Two good friends of mine had birthdays recently. One of those friends I met on my first day in primary school when we were four. Which led my mind back to what birthdays were like back in the 1950s.

Today’s birthday cakes can be works of art. Even a ready made shop bought birthday cake can look impressive. When I was little, my mum made a Victoria sponge, put jam in between the two sponge layers, decorated the top in plain icing and maybe some Smarties, put candles in little holders on top and a cake band around the sides. We had a glass cake stand which the cake was perched on – sitting on a doily of course! Wonderful!

Birthday cards always had a verse inside and were very often glittered. For a short time there was even a craze for scented cards. You could choose a flowery card for your mum or gran which had an appropriately flowery scent impregnated in it.

Party bags were unheard of. At a child’s birthday party in the 1950’s, your friends arrived with a card and a little present. You played party games, ate the party tea – sandwiches, biscuits, trifle, birthday cake, orange juice. The friends went home happy, tired and full.

The games mentioned above included Blind Man’s Buff, Musical Chairs, Hunt the Thimble, Pass the Parcel etc. All organised by the birthday child’s parents, or more often the mum. If your birthday fell on a weekday it took place after school.

Presents were small and simple. Craft sets were very popular (raffia, painting by numbers, and so on) as were jigsaws, card games like Happy Families or Old Maid, crayons and hair clips or ribbons (for girls). If a young girl was given a little bag or purse as a gift it was considered lucky to put a small coin in it like a silver sixpence.

It never occurred to any parents to hire a venue for a birthday party or to send all the guests home with a party bag.