]
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%% The list of works have been alphabetised. Add new examples accordingly.
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[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/TheBerenstainBears https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/birthdaygoeswrong.jpg]]]]
->'''Caterer:''' I'm sorry, but there's, um, been a problem, uh...
->'''Peggy:''' Spit it out!
->'''Caterer:''' The refrigeration went out and the chicken and prime rib were spoiled, and your ice cream birthday cake melted.
->'''Dale:''' ''[yelling]'' And there's no food! ''[everyone groans]''
->'''Peggy:''' Happy freakin' birthday to me.
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'', "Strangeness on a Train"
The birthday party is usually fun for all the guests, and it's supposed to be a great day especially for the birthday kid. They are supposed to be the centre of everyone's attention, to receive most sincere birthday wishes for the next year of their life, get nice presents and a huge cake. However, not always. In this case, the cake ends up burnt, the candles melted and all the presents are clothes. What a ''fantastic'' birthday!
In fiction, especially if the celebrating character is a ButtMonkey, their birthday party will go wrong in every direction. It should have been their day, but instead, they end up unhappy and crying, or just dissatisfied or disillusioned. Or apathetic if it happens all the time. It may result in them becoming the BirthdayHater who don't want any celebration ever again. Some characters might take it on the chin and at least pretend they don't care.
Sometimes this trope ends with ThrowTheDogABone. Especially if the birthday person's lucky enough to have a loving and caring family or loyal friends, they'll try their best to cheer them up or make it up for them somehow.
ABirthdayNotABreak is a trope when something terrible or downright tragic happens on a character's birthday, and it's unrelated to the celebration. IronicBirthday is a sister trope when the person who should be celebrating their birthday experiences something nasty but they have to pretend they're fine for their guests' sake.
This trope is about ruined parties and the disappointed birthday person. See also a ShoddyShindig for boring parties and NastyParty for murderous ones. OnePersonBirthdayParty is a very lonely subtrope. NotSoForgottenBirthday is a variant when it all ends happily after all. SurpriseParty may be a reason why it goes badly because it's harder to coordinate everything. This can also occur during a ShockParty or ScarySurpriseParty.
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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Film--Live-Action]]
* In ''Film/ProblemChild'', Junior goes to a girl's birthday party. She mistreats him and excludes him from many activities, so Junior takes his revenge on her by doing the following: Filling the pinata with the contents of several pickle jars, throwing her presents in the pool, putting a live frog in the punch bowl, and replacing the cake's candles with firecrackers.
* In ''Film/TheSixthSense'', the birthday boy bemoans the fact that his parents forced him to invite the weird kid Cole to his party. When Cole hears a deceased person's voice from upstairs, the boys lock him in the attic. It ruins the party for everyone else and Cole has to go to the doctor.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/{{Candyfloss}}'' by Jacqueline Wilson, Floss' birthday starts out great but turns out bad when she finds out her mother's family is moving to Australia for six months because of her stepfather's promotion.
* In the ''Literature/DiaryOfAWimpyKid'' book ''Dog Days'', exaggerated for Greg's birthday. His presents are lame, his birthday money in confiscated, his uncle's dog eats the cake, and his 'make-up' present of a fish is eaten by Rodrick's fish
* In the ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' book "The Cuckoo Clock of Doom'', the main character's birthday is ruined by his AnnoyingYoungerSibling, even falling face first into his own birthday pie. When he starts to travel back through time due to the titular ArtifactOfDoom, he's forced to relive the same day. While he doesn't make the same mistakes as the day before, his sister just messes it up some other way.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'':
** Discussed. Sheldon mentions what his birthday parties were like when he was a kid and says it was ''anguish''. It's connected to his general hatred of socializing and his status of genius science-oriented kid. Instead of a titanium centrifuge he wanted to separate radioactive isotopes, his parents got him a motorised dirt bike for his 12th birthday which ruined his party.
--->'''Sheldon''': Sheldon: Year after year, I had to endure wearing conical hats while being forced into the crowded sweaty hell of bouncy castles, not to mention being blindfolded and spun towards a grotesque tailless donkey as the other children mocked my disorientation.
