Neon Happy Birthday Signs

Happy Birthday Neon Lights

A birthday is something to celebrate no matter how old you are. Not just a marker of another calendar year passing and an excuse for your parents to reminisce about your birth, birthdays are a chance to show someone how much you appreciate them. Whether it’s just a gift and a card or a full-blown party, a ‘Happy Birthday’ neon light can be the perfect present.

You could choose a simple, classy sign saying ‘Happy Birthday’, but the great thing about modern neon lights is that they use LEDs, making them very adaptable. You could have every letter of your ‘Happy Birthday’ sign in a different colour, or you can have colours change or flash. If you want something more elaborate, you can get signs with balloons. Party hats or cakes surrounding the words ‘Happy Birthday’.

Neon Party Signs

If you are throwing a birthday party and your happy birthday neon sign is part of your party decorations, you may want a sign that ties in with your theme.  Neon wall lights are available with all kinds of images and words.  You could have a light-up sign with a crate of beer or a unicorn, or a rainbow.  If you like words, you can find neon party lights with slogans such as ‘A Little Party Never Hurt Nobody’, ‘Til Death Do Us Party’ or ‘Let the Music Play’.

Personalised Neon Signs for a Birthday

A thoughtful idea is to personalise a happy birthday led light.  A personalised birthday sign could incorporate the birthday boy or girl’s name, age, something they love or a mixture of all three to make a unique, one-of-a-kind happy birthday neon light.  Alternatively, if you know of a particular quote, lyric or maxim that they are particularly fond of, you can make the words into a custom neon sign as a birthday gift.

You can use our Bespoke Neon Sign Builder to help you make your own neon sign.  If you are unsure or would like some advice, you can also give our friendly staff a call, and they would be happy to help.

Neon Numbers

Numbers are an intrinsic part of birthdays. You can get neon numbers in all shapes and colours, and they look great either on a wall or on a stand. We have all the digits from 0 to 9, and we can put them together in whatever combination fits the birthday you are celebrating. You can get a birthday light for a milestone birthday using words, such as ‘Hello Thirty’ or ’50 & Fabulous’. Combining words and numbers for a light-up happy birthday sign can create a unique present that will really commemorate the occasion and can be kept as a memento.

Milestone Birthdays

While birthdays come around every year, some are more notable than others. For little ones, every birthday is momentous, but as we get older, some become more important. They tend to be the birthdays that mark the end of a decade, such as 30 or 40. Other milestone birthdays treated as special landmarks are the16th, 18th and 21st birthdays as they are viewed as coming of age occasions. The other significant birthday that everyone tends to mark is their 50th birthday because reaching half a century really seems like something to be celebrated.

There is research to suggest that celebrating milestone birthdays is good for us. Having temporal landmarks helps us mark time and stops the sensation that life is rushing past too fast. Memorably observing a milestone birthday gives a definitive point in time to date memories from and punctuates our timeline.

Having a party for a milestone birthday is also one of the few times we get a chance to applaud getting older. While time passing is often viewed as a negative thing, a milestone birthday gives you a chance to be proud of what you have achieved, overcome and enjoyed since the last milestone. Having a party for someone’s big birthday is a great excuse to get family and friends together and show them just how much they are appreciated.

16th Birthday

A sweet sixteen party is a traditional American way to wish someone a happy 16th birthday. While boys also celebrate their 16th birthday, sweet sixteen tends to be more for the girls. It comes from a mixture of traditions, partly European and partly Mexican. In Mexico, a girl’s 15th birthday is special and known as quinceañera. Dating back to the 1600s, the upper classes in countries like France and England would bring their daughters, called debutantes, to be presented to the King and Queen and high society so everyone would know they were available for marriage. The idea of 15 or 16 being when a girl comes of age seems to have created the concept of sweet sixteen birthdays.

18th Birthday

An 18th birthday is usually celebrated as one of the big ones because it’s seen as the turning point between childhood and adulthood. In many countries, 18 is when you are legally allowed to do things like vote, marry, drink alcohol and drive. Having a big happy eighteenth birthday party to get family and friends together to celebrate the end of your childhood is a great idea.

21st Birthday

You may be wondering why your 21st birthday is the landmark occasion and not your 20th birthday. Weirdly, the reason goes back to medieval chivalry! The ideal career for a boy centuries ago was to be a knight. Training began at age 7 when boys became pages, basically running a knight’s errands. If they made it to 14, the boys would become squires and become more involved in battles and receive training. The training culminated at 21 years old when those who qualified would officially become knights. Although 18 is now the age most are considered adults, the idea that 21 is when a child becomes an adult has persisted, and so it is widely celebrated.

30th Birthday

It’s only in recent decades that your 30th birthday has been regarded as a landmark. It seems to mark the transition from being an irresponsible 20-year-old to becoming a mature, settled adult. Expectations are that you can be carefree and frivolous up until you turn 30, and then you should take responsibility for your actions and start planning for the future. This has led to your 30th birthday being regarded as your last chance to be wild and reckless! Thirty-year-olds tend to have more money, and a 30th birthday party is usually planned by the one celebrating.

You may have heard the expression ‘have a happy dirty 30th birthday’ over the last few years. Many think it refers to having a crazy, drunk 30th birthday party. However, the phrase ‘dirty thirty’ comes from reports in the 1950s that a woman’s libido increased after 30 years old. Women were also believed to be more aware of their biological clock counting down after 30. Researchers alleged this led to women becoming less discriminatory in their choice of boyfriends. While its origins are not widely known, ‘dirty thirty’ is becoming more widely used because the words rhyme and sound fun. A nicer phrase that is also becoming popular is ‘thirty, flirty and thriving’

50th Birthday

The big one! Surviving half a century is certainly an excellent reason to celebrate your birthday with family and friends. Thankfully in modern days, reaching 50 isn’t as rare an achievement as it was in years gone by, and 50-year-olds can still look forward to decades of fulfilling activities. This makes it fun to celebrate your 50th birthday and take time to look back at what you have achieved and start planning for the future. It’s common to use terms like ‘fabulously 50’ and ‘nifty fifty’ for the lucky person celebrating.

100th Plus Birthday

Not many people reach the grand old age of 100, so it genuinely is a special occasion. In the UK, you can receive a congratulatory card from the Queen if you notify the Palace a month in advance. While a centenarian is unlikely to enjoy a wild birthday party, they will appreciate being honoured by their friends and family.

Why Celebrate a Birthday?

There is a theory that we celebrate birthdays from a primal feeling of relief that we have survived for another year. Many birthday traditions came from pagan roots when rites such as lighting candles were carried out for protection. Wherever the origins, the majority of people celebrate birthdays in some fashion.

For most, a birthday is an occasion to reflect on the time that has passed since your last birthday and plan for the upcoming year. Wishing someone a happy birthday gives you an opportunity to let them know how much you appreciate them. Throwing a birthday party is a great excuse to get family and friends together to catch up and spend some quality time together. It also provides a way to mark the passage of time and create lasting memories. A card with a heartfelt message and a thoughtful birthday present are excellent ways to celebrate a birthday.