On the day she turned 28, journalist Darshita Goyal, a self-anointed birthday crier for many years, decided to switch things up. She hosted a party, sure, but it wasn’t any party: she rented out a matcha bar, got a whiteboard and markers, bought packets all her favourite chips, and threw a chips-tasting party. Goyal asked her friends to bring their favourite chips too, so they could also have a ‘best chip’ contest. “I love eating chips,” she shrugs. “I have always wondered what the best chips were, and I wanted to do a survey of my own. We got around 25 flavours, made a score sheet, all of us tried each chip and rated it based not just on flavour but also vibes, nostalgia and packaging.”
Craft-based parties have been birthday-changing for Goyal, who held a cakes-and-crowns party last year, where she and her friends exchanged mini slices of cake and made paper crowns together at a craft table she set up. “It’s a way to distract yourself from crying on your birthday. For years, I would have emotional outbursts without any real reason. But I haven’t done any birthday crying in the last two years.” Goyal isn’t the only one with birthday blues. For many, a birthday can be a complicated affair. It presents itself as a day of celebration, only complete with gifts, cake and loved ones, yet it can also bring a range of complex emotions with it.