** Leonard mentions he never has a birthday party as a kid and that's why he doesn't celebrate birthdays. Penny, his friendly neighbour (whom he's fallen in love) thinks it's one of the saddest things she's every heard, so she organises a kick-ass surprise party for him. However, Howard is tasked to keep him from the apartment for two hours, but he ends up in hospital (eating peanuts to induce an allergic reaction) so Leonard misses the party.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In keeping with the grand tradition of Buffy's birthday going apocalyptically wrong, Season 6 has the guests at her birthday party trapped in the house by Dawn's earlier wish to a vengeance demon that she could stop people leaving her. Various characters' issues are brought to a head, such as Dawn's shoplifting secret being exposed and Willow's magic addiction (as Anya demands she come off the wagon to release them) and her breakup with Tara. They're only released when the vengeance demon Dawn made the wish to comes in for a [[BondVillainStupidity gloating speech]], and gets [[HoistByTheirOwnPetard trapped herself]].
* ''Series/{{Community}}'', "[[Recap/CommunityS2E10MixologyCertification Mixology Certification]]": Troy's celebration starts off happy when the study group have a cake for Troy in the study room, but when they learn that Troy is actually of drinking age and they decide to celebrate "properly" and hit the bar. Everyone just ends up getting drunk, miserable and/or disillusioned with their lives and ruining the celebration. Troy decides not to have a drink, and instead drives his drunken friends home.
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'', "Return to Sender": Dexter's girlfriend Rita plans a birthday party for her daughter Astor. Astor gets really worried about her party getting ruined when their violent abusive father of a criminal gets released from prison and wants to come to the party. Her brother Cody tells everyone about it and Astor's friends are no longer allowed to come. However, vulnerable Rita actually manages to tell Paul he can't come because of the restraining order. The party turns out fine.
* ''Series/{{Friends}}'':
** "The One with Two Parties": Rachel's recently divorced parents both show up at her surprise birthday party, so the friends have to keep them separated otherwise they'll start fighting. Quickly things begin to go wrong. Monica rules over her formal party with an iron fist and wants to play boring games. Most of the guests want to sneak out to Chandler and Joey's second party, started as a distraction, because it is more fun and relaxed. Rachel's boyfriend Ross tries to bond with her parents only to make a fool of himself. Rachel tries to spend time with both her mother and her father who say only nasty things about each other, which is driving Rachel the birthday girl crazy.
** In "The One with Two Parts, Part 2", Phoebe's SurpriseParty doesn't go very well. Ross brings the cake which he drops because others scare him, shouting "Surprise!" prematurely. They try to save the cake somehow and completely miss Phoebe is coming. What's worse, Joey, one of her closest friend whom she really wanted to see, doesn't even show up at the party because he's dating Ursula, Phoebe's EvilTwin.
** "The One Where They All Turn Thirty":
*** Rachel gets really depressed when her friends throw her a party for her 30th birthday. She feels old and it gets worse when Chandler's birthday card says "grandma" and she realizes she's "behind" regarding her career and mostly her life plan to get married and have a family. Eventually, she breaks up with her 'boy-like' boyfriend Tag whom she really likes but realizes he's too young and immature.
*** Monica comes home completely wasted because she felt nervous about turning thirty. Turns out Chandler is throwing her a formal party with her parents. Monica overreacts and makes a huge scene.
*** Joey's party goes wrong because he gets whiny and complaining about getting too old, talking to God that they had a deal about others getting old, not him and his friends.
*** Chandler's party for his 30th birthday gets ruined when Joey once again cries about it not being fair that their gang is getting old.
*** Ross's party is ruined because has bought himself a red sports car, claiming he's a sports car enthusiast and he shows off his car to his friends. The car gets locked in by two cars in the street. He spends his birthday trying to get out. Finally, his joy is completely spoilt in TheTag when an unattractive and much older man in the very same red car waves at him and greets him with a lame, "How hot are we?"
