History Main / NotSoForgottenBirthday

** In another episode it turns out Ricky has taken precautions against this, by always keeping a box of chocolates and a birthday card hidden in the closet, which he calls his "emergency present."

If the birthday is truly forgotten, or if nobody cares about it, it may lead to OnePersonBirthdayParty. Contrast IronicBirthday, when the birthday character is stressed or depressed about something ''other'' than their surprise party.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/CareBears1980s'' has this as its B-plot, with Birthday Bear lamenting that his friends have forgotten his birthday even as they seek to help out a LonelyRichKid who's birthday party goes unattended because his wealth has alienated him from his peers. By episode's end, though, it turns out that not only did the other Care Bears and Cousins ''not'' forget Birthday Bear's birthday, they were planning a surprise party for him all along.

* On ''[[WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Total Drama World Tour]],'' [[CoolLoser Cody]] is so used to people forgetting his birthday that ''he'' forgets it... but [[LoonyFan Sierra]] doesn't.

[[index]]
* NotSoForgottenBirthday/AnimeAndManga
* NotSoForgottenBirthday/FanWorks
* NotSoForgottenBirthday/LiveActionTV
* NotSoForgottenBirthday/WesternAnimation
[[/index]]

* This happens to WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck in "The Duck that Never Was", a Creator/DonRosa comic story celebrating the 60th anniversary of Donald's creation. However, the "forgotten birthday" plot is really only briefly touched upon and Donald, unlike most of the examples of the trope, ''does'' directly tell his nephews that it's his birthday when they pretend they've forgotten.

[[folder:PuppetShows]]
* ''[[WesternAnimation/{{Dumbo}} Dumbo's Circus]]'' uses this trope on Dumbo's birthday.

* ''Series/UnderTheUmbrellaTree'' uses this trope on Iggy's birthday.

* ''ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}}'': Tim forgot his own birthday due to being busy as Robin, turning the small party his stepmother put together with his girlfriend into a surprise party at the last minute.

A major character is sure everybody's forgotten his or her birthday (or perhaps a similar occasion) and wanders around in an angry funk until surprise! They not only remembered it, they threw a SurpriseParty!

