Forgotten Birthday: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:sixteen-candles-
{{quote|'''Timmy''': Don't worry about forgetting that my birthday was today, Mom and Dad. It's OK.
'''Dad''': What?! Forgot your birthday?
▲{{quote|'''Timmy''': Don't worry about forgetting that my birthday was today, Mom and Dad. It's OK.<br />
'''
|''[[The Fairly OddParents]]''}}
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!
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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
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* ''[[
▲* ''[[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.
▲* ''[[Mai-HiME (Anime)|Mai-HiME]]'' episode 10. Made somewhat more surprising for the audience (and thus less [[Anvilicious]]) by not revealing what exactly Mai is upset about until the very end.
* 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.
* ''[[
* In one episode of ''[[Sailor Moon]] S'' it's Usagi's birthday and when she drops an unsubtle hint about what she wants for a gift, Mamoru reveals that he didn't know it was her birthday so he gets a huge slap in the face from her. Turns out she never actually told him when her birthday was.
* ''[[School Rumble]]''. The class celebrates Tenma's birthday but they don't know Harima was born a day after. Yakumo is the only one who remembered and even gave him a present.
* Subverted in ''[[Rosario
* Inverted in ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' anime. Kenshin believed he had forgotten Kaoru's birthday when she was actually expecting him to propose during a holiday that served for the purpose.
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== Comic Books ==
* This happens to [[Donald Duck]] in "The Duck that Never Was", a [[Don Rosa]] comic story celebrating the 60th anniversary of Donald's creation. Though the "forgotten birthday" plot is really only briefly touched upon and Donald, unlike most of the examples of the trope, ''does'' directly tell his nephews that it's his birthday when they pretend they've forgotten.
** Daisy Duck once forgot her own birthday.
* [http://www.comics.org/issue/221951/ This issue of Betty and Me] used the plot.
* A [[Spinoff Babies|Little]] ''[[Archie Comics]]'' story presented a subversion of this. Veronica tells Archie that she thinks her dad has forgotten it's her birthday - and he has, because he's busy making plans for next week's Founder's Day celebration. Fortunately for him, Archie thinks he's planning a surprise party for Veronica and rounds up everyone to take part in it.
* This happens in the ''[[
== Fan Fiction ==
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* 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.
* In ''[[Harry Potter and
* 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.
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== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[The Secret Life of the American Teenager]]'': Everyone forgets Amy's sixteenth birthday while she's in New York. In the next episode, her mom( played by [[Molly Ringwald]]) is horrified when she finds out they forgot Amy's birthday and laments, "[[Shout
* An early episode of ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' revolved around Zack thinking his friends forgot his birthday, only to find out they had a huge surprise party planned.
* ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' did it a few times.
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*** In one episode, Lucy asks Ricky to not acknowledge her birthday, then complains and storms out when he does as she says.
*** In another episode it turns out Ricky has taken precautions against this, by always keeping a box of chocolates and a birthday card hidden in the closet, which he calls his "emergency present."
* In ''[[Sister, Sister]]'', the twins' depression over the forgotten birthday, combined with a well-placed message from a rich uncle (along with a bit of the wealth), results in them being stranded in Chicago during a snowstorm, having to use their [[Twin Switch|twin powers]] to make it home to Detroit on the back of one train ticket. And yes, they did start bawling like Lucy when the surprise was sprung.
* ''[[Hannah Montana]]'': In this case, Miley and Jackson actually ''did'' forget their father's birthday.
* ''Molloy'': Subverted. The titular character, who was about to turn thirteen, innocently thought that her father and stepmother were pretending not to remember the occasion because they were planning a surprise party, and took to bursting into different rooms in the house acting shocked and thrilled...only to find them empty. Turns out the entire family really ''did'' forget, and weren't even home because they were out taking a drive in the dad's new sports car.