*** Phoebe looks pretty ok with turning thirty, with her party and crossing off wacky adventures of her bucket list. That is until her twin sister Ursula tells her they are in fact thirty-one. Suddenly Phoebe's plan for things she wanted to accomplish falls apart and she feels depressed.
** "The One With Phoebe's Birthday Dinner": Phoebe wants to celebrate her birthday with her closest friends in an expensive restaurant. Her boyfriend Mike can't come because he works. Only Joey comes on time and the waiter tries to move them to a table for two. Both Phoebe and Joey are hungry and cranky. When the others finally show up, Monica and Chandler are still visibly angry because of their argument and Rachel is anxious to get back to her baby girl. Then Phoebe announces she's going to see her boyfriend instead who is unexpectedly available. Joey ends up sitting there alone, but completely satisfied because he got to eat six dinners and a cake.
** "The One With The Cake": Emma's first birthday is not going well. Emma sleeps when the guests start arriving who then become cranky. The cake is not delivered, and later when they go to pick it up, it turns out they made a cake with some erotic images, which is totally inappropriate for a baby. Luckily, it ends up fine with the cake rearranged to resemble a bunny and the six close friends play with the little girl.
* ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'':
** Ted says he broke up with his girlfriend Natalie [[DumpedViaTextMessage over an answering machine]] right before her birthday. It's revealed it was on her actual birthday and she was having a surprise party. All her friends heard Ted's embarrassing voicemail.
** Marshall organizes a surprise party on the roof for Ted and tries to lure him there, but Ted keeps not coming. He claims he needs to work. He also ends up beaten by a goat. (The goat has been brought to their apartment by Lily who tries to save Missy from being slaughtered for meat. She's a kindergarten teacher and the goat was shown to kids by a farmer.)
* Pandora's only Pandora-centric episode of ''Series/{{Skins}}'' revolves around her birthday party, which goes horribly wrong when Effy derails it with her usual destructive ways. She ends up having sex with Cook to Effy's disapproval, which in turn causes Pandora to give Effy a ReasonYouSuckSpeech.
* ''Series/HouseOfAnubis'': Downplayed with Amber's birthday. Though the mood was ruined by Fabian screaming at and trying to attack Eddie just minutes into the party, Amber still managed to have a decent party thanks to the amount of gifts...most of which she'd bought ''for herself.'' She did, however, get frustrated when everyone seemed more concerned with what Fabian was doing, rather than focusing on the celebration.
* Played with in the B-plot of an episode of ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' where younger brother Dewey manages to make friends with [[NaiveNewcomer a new boy in the neighborhood.]] The boy's parents pull Dewey aside to get his help in planning their son's birthday, wanting to make his first one in a new home special. [[ManipulativeBastard Dewey]] instead shanghais the party by changing it to be more to his tastes, replacing the space theme with a cowboy one, getting a bounce house, and even making the cake different. During the party, the birthday boy angrily confronts Dewey about ruining his day, though Dewey is too enamored with his success to care. Unfortunately for him, Malcolm undergoes a minor freakout in the A-plot and attempts to escape back into childhood, accidentally causing the bounce house bust and setting off a domino effect which leads to the party collapsing into panic and chaos. The last scene of the birthday boy has him smiling in satisfaction as everything goes to hell.
*''Series/RaisingDion'': In "Days Of Marks Future Past", Dion and Andre, Dion's best friend before he was forced to move, collectively celebrate their birthdays at Andre's house so Dion can see his old friends again. However; first the cool kids Dion hoped to invite all fail to show up, leaving him with only Esperanza as a guest (whom he still considers annoying). Then he finds out Andre and his other old friends outgrew the game Reptile Repo, which Dion himself still loves and even had his birthday cake modelled after. Then he is mocked for said birthday cake, and he storms off in frustration. The final nail in the coffin is when, in his anger, Dion suffers an asthma attack, and when he telepathically summons his inhaler, it perforates the bouncy castle Andre's mother rented for the party, causing it to deflate. There is some silver lining at the end of the episode, when Dion finally warms up to Esperanza and they eat his birthday cake together.
