Throwback Thursday — Birthday Royalty in Primary School

Throwback Thursday. The one day in the week that lets you travel back in time without paying for fuel or transport fare. It’s like a free bus ride to memory lane and today, we’re making all the stops.

Today we are reliving primary school birthday memories. The one day you became a king or queen in a sea of uniform-wearing subjects.

It didn’t matter if you were shy on a normal day, on your birthday, you walked into class wearing your finest mufti like a celebrity at a red carpet. 90s kids will remember the pride of rocking a shiny lace outfit or those starched jeans and a colorful T-shirt. 2000s kids, you probably wore your coolest sneakers and maybe even matching hair beads or butterfly clips. Everyone knew you were not there to solve maths that day, you were there to shine and be everyone’s gaze.

We can not forget the cake cutting ritual, back then, the cake wasn’t always from a fancy bakery; sometimes it was a homemade sponge cake covered with thick, sugary icing that left everyone’s tongue blue or pink. Your parents would come to set up the cake table — decorated with balloons, chin-chin, cabin biscuits, sweets and minerals (Fanta, Coke, Sprite) and you pose with your mates saying cheese to the camera at the front of your classroom.

There was also the birthday song in assembly. When they called your name, the whole school clapped and sang, “How old are you now?” and you would proudly say seven! or ten! while grinning like you just became the president.

The best part? The souvenirs — party packs filled with pencil sharpeners, erasers, low budget mini beach umbrellas, plastic Ben 10 watch and of course sweets. In the 90s, some even included tiny storybooks or those colorful biros that had four ink colors in one. In the 2000s, the packs started having glitter stickers and cartoon character rulers.

Then again, not every birthday came with cake. Some kids didn’t celebrate in school and you could see the sadness in their eyes when other classmates got cake and party packs. Sometimes, to save face, they would tell a quick cover-up story: “Ah, my cake is at home. My mummy said we will do it later.” Their friends would nod, pretending to believe them but deep down, they knew.

Still, whether you had cake or just warm wishes, birthdays as a kid were pure magic. No stress about bills or deadlines, just excitement, sugary icing and the bragging rights of saying, “It’s my birthday!” for the whole day.

Here’s to the memories of cake tables, party packs, mufti swagger and that special feeling of being the star of the show — if only for a day.

ENJOY YOUR THURSDAY