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'': Due to the events of the athletic festival and the second mid-term exams, the students forget about Irina's birthday. To make it up to her, [[ShipperOnDeck they secretly arrange for Karasuma]] to present her with a birthday gift. [[spoiler: The plan backfires thanks to Karasuma's blunt insensitivity towards her feelings, setting the stage for the "Reaper" to manipulate her into betraying the class.]]
* Episode 2 of ''Anime/{{Classicaloid}}'' is this for the protagonist, Kanae. In this series it results in an unleashing of the musical magic that is Mujik (and in this instance, giving Motes an EstrogenBrigade). [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Also, there's boob cake]] alongside Beethes' usual gyoza.
* ''Manga/DrStone'': In chapter 55, Gen manages to calculate Senku's birthday from an offhand comment and organizes the village to celebrate. Everyone has been petrified for three thousand years, so Senku was the only one paying attention to the exact date. He's moved and impressed that Gen figured it out. Even better, [[spoiler:it was already a holiday for the village. The village was founded by Senku's father three thousand years ago, and he made his son's birthday a holiday]].
* ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'': Hayate struggles to pull this off with the extra impetus that the place that the birthday girl, Ayumu, is trying to convince him to admit that he knows is where they're planning to hold the party, so Hayate has to get her to vacate the premises first. Nagi then manages to call her back for the actual party.
* ''Anime/{{IGPX|ImmortalGrandPrix}}'': Occurs completely by the book in an early episode to Amy, who has had workaholic parents her entire life and only recently made friends with the members of the team. In something of a subversion, her (absent) parents actually do forget her birthday.
* A variant in chapter 12 of ''Maka-Maka'': Nene assumes that Jun forgot her birthday all day long, but the latter finally calls her up late at night when she's finally not so busy. Cue TearsOfJoy from the former after Jun gives her a heartfelt speech.
* ''Anime/MyHime'' episode 10. Made somewhat more surprising for the audience (and thus less {{Anvilicious}}) by not revealing what exactly Mai is upset about until the very end.
* In ''Manga/RosarioPlusVampire'', when Tsukune's birthday was coming up, and he wanted to ask [[LoveInterest Moka]] to spend the day with him. At the same time, he was disappointed that she didn't seem to remember it herself. After some misunderstandings and a close call with the MonsterOfTheWeek, he woke up in the hospital on his birthday, for Moka to reveal that she hadn't forgotten and to give him his present... and a LoveConfession!
* Inverted in ''Anime/RurouniKenshin''. Kenshin believed he had forgotten Kaoru's birthday when she was actually expecting him to propose during a holiday that served for the purpose.
* ''Anime/SailorMoon'':
** PlayedForDrama in ''Anime/SailorMoon R'' when Chibiusa flashes back to a memory of her birthday passing ignored and uncelebrated because her parents, the king and queen, are away on government business. Wiseman draws out this memory and uses it to help convince Chibiusa that she is unloved, bringing about her transformation into [[FaceHeelTurn Black Lady]]. In the IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight that follows, Sailor Moon tries to draw out the rest of the memory - the Sailor Senshi holding a surprise party for her the day ''after'' her birthday so that her parents could be there. [[spoiler:However, Wiseman convinces Black Lady that this is a lie, and it takes some extra work on Sailor Moon's part to get through to Chibiusa]].
** An episode of ''Sailor Moon S'' features Usagi thinking all her friends forgot her birthday, including her boyfriend Mamoru. It later turns out her friends were throwing her a surprise party and they help her realize that Mamoru didn't forget her birthday; he didn't even know when her birthday was because she never told him.
* ''Manga/SchoolRumble''. The class celebrates Tenma's birthday but they don't know Harima was born a day after. Yakumo is the only one who remembered and even gave him a present.
* ''Manga/SgtFrog'': Keroro does this to Natsumi in one episode, while Fuyuki insists that Natsumi wouldn't enjoy it. Much to his chagrin, he finds his sister not only has a good time at the party, but completely fell for the ploy.
* Unluckily, in ''Anime/TamakoMarket'' Tamako's birthday falls on 31st of December. In the first episode, everyone temporarily forgets they were going to Tamako's house for her birthday when [[TalkingAnimal Dera]] chokes on mochi. Tamako says something like that happens every year, because New Year's Eve is such a hectic day at the market. Apparently Mochizou has a drawer full of presents he has failed to give Tamako, though it's not clear how much is because of the obvious nervousness and how much is because New Year's Eve around the market is so busy that he never gets opportunity.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* Averted in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10751741/9/Call-Me Call Me]]''. Lisa mentions shopping for Harry's birthday and comments that she doesn't do pretending to have forgotten because she thinks it's mean.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2135677/4/Fated Fated]]'' Harry thinks the other occupants of Grimmauld Place have forgotten his birthday until Ron and Hermione take him to a surprise party at the Leaky Cauldron.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9712234/1/Happy-Birthday-Or-Is-It Happy Birthday - Or Is It?]]'' Hermione thinks Harry and Ron have forgotten her birthday until she walks into a surprise party in the Gryffindor common room.
* In ''It's What Day Today?'', Wilson goes through the whole day thinking everybody's forgotten his birthday until the end of the story when House throws him a surprise party.
-->'''Wilson:''' House, I didn't think you liked surprise parties!\\
'''House:''' I hate surprise parties, but it's not my birthday.
* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8429437/5/The-Perils-of-Innocence The Perils of Innocence]]'' Harry is annoyed when the doctors and staff at Esperança House appear to have forgotten his birthday, until Hermione leads him to the surprise party they organized because they wanted to do something special for his tenth birthday.
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4055332/24/Unexpected Unexpected]]'':
-->'''Hermione:''' I thought you had all forgotten. No one said anything at all; it was just 'time for breakfast'.\\
'''Harry:''' I asked them to wait for me to give you the necklace. These geniuses couldn't figure out a way to stall except to pretend to forget your birthday.
* In chapter 19 of the ''Harvest Moon 64'' fic ''Fanfic/WineRedNoKokoro'', Karen thinks her friends and family have forgotten her birthday. In reality they were having a surprise party at the bar.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Happens to Pierce in the ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "[[Recap/CommunityS2E10MixologyCertification Mixology Certification]]". The rest of the group convinces him it happened otherwise. Or so they think -- during his MotiveRant in [[Recap/CommunityS2E16IntermediateDocumentaryFilmmaking Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking]]", it's revealed that he wasn't as fooled as they thought.
* On ''Series/ADifferentWorld'', Whitley is sure everyone forgot her 21st birthday and is upset that her boyfriend Julian attended a business dinner instead of celebrating with her. (It probably would have helped if she had ''told'' Julian that it was her birthday.) Kim and Jalessa hastily plan a surprise party in the dorm while Ron and Dwayne plan to "kidnap" her. [[HilarityEnsues The kidnap plot fails]], Whitley gets tipsy on [[AndNinetyNineCents cheap wine]], and ends the night celebrating with the girls at a diner.
* In ''Series/DrakeAndJosh''. Drake forgets Josh's birthday for real. At one point Josh thinks Drake is planning a surprise party - which he is, but it's for his girlfriend, whom he's been dating for less than a week. The rest of the episode features Drake trying to make up for it, and of course things go horribly wrong, until Drake ends up planning a party for Josh.
* An early ''Series/EastEnders'' plot deconstructed this trope, with a family planning a surprise birthday party to cheer up their depressed daughter [[spoiler:who runs away and spends weeks living on the street because she thinks everyone forgot]].
* In a later episode of ''Series/FamilyMatters'', Steve goes through a bit of a depression when everyone forgets his 20th birthday. When Carl finds out, he tries to make it up to him.
* In ''Series/TheFreshBeatBand'', Marina thinks everyone forgot, but she's wrong.
* In one episode of ''Series/FullHouse'', everyone really does forget about Kimmy's birthday because D.J. is so wrapped up in plans for the anniversary of her first date with Steve, which happens to be on the same day. Once D.J. realizes her error, the Tanner clan immediately pulls out all the stops to throw a party on ''very'' short notice - complete with toilet paper decorations and a hash brown "cake" pulled from the freezer. She's delighted by the party until a comment from Steve tips her off to what really happened, and is hurt by the realization, but everything gets sorted by the end of the episode.
* Subverted on ''Series/GrowingPains'' as Maggie makes the mistake of going out of her way to tell husband Jason she doesn't want a big birthday party. It takes a while for her to grasp that Jason isn't playing dumb, he honestly ''believed'' she wanted no party and never bothered with one.
* ''Series/ILoveLucy'':
** In one episode, Lucy asks Ricky to not acknowledge her birthday, then complains and storms out when he does as she says.
** In another episode it turns out Ricky has taken precautions against this, by always keeping a box of chocolates and a birthday card hidden in the closet, which he calls his "emergency present."
* In one episode for the Creator/Studio100 series ''Series/KabouterPlop'' called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OKCx_vkhMw "Plops Verjaardagstaart"]]. Plop gets excited for his birthday since he sees a huge birthday cake in his home and decided to wait hours until his friends arrive. He later starts crying, thinking that they've all forgotten his birthday until he hears the cake raising, revealing all of his friends hiding inside the cake.
* An episode of ''Series/MakoMermaidsAnH2OAdventure'' involves Evie thinking Zac forgot her birthday while he avoids her to plan a surprise party. However, it's only Zac; everyone else involved with the party decides that it would be more suspicious ''not'' to at least acknowledge her birthday, and Mimmi even attempts a distraction by giving Evie her birthday present early.
* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'':
** Happens to Dewey, of all people. He is the youngest child in the family, but he doesn't complain. Then, his parents decide to induce Lois's labour (she is pregnant at the time) so his new brother will get born on the same day. So he spends the whole day trying to clue Hal, who is oblivious, in to the fact that it is his birthday. In the end, he makes sure his father never forgets again by announcing over the loudspeaker in front of hundreds of people that Hal forgot his son's birthday. Hal quickly leaves the convention after everyone starts giving him a disgusted look.
** Being the nice guy that he is, he makes sure it doesn't happen to his little brother. He spends all day (and Hal's credit card) to set up a birthday party just for Jamie.
* In ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'', they forget Kelly's birthday until they're reminded by learning of her plans to watch a movie with her date for the occasion. Al then devises a plan to have an excuse to always forget: They'd invite Kelly to watch a movie with them, she'd refuse in favor of her date, and the Bundys would use this as an excuse to forget her birthday every year after that. The plan backfires because Kelly decides to cancel the date instead. Al and Peggy's only relief was that Bud didn't have friends to remind them of ''his'' birthday.
* This was subverted in the short-lived series ''Molloy''. The titular character, who was about to turn thirteen, innocently thought that her father and stepmother were pretending not to remember the occasion because they were planning a surprise party, and took to bursting into different rooms in the house acting shocked and thrilled... only to find them empty. Turns out the entire family really ''did'' forget, and weren't even home because they were out taking a drive in the dad's new sports car.[[note]]It was an especially painful jerk move because it was Molloy's first birthday since the death of her mother. To his credit, her father did remember the next day, and felt absolutely terrible, but the damage was done.[[/note]]
* In one episode of ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', Abby is in a funk because she thinks that Gibbs forgot her birthday. (The fact that he's spending the entire day working a case doesn't help.) It then turns out that he already slipped a birthday gift into her desk without her noticing, despite the fact that she's spent the entire day in her lab. Then again, this ''is'' Gibbs.
* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': Inverted in the episode "The Birthday Bag". Miss Brooks forgets ''her own'' birthday, while everybody else remembers and throws her a surprise party.
* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
** An early episode of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' revolved around Zack thinking his friends forgot his birthday, only to find out they had a huge surprise party planned.
** In the ''Series/PowerRangersTurbo'' episode "Bicycle Built for the Blues", the older Rangers have to steer Justin away from both his birthday party and their plans to invite his father. They succeed, and a discouraged Justin accepts an anonymous gift - a bike outfitted with a bomb, a trap planted by one of Divatox's minions for him to find. After Justin is rescued and Ranger business is taken care of, Justin is allowed into his party, and delighted that his father made it there.
* Doubly subverted in ''Series/SavedByTheBell'': they actually do forget Screech's birthday, and they spend the episode making it up to him.
* In ''Series/SisterSister'', the twins' depression over the forgotten birthday, combined with a well-placed message from a rich uncle (along with a bit of the wealth), results in them being stranded in Chicago during a snowstorm, having to use their [[TwinSwitch twin powers]] to make it home to Detroit on the back of one train ticket. And yes, they did start bawling like Lucy when the surprise was sprung.
* In ''Series/That70sShow'', Red and Eric really did forget Kitty's birthday, and then tried to pretend like they were planning to invoke this trope all along by giving her some cheap presents they'd bought at the gas station at 11:40 P.M. She sees right through it, leading to:
-->'''Red''': Well, Kitty, marking the calendar is your responsibility!\\
'''Eric''': [[NoJustNoReaction Dad. No!]]
* In the MadeForTVMovie ''Film/TowerOfTerror'', [[spoiler:Abigail Gregory slightly overreacts to her birthday being supposedly forgotten. She kills off her sister and four other people with witchcraft, leaving their cursed ghosts trapped in limbo for sixty years. Little stuff like that. Oh, and it turns out that a surprise party had been planned all along]].
* Invoked in an episode of ''Series/StuckInTheMiddle'', in which Harley tries to prevent her family from knowing it's her birthday to guilt them into giving her the best seat in the family car. She gives up the ploy after Georgie tells her how important it is for families to share birthdays, especially since her older siblings will be leaving home soon.
* ''Series/WandaAtLarge'': Subverted in this short-lived sitcom. The titular character doesn't want anyone celebrating her birthday. She sees the lights in her apartment go off (it's just her friends) and she calls the cops. When the cops break in, and one friend mutters "Happy birthday," her only response is to look at the cops and say "Well? Shoot!"
* In one episode of ''Series/WhatILikeAboutYou,'' Gary believes Holly's forgotten his birthday because she gives him a cheap, convenience store gift and claims the ''real'' gift is in the mail. He gives her such a hard time about it that by the time his real, pre-ordered-well-in-advance gift does arrive, she's no longer in a celebratory mood. He does apologize for assuming the worst in the end.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTeddyRuxpin'': Happens in the aptly named "Teddy's Birthday." While too nice to outright say it, Teddy spends much of the episode subtly dropping hints as to why this day of all days would be important, but fails to get any recognition from his friends, including his oldest one Grubby. Resigned to a normal dayz the Trio travel to a plain where Gimmick claims is a fascinating rock outcropping he wants to study, only to find the Jungle and Surf Grunges have there. Soon they're joined by the Wooly Whatsit, the Fobs, the Nogbert Royal Family, and various others, with Grubby suggesting they start up a baseball game to amuse themselves. When the game ends with Teddy's team victorious, Leota suggest the game ball be given to Teddy to help him remember his surprise birthday party.
* The ''WesternAnimation/AngryBirdsToons'' episode "Another Birthday" featured a pig who tried to remind everyone that today was his birthday, but all the pigs ignored him or didn't care. At the end of the episode, the pig unhappily returns home for the night, only to find the other pigs throwing a surprise birthday celebration for him.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' has the [[ManChild titular character (a super-spy)]] get offended when his co-workers seemingly forget about his birthday. The sub-plot only lasts about five minutes, though, as it's quickly revealed that they ''did'' remember and his boss/mother got him a CoolCar as a gift.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'', Ginger's closest friend, Macie Lightfoot, has a 13th birthday that really is forgotten by her incredibly absent-minded parents. Although they are truly upset that they forgot such an important event, they then proceed to give her a birthday that caters more to small children than to their daughter's appropriate age (even giving her a swing set which she was years beyond). Despite this, Macie still thinks it's wonderful gift because she's just happy that they acknowledged her birthday.
%% * ''WesternAnimation/TheBiskitts'' did this one to the letter.
* The aptly named ''WesternAnimation/BobTheBuilder'' episode ''Bob's Birthday'' has the crew pretend not to know it's his birthday so as to throw him a surprise party.
* In one episode each of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'' and the children's program ''Series/TodaysSpecial'', a character ([[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man]] and Scott the living mannequin, respectively) feels left out because they are not truly alive and therefore cannot have a birthday. Special surprises are prepared for each; in the Mega Man example, it means a chance to become a living being.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko''. The premise: About three days after it happened, Yumi gives Ulrich the cold shoulder. Odd tells Ulrich this too late. Ulrich tries to make up with Yumi on Lyoko, failing, but the ending helps remedy this. Ulrich gives Yumi a gift. [[spoiler:The gift ends up being Kiwi's, though.]]
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/DocMcStuffins'', Doc and the toys threw a surprise party for Hallie to celebrate her birthday and show how much they appreciated her hard work. Doc asked Hallie to [[BlindWithoutEm take off her glasses]] so they could finish setting up for the party without her seeing.
* ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'' has the episode "Ord's Unhappy Birthday" is about this. When Ord is about to give up, he goes to Quetzal, who steers him to the teahouse where Ord finds his birthday party waiting for him. Ord is so surprised that [[JawDrop he stands at the door with his mouth hanging open]].
* ''WesternAnimation/ElenaOfAvalor'' episode "Island of Youth" has the royal family needlessly pulling this on Esteban. First off, it's the first time the family's been together in 41 years, so pretending to forget his birthday is sort of cold-hearted. Secondly, Elena's distraction to allow the others to finish setting up the party is to take Esteban sailing, which is an activity he enjoys. She could have simply told him that the sailing trip was her gift to him, while keeping the rest of the celebration a surprise and sparing him the angst.
* This is the essential plot of "By Invitation Only" from ''WesternAnimation/EllaTheElephant'', in which Ella's friends and family all put together a surprise party for her and try desperately to hide it. Though when Ella tells her mother that everyone forgot her birthday, her mother gets her to admit that she never actually asked her friends if they had forgotten it.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'':
** Played with this in the above-quoted "Boys in the Band"; apparently, Timmy's birthday was actually the day after that depicted in the episode. Although ''[[AllThereInTheManual 77 Secrets of The Fairly OddParents Revealed]]'' retconned this and said that Timmy and Chip did share a birthday, meaning it ''was'' that day.
** The trope was initially inverted in "Birthday Bashed". Timmy became 13 and had to hide it from Jorgen to avoid losing his fairies. It became no easy task, as it seemed his parents remembered and he had to get rid of anything they brought for the party. It was eventually revealed they were celebrating another thing and really ''had'' forgotten Timmy's birthday. That, among other things, was held by Jorgen as a reason to believe Timmy would still need fairies.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlumps'': Happens in an episode of this UK pre-school stop-motion series. Unusually, it's shown from the point of view of the rest of the family, trying desperately to conceal the truth from Grandpa Flump. The educational purpose of the episode seemed to be explaining synonyms for "keeping a secret".
* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'': Orko, of all characters, believes everyone has forgotten his birthday and nearly runs away. [[note]]While it certainly wouldn't have been in character for He-Man to do so, it would have been far more entertaining.[[/note]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'' episode "Bathtime for Johnny" has an A-plot of Johnny adamantly refusing to take a bath, causing a perpetual stink around him, and a B-plot of a dejected Dukey thinking Johnny has forgotten his birthday. The end of the episode has Johnny barter with his family, putting the two plots together; Johnny will take a bath in exchange for the family letting Johnny use his sisters' Construction Drones to build an indoor water park for him and Dukey - a huge upgrade over the kiddie pool Dukey himself requested.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/KaBlam'', Henry and June celebrate their birthdays (since they