* In the "Giant Asian Mantises" episode of ''Series/EverythingsGonnaBeOkay'', Genevieve tries to throw herself a "low-key" birthday party, but then Nicholas gets involved and overdoes the decorations, while Tellulah raids Genevieve's dad's medicine cabinet and goads Genevieve and Barb into taking prescription drugs with her... which turns out to be high blood pressure medication. Meanwhile, Genevieve banishes Nicholas, Alex, and Matilda to the guest house, where they decide to get trashed on peach schnapps so that Matilda can experience being "white-girl wasted" before going to college.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Music]]
* The song "It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want to": The birthday girl discovers her boyfriend snogging another girl. She's not happy about it.
* Music/WeirdAlYankovic's "Your Horoscope For Today" informs Geminis that "Your birthday party will be ruined [[OhNoNotAgain once again]] by your [[{{Gasshole}} explosive flatulence]]."
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/RWBYChibi'': [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]]. Ruby's birthday falls on Halloween, so she uses it as an excuse to get extra candy and even take candy from her friends. When she requests her friends get her a costume to wear to the Halloween party that night, the friends get their revenge by dressing her up as a trash can, leaving her frustrated and upset at the party.
[[/folder]]
[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The main plot of the ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'' special "D.W. and the Beastly Birthday" is started by D.W. having a lousy birthday party. It's raining outside, the cake isn't the flavor she wanted, the party guests are annoying her (although they don't know it), she didn't get the gift she really wanted, and her brother Arthur isn't attending. She goes to hide in an area beneath the stairs, where her imaginary friend takes her to an island called Ukubonga, which she enjoys. She soon gets tired of Ukubonga and realizes that her own friends are lame and that she should hang out with Arthur because he's more interesting; Arthur soon arrives with the present she was expecting, and she teaches him a song she learned on Ukubonga.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBerenstainBears'' episode "Too Much Birthday", Sister Bear has a bad sixth birthday because the pony she rides on gave her a bumpy ride and because it took her six tries to blow out her candles, which made her friends claim she was going to have six cubs and she only wanted three.
* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'': Holden hates his ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'' [[ThemedParty themed]] birthday party because it was forced upon him by his parents when he just wanted a simple pizza party. The party is less about him than about his parents having lots of photos for social media because they felt pressure from other parents and the elaborate birthday parties they threw for their kids. The kids feel that Holden is a smug, greedy kid who just wants to get to his presents, and plan to replace their gift with Gene's smelly socks. Then Louise talks to Holden and learns that the elaborate party was his parents' idea and only wants to open his presents sooner so he could get the party done and over with. Louise decides to help Holden by sabotaging the group photo.
* On ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' episode "Pebbles' Birthday Party", Fred arranges both his daughter's b-day party and the Water Buffalo lodge's stag party with the same caterer. The apathetic "only caterer in town" carelessly mixes them up, sending a clown to the lodge, and a troupe of dancing girls to the kiddie party.
*''WesternAnimation/HarveyStreetKids'': In the season 3 finale, the Harvey Girls throw ComicBook/RichieRich a birthday party (which he [[NeverHadABirthdayParty never celebrated before]] since he didn't feel the need to). While the party goes exactly as they planned, it still ends on a sour note when all the emotions prove too much for Richie to handle (since he never experienced he joy of a birthday before), and he runs away from Harvey Street, forsaking the concept of childhood. This ends the season on a cliffhanger, with the girls having to convince Richie to come back at the start of season 4.
