Forgotten Birthday: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:sixteen-candles-400ds0629 2392.jpg|frame|''[[Sixteen Candles]]'' is all about this one. Now move that dress away from the candles! ]]

 

{{quote|'''Timmy''': Don't worry about forgetting that my birthday was today, Mom and Dad. It's OK.

'''Dad''': What?! Forgot your birthday?

 

A famous desperation plot for Sitcom Writers. A major character is sure everybody's forgotten his or her birthday (or perhaps a similar occasion) and wanders around in an angry funk until surprise! They not only remembered it, they threw a Surprise Party!

 

This trope can be a subtrope of [[The Complainer Is Always Wrong]].

{{examples}}

 

* ''[[Keroro Gunsou]]'': Keroro does this to Natsumi in one episode, while Fuyuki insists that Natsumi wouldn't enjoy it. Much to his chagrin, he finds his sister not only has a good time at the party, but completely fell for the Forgotten Birthday ploy.

* Inverted in episode 7 in the first season of ''[[Beyblade]]'', (well, in the dub version at least) Tyson is so excited about his match with Kai, he forgets about his own 13th birthday.

* ''[[IGPX]]'': Occurs completely by the book in an early episode to Amy, who has had workaholic parents her entire life and only recently made friends with the members of the team. In something of a subversion, her (absent) parents actually do forget her birthday.

* A plot of many ''Little Golden Books''.

* There was a ''[[Garfield]]'' kids' book where Garfield ''thought'' everyone forgot his birthday, but what actually happened was that ''Garfield himself'' forgot which day his birthday was on and misremembered it being one day earlier than it really was; the party happened on the correct day.

* Subverted in ''Patricia's Secret'' by Ruth Dagget Leinhauser. Patricia thinks her father has forgotten her birthday since he doesn't mention it. {{spoiler|She didn't have a calendar. It was actually the following day.}}

* In one of the ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' books, Eleanor Waldorf unwittingly schedules her wedding for Blair's birthday.

* In one episode of ''[[Full House]]'', everyone really did forget about Kimmy's birthday because D.J. was busy with the anniversary of her first date with Steve, which fell on the same day. Kimmy sees right through the others' attempt to do a birthday once D.J. realizes the mistake (it's a comment from Steve that tips Kimmy off), but they're forgiven.

* In ''[[That '70s Show]]'', Red and Eric really did forget Kitty's birthday, and then tried to pretend like they were planning to invoke this trope all along by giving her some cheap presents they'd bought at the gas station at 11:40 P.M. She sees right through it, leading to:

'''Eric:''' [["No. Just... No" Reaction|Dad: No!]] }}

* ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'': Hal does this to Lois, his programmed watch didn't go off.

* ''Quack Pack'' had such an episode. Instead of Donald Duck getting depressed Huey, Dewey and Louie "forgot" his birthday, though, Donald got so ANGRY at them he thought they were doing something illegal behind his back. They were sent to a correctional facility as a result.

* ''The Biskitts'' did this one to the letter.

** There was no retcon; the joke was that his parents didn't know his birthday.

** The trope was initially inverted in "Birthday Bashed". Timmy became 13 and had to hide it from Jorgen to avoid losing his fairies. It became no easy task as it seemed his parents remembered and he had to get rid of anything they brought for the party. It was eventually revealed they were celebrating another thing and had really forgotten Timmy's birthday. That, among other things, was held by Jorgen as a reason to believe Timmy would still need fairies.

* In ''The World of [[Strawberry Shortcake]]'' (1980), some of her friends did forget Strawberry's birthday, but even ''she'' doesn't seem aware that it's her special day (to be fair, Strawberry's said to be turning six). Once they're reminded and start to arrange a party, they deliberately keep it a secret from her and turn down her lunch invitation so they can set it up; she thinks no one likes her anymore but is directed by [[The Face of the Sun|the narrator]] to the party when he can't bear to see her that sad. Notably, this plot isn't the whole focus of the story, but instead sets up the circumstances that allow the evil Purple Pieman to force the kids to give him all their berries (he sells them a magic watering can they give to her as a gift—it appears empty but generates water when you tip it. It's just that he's the only one who knows how to ''stop'' the flow...)

* ''[[Dragon Tales]]'': Done with Ord's birthday in the first-season story "Ord's Unhappy Birthday"

* ''The Flumphs'': Happens in an episode of this UK pre-school stop-motion series. Unusually, we're shown it from the point of view of the rest of the family, trying desperately to conceal the truth from Grandpa Flumph. The educational purpose of the episode seemed to be explaining synonyms for "keeping a secret".

* On ''[[Total Drama Island|Total Drama World Tour]],'' [[Cool Loser|Cody]] is so used to people forgetting his birthday that ''he'' forgets it...but [[Loony Fan|Sierra]] doesn't. ''[[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Awwwww]].''

* In an episode of ''[[The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh]]'', Pooh (sticky with honey) accidentally pulls several pages off Rabbit's calendar, leading Rabbit to mistakenly believe it's his birthday and misinterpret his friends' activities as preparations for a surprise party. Angst ensues when he concludes they've forgotten, but fortunately there's a party on his actual birthday the next week.

* The short-lived English cartoon series ''The Pondles'' had an episode in which the main character, Pip, is led to believe that everyone had forgotten his birthday—though Pip, when hints don't work, breaks tradition by actually telling everyone he meets what day it is. Whereupon they enthusiastically wish him a happy birthday but regret that they're too busy to celebrate it. Of course, what they're busy with is preparing his surprise party.

* On the ''[[King of the Hill]]'' episode "Hank's Dirty Laundry," Bobby assumes his parents are buying him a birthday present while shopping for a dryer. (His birthday is a month away.) He later, on a different day, assumes his birthday party is that day. (It isn't.) He bemoans to Luanne that he "can't believe my parents forgot my birthday." Luanne says that "they've still got a whole month to remember." Hank and Peggy's new dryer is then delivered and Bobby believes it his birthday present and ''loves'' it.

** Another episode has Dale buy a weather balloon. Bill asks if it is his birthday. Hank corrects him, but only to realize his birthday was in fact last week. He first apologizes before wishing him a "happy belated birthday".

* Happened to both [[Yogi Bear]] and Ranger Smith at different times.

* ''[[Roger Ramjet]]'' had one. By the end, the American Eagles kids surprised Roger during a nap that scared him to jump out the window. Everybody came to the surprise party even his arch-rival Lance Crossfire, and his arch-nemeses Noodles Romanoff and the No-Goods {{spoiler|who rigged his birthday cake to explode on Ramjet, harmlessly, because Ramjet's birthday also falls on April Fools' Day.}}

 

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