I think December-babies must work extra hard to ensure their birthday parties stand out from all the other holiday festivities. There’s no other way to explain the two awesome birthday parties I went to in the past two weeks.

David Hirtle hosted a Geekathlon for his 30th birthday party. Attendees competed to claim the Geek gold medal with events featuring a classic video game (Sonic), computer game (Star Control), card game (WoW), board game (Settler of Catan), and nerdy trivia. I did ok in most events, but my Geek-fu wasn’t nearly as strong as my competitors. I’m thinking of hosting a follow-up for my 30th birthday in March.

Emily and Tina’s annual joint-birthday party was themed after the Portlandia Put a Bird On It skit. It was great to see all the creative costumes, with lots of birds and hipsters on display. Lots more photos here.