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': In "Strangeness on a Train", it is revealed that Peggy's birthday parties have always been colossal disasters and [[{{Jerkass}} Dale]] not only finds funny to recount tales of how these disasters happened but he is [[PassThePopcorn gleefully looking forward to how this birthday will go to hell]]. This year Peggy plans a ThemedParty on a train: a mystery theater train ride with 70's disco theme. Hank is not sure it's such a great idea, especially the disco part, but agrees to make Peggy happy. The mystery is solved in two minutes because ditzy Luanne blabs and Dale screams it for everyone to hear. The actors leave just as the train departs. Then the train caterer announces to Peggy that the refrigeration has gone out and spoiled their dinner as well as melted Peggy's ice-cream birthday cake. They only have cheese-and-cracker snacks. Also, they've just entered a dry county so they can't serve any alcohol. Peggy runs to the bathroom in tears. Hank consoles her, and they have sex in the train's bathroom while [[ShoddyShindig everybody is grouching in the dining car]]. Peggy is cheered up. Others soon discover that someone had sex and decide to try to find out who did it to entertain themselves, which forces Peggy and Hank to double-team to clean up the evidence. This gets the whole group kicked out of the train in the middle of nowhere. Desperate Peggy breaks down and starts crying. However, they soon spot a bar and head there. Dressed in their disco clothes, the patrons look at them with suspicious but then happily cry that "Disco's back!" The bartender hangs up a disco ball and finds a 70's soundtrack, throwing a small disco-themed party for Peggy [[DancePartyEnding while everybody dances]].
-->'''Peggy:''' Ugh, I have had nothing but lousy birthdays. But getting robbed last year at Captain Bear's was the worst.
-->'''Bobby:''' Worse than the flash flood or the food poisoning or the year you got hit in the neck by a foul ball?
* Defied in ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode "No Spoilers": the kids (except Leni (because they think she'll spoil the surprise) and Lily) are making a surprise birthday party for their mother Rita. However, things don't work out: Lana uses toilet paper, gum, and brown balloons (which Lynn thinks look like poop) as decorations, Lynn's subs she provides are covered in BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce, Lola's cake is too sweet, Luan's jokes are all about Rita being old, Luna can't think of a song Rita would like, and Lisa has invited three men Rita doesn't like. However, this all happens before Rita gets home and when they realise things are going south, they get Leni over, who throws a successful party for Rita.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013 Mickey Mouse]]'': Mickey explains to his friends that he does not want a surprise birthday party, because the surprise frequently just ends up scaring him. In an attempt to make up for this, Minnie decides to make the birthday party as big as she can, and the friends spend the whole day making a massive birthday cake. Mickey, not being able to find anyone, is left in a constant state of fear all day, just waiting for the surprise. When he finds out what they are up to, the cake-making has gotten so out of hand that the cake is growing so big that it endangers Mickey and friends' lives.
* Subverted in the ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' episode "[[Recap/PhineasAndFerbDudeWereGettingTheBandBackTogether Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together]]", where Dr. Doofenshmirtz arranges a birthday party for his daughter Vanessa and invites all her friends. She hates it because she feels she has outgrown all the hearts and ponies. However, the place gets trashed when Perry the Platypus escapes, and Vanessa's friends are impressed by the result.
*''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'': In the season 2 episode "Birthday Bash", the girls celebrate their birthday with all of Townsville. However, Mojo Jojo, Princess and HIM all seize the opportunity to attack and hopefully kill the girls with their "gifts" (Mojo sends a giant robot, Princess a missile, and HIM a giant, living pinata). The Amoeba Boys also make an attempt to harm the girls with Voodoo Dolls, but [[HarmlessVillain screw up as usual]].
* A ruined birthday celebration is discussed briefly in ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' when Stu mentions Dil spitting up on his birthday cake.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "Radio Bart", Bart's birthday party ends up being underwhelming when his presents are really lame (such as a label maker, a cactus, and a matching suit) and he doesn't like some of the guests who attend.
* The ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Whale of a Birthday" is about Mr. Krabs throwing a very cheap birthday party for Pearl. This includes a banner reading "IT'S A BOY!" with the "boy" crossed out and "girl" written above it, a statue of Pearl made of raw meat, dishwater served as drinks, a cake made of cardboard, and one of Mr. Krabs's employees singing as entertainment. Pearl is very unhappy with this until [=SpongeBob=] gets her a bunch of presents she wants, using Mr. Krabs's credit card.
[[/folder]]
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