birthday

Sometimes things that qualify as a luxury item are big and obvious; they are encrusted with diamonds, have a well known name and an expensive price tag. Other times luxury can be defined as something small that you do for yourself or a friend. A small Portland, Oregon bakery called St. Cupcake falls into this category of small personal luxuries.

This local bakery has started an online delivery service for their incredibly popular cupcakes. The luxury for the consumer lies both in the incredible wide range of flavor choices and in the fact that you can have home baked taste delivered to your door without lifting a finger. The inspiration for the mail order cupcake business came to owner Jami Curl after customers themselves mentioned trying to ship her delicious baked goodies to friends to taste. Jami thought that "we could develop some packaging and a technique that would allow us to ship the cupcakes so they arrive on the recipient's door step fresh and perfect."

Hence the wonderful and unique online cupcake builder was born. Customers can choose their cake flavors, their icings and their sprinkle colors creating a truly bespoke cupcake. Often this allows for even greater freedom as customers have come up with unique combinations never anticipated by the owners and not sold in the bakery. The cupcakes come in three possible package combinations of 3, 6 or 12 cupcakes. Flavors of cupcakes include the basic vanilla and chocolate as well as more esoteric flavors such as pumpkin spice, carrot and vanilla toffee. A true west coast shop there are even vegan selections for those with dietary restrictions. The buttercream frosting selections include unusual flavors such as mint and fudge while the sprinkle choices vary from standard jimmies to rainbow nonpareil and toasted coconut. It seems that the shopping ends up being as much fun as the receiving.

The cupcakes arrive in an adorable kit with an icing wand and decorating tips. A perfect gift idea for a birthday or even to send to your own family when you are too busy to make home made treats for your children. A simple little luxury ranging in price from $10.00 for three cupcakes to $35.00 for a package of twelve.

In an odd twist of luxury snobbery goes silly, Jaeger-LeCoultre actually named this clock the Atmos Birthday - to celebrate the 80th birthday of the (almost) perpetual, atmospheric movement of the Atmos clock line. The simple design and background spells out a series of "Atmos Birthday" words. Looking at the clock head-on you see the dial in mostly rhodium plated steel with parts of the back in mother-of-pearl (in blue or pink). The movement is hidden in the back. In addition to the time, the Atmos Birthday has a month and moon phase indicator. The large balance wheel sits below as the entire complex contraption sits in a pedestal with a plate for custom engraving, inside of a crystal class case.

Although the Atmos movement is now over 80 years old (introduced in 1928), the movement still feels as modern as ever with its almost impossible petite power consumption, feeding off of slight changes in a rooms temperature. All hand made, and limited to just 8 pieces.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Wow, Madonna is finally turning 50. And what does the superstar music icon who has everything want most for her birthday? The one thing she's been denied, of course: a baby girl adopted from Malawi.

Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie have had a strained marriage as of late due to Madonna's desire to adopt again and Guy's resistance to the idea. Apparently he's changed his mind, though, as reports are he'll be giving Madonna a love letter on her birthday with a written pledge in it to not only allow the adoption but to actively help her fight for it.

And that's not all! Other gifts will include a pledge to spend more time with her in New York, a rose named after her, a 45 minute video of their family put together by Guy, and a bespoke Bulgari necklace and earrings set valued at almost $500,000.

The price of cards keeps going up, but for just a little more you can say happy birthday to a friend with something a little more permanent. The vivid convertible roller pen from Retro 51 comes in a box covered with birthday greetings that match the pen inside. There is also a Congratulations box for other occasions. The pen sells for $22.50.

Having a celebrity girlfriend who can pretty much buy herself whatever she wants could have posed a challenge for hockey player Mike Comry when sweetheart Hilary Duff's birthday came around, but if it did he managed not to show it and pulled off a wonderful gift with flying colors. He surprised her with a week-early birthday present of a Mercedes-Benz G-class SUV sitting in her garage. Apparently she had been talking about getting a new vehicle for awhile beforehand, but she never suspected the $100,000+ gift. He actually had her thinking she was getting shoes, of all things.

70 year old Joan Hardee got quite the birthday greeting in the mail when she received a painting from artist Damien Hirst. Joan had been Hirst's college secretary, so when her son was planning a surprise birthday party he asked Hirst if he wouldn't make a special card for her. Hirst, though, took it a step farther and sent her an entire painting instead with the words "Happy Birthday Joan" written on it. At the time the painting had an estimated value of £30,000.

Joan Hardee had attempted to sell the painting back in 2001 (rumors are she couldn't afford to insure it) but was unsuccessful, so assuming she still has it how much to do suppose it's worth now?

Sometimes you've got to wonder at what point a kiddie party becomes more about the parents than it does about the kids. I'm sure they all love their children dearly and have the best of intentions, but kids can only appreciate so much when it comes to extravagance and money spent. Birthday parties have become the new way for parents to both shower their children with love and impress the competition,*ahem*, neighbors, at the same time. Gone are the days of balloons and cake in the backyard, replaced instead with renting entire clubs and candy stores while serving dinner on fine china. These days some people are spending upwards of $30000, $40000, and even $50,000+ on their children's birthday parties.

Ridiculous, or simple displays of affection from those who can afford it? You decide, I'm too jealous.

For her 25th birthday, Beyonce Knowles got a very pricey gift from boyfriend Jay-Z. He picked out a 1959 Rolls Royce convertible with an estimated value of $1 million dollars, though the full amount he paid for the car will probably be known only to him and the dealer.

Even with a steep price tag, the gift doesn't quite measure up to the $5.4 million necklace Mariah Carey got from her prince, but it's safe to say that Beyonce could have done a lot worse than this car.

As they say, what goes around comes around. And if you’re a fashion designer who has gone, come and gone around again by the time your label is 60 years old, then that’s a birthday well-worth celebrating. The Italian design house, Emilio Pucci, has issued a tank top in celebration of the milestone birthday. Pucci was first made famous by his swirling mid-century silk scarves, which were donned by the likes of Italian film queens such as Claudia Cardinale and Sophia Loren. The white and black top features a stylized screen print of a chic mademoiselle – the very vision of the lady of leisure and sunshine that once typified the “Pucci girl” in the early days of the label. Understated and simple, the stretch cotton jersey tee is matches anything from basic denim to a wilder Pucci print. This tank top is Pucci print for women who worry that they can’t pull off Pucci prints.  Price: $245.

This New York Times article about the TV show My Super Sweet 16 really got me thinking about spending. The show, if you are unfamiliar with it, is a reality program that follows the planning and preparation for some of the most expensive teenage birthday parties in the country. Many of the parties cost upwards of $200,000, not including the gifts of cars, clothes and jewelry that many of the lucky kids receive in addition.

The show has its fans and its critics, but the critics are always the most vocal, saying that such "celebrations of self... [are] an excuse to prolong the whiny, self-centered greediness that gives infantile a bad name." In contrast, a mother whose daughter appeared on the show said "Unless they were crazy or hated their child, any parent who was financially able would do it." Would they? Is there a point where the spending for a child's entertainment should stop?