* ''Wanda At Large'': Subverted in this short-lived sitcom. The titular character doesn't want anyone celebrating her birthday. She sees the lights in her apartment go off (it's just her friends) and she calls the cops. When the cops break in, and one friend mutters "Happy birthday" her only response is to look at the cops and say "Well? Shoot!"
* Subverted by ''[[Saved
* 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:
{{quote|
'''Eric:''' [["No. Just... No" Reaction|Dad: No!]] }}
* ''[[Malcolm in
** Happens to Dewey, of all people. He is the youngest child in the family, but he doesn't complain. Then, his parents decide to induce Lois's labour (she is pregnant at the time) so his new brother will get born on the same day. Spending the whole day trying to clue Hal to the fact that it is his birthday who is oblivious to it. Poor Dewey...
** Being the nice guy that he is, he makes sure it doesn't happen to his little brother. Spending all day (and Hal's credit card) to set up a birthday party just for Jamie.
* Happens to Pierce in the ''[[
* In an episode of ''[[Married...
** In another episode, they forgotten Kelly's birthday until they were reminded by learning her plans to watch a movie with her date for the occasion. Al then devised a plan to have an excuse to always forget. They'd invite Kelly to watch a movie with them, she'd refuse in favor of her date, and the Bundys would use it as an excuse to forget her birthday in every year after that. The plan backfired because Kelly decided to cancel the date instead. Al and Peggy's only relief was that Bud didn't have friends to remind them of ''his'' birthday.
* An early ''[[Eastenders]]'' plot deconstructed this trope, with a family planning a surprise birthday party to cheer up their depressed daughter {{spoiler|who runs away and spends weeks living on the street because she thought everyone forgot.}}
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== Western Animation ==
* In an episode of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987
* ''[[He
* In one episode each of ''[[Captain N:
* ''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.
* ''[[The Fairly
** 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.
* An episode of ''[[Johnny Test]]'' had Dukey thinking Johnny had forgotten his birthday. As it turns out, he was just waiting until he got his present before he acknowladge it.
* 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
* ''[[Dragon Tales]]'': Done with Ord's birthday in the first-season story "Ord's Unhappy Birthday"
* In an episode of ''[[
* ''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
* ''[[God, the Devil
{{quote|
* [[Looney Tunes]] has a variation. [[Daffy Duck]] finds out mice are having a party to which he is not invited, and attempts to crash it... only to find out in the end it was a surprise party for '''his''' birthday, which he forgot about.
* In "Moe'N'a Lisa", an episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Homer forgets he made plans to take Moe fishing on his birthday. Moe is devastated until Lisa, who sees a rich artistic side to Moe, decides to write about him for school.
** Another episode briefly makes use of this trope.
{{quote|
'''Bart:''' It's your birthday?
'''Homer:''' Yeah, don't you remember? It's the same day as the dog's.
'''Lisa:'''[gasps] Oh, Santa's Little Helper! It's your birthday?! We have to do something special! Yes we do!
'''Homer:'''[muttering] Stupid lovable mutt. }}
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
* ''[[
** Of course, [[It's All About Me|as usual]], Roger was being a complete [[Jerkass]] about it, effectively telling Stan and Francine that they should give up on Steve completely just so they can throw him exactly the kind of party he wants.
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'': After being freaked out and then downright terrified by [[The Dragon|Shego's]] [[Emotion Bomb|moodulator-induced]] mood swings from giddiness to weeping to fury, Drakken works up the nerve to ask "Did I forget your birthday? Is that what this is about?"
* 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
* Inverted in ''[[Scooby
* 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".
* One episode of ''[[South Park]]'' had a Christmas episode spent convincing everyone to remember all the good things about Christmas, like gift giving and being with family. The credits had a cut to Jesus, sitting all alone, sadly singing "Happy birthday to me..."
* Happened to both [[
* ''[[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.}}
* ''[[A Pup Named Scooby
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Plots]]
[[Category:Forgotten Birthday]]
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