• Birthday invitations are thought to date as far back as the first century AD! And Claudia Severa, wife of Roman commander Aelius Brocchus, sent out the first documented birthday invitation sometime during 100 AD. Known as the Vindolanda Tablets, these carbon-based ink slabs were made out of wooden leaf fragments, and served as an archaic precursor to what we currently refer to as “save the date” reminders!

• The Sultan of Brunei hosted the world’s most expensive birthday party to celebrate his 50th birthday. Its cost is estimated to be a whopping $27.2million, out of which three concerts featuring Michael Jackson cost $16 million of the total amount!

• The world’s most expensive birthday certificate belongs to Paul McCartney which was auctioned in March 1997 for $84,146USD.

• The number of people celebrating their birthday in August (about nine per cent) is more than the number of people celebrating birthdays in any other month of the year.

• February 29th comes once every four years so it’s the least common birth date.

Published in Dawn, Young World, July 23rd, 2016