How to celebrate a birthday at home

Fiona Logan

Former digital editor Fiona (aka Fee). She’s a qualified patisserie chef and loves to bake for others in her spare time.

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Birthdays are funny-old things. Whether you like to go BIG or simply prefer to stay home, there’s one thing that all birthdays tend to have in common: people. So what happens when you decide to take things low-key and celebrate your birthday at home.

Just because you’re laying low, there’s no reason why you can’t have a full-on birthday bonanza at home. We’re talking DIY birthday cakes, virtual quizzes and birthday cocktails galore. It’s going to be a birthday you’re unlikely to forget in a hurry…

Party food

The cake

At home or not, every birthday requires cake. And the best part is, this year you get to choose your own flavour. Whether you’ve been pining after a red velvet cake or fancy a chocolatey number, no one is standing in your way. Or, if you don’t want birthday cake at all and fancy birthday cookies instead – you do you, we say!

Click here to discover all of our celebration cake recipes.

The nibbles

Just in case you needed reminding, YOU get to make the rules on your birthday. If you want to spend all day in your PJs tucking into homemade sausage rolls – go for it! Or, get stuck into a tasty project and give these homemade samosas or our DIY pretzels a go. They’re a fantastic way of putting your cooking skills to the test and the reward at the end of all your hard work really is worth it.

But if sweet nibbles are the only way you’d consider celebrating a birthday, try our decadent homemade chocolate and tiffin truffles or give our jammy biscuits a go. Plus, no one is allowed to judge you for how many you eat…

The birthday dinner

Avoiding restaurants or saving money? Why not make yourself a restaurant bucket-list for another time? Or, order in from somewhere you’d never have thought of ordering from before; you might be surprised at the number of places now delivering. Plus, you’ll be able to give something back to the restaurant industry which seriously needs your help right now.

Cacio e pepe — What’s the ultimate birthday recipe that makes you drool?

If you do fancy doing the cooking, then go for a meal that fills you with comfort and joy. Only you can decide what that is; maybe it’s a creamy bowl of cacio e pepe or a batch of birthday fajitas?

The tipples

Cheers to you! Whether you’re in the mood for some alcoholic cocktails or mocktails, we’ve got a whole host of recipes to ring in your birthday in style. Our elderflower prosecco with cucumber makes a refreshing and seasonal tipple at this time of year. Or if gin is more your poison, then take a look at these 25 cocktails made using gin.

pina colada recipe — If you like pińa coladas, then this is the birthday cocktail for you…

At-home birthday activities

Disclaimer: watching Netflix all day long on your birthday is absolutely acceptable. But if you’re in the mood to try something new, fancy flexing your kitchen skills or need something to occupy your day, here are 50 food and drink activities which are excellent tools to pass the time at home.

Or, as a birthday gift to you (from you), treat yourself to that online cookery course you’ve always fancied taking. There are plenty of free and paid-for courses available online; for the likes of bread-making, knife skills and learning how to make specific cuisines.

We’ve also got the ultimate quiz for foodies, which you can do virtually with friends or challenge yourself to.

Happy birthday from delicious.