Twenty-First Birthdays

Today marks the last 21st birthday of one of my friends - thank goodness. Now, I don't mean that in a negative way, but a lot more goes into a 21st birthday celebration than would would think. You have to get balloons, create a sign, plan a party, bake a cake, make jello-shots, post a "HAPPY BDAY, ILY" Instagram, and much, much more.

Let's start with the sign:

This sign marks a milestone in a young lady's life. Believe it or not, this sign will be with her for the rest of the night. If you aren't quite sure what sign I'm talking about, think of an Thursday through Saturday in downtown Athens where you saw a girl with a cut out poster board in a shape of food, an animal, or a flower with the worlds "Name's 21st!" These things take weeks to design and create - trust me I'm making my 9th one right now! It wasn't until my junior year that I fully understood the point of these things. The sign is usually something funny or cute that depicts you - your favorite thing. For example, tonight's birthday girl LOVES Sour Patch Kids, so her sign is in the shape of a Sour Patch. When it is one of your friends' 21st birthdays, expect your timeline to be flooded with photos of her. EVERYONE wants to take a photo with the sign.

Next, the Insta post:

If you don't post it didn't happen.  There are two kinds of posts on a 21st birthday. First, the sentimental, obligatory post that shows the world you are the 21st birthday girls best friend - oh and of course to make her feel special.  These are the photos that flood anyone in your circles new feed all night. The second kind is the birthday girls post. Where she goes to the local liquor store, in Athens it is almost always 5 Points Bottle Shop, and posts holding her license and a bottle of something. It is basically her right of passage.

As I prepare for my ninth 21st birthday celebration tonight, I reflected on all the other ones.  Social media has played a huge part of every single one.  Aside form the obligatory instagram posts, there are the 21 second mystory on the checklist, the Facebook event to invite everyone to your pre game, and the "hey, the birthday girl lost her phone last night, lmk if you find it" post (which we have always recovered the next day).

Thank you social media, for making 21st birthdays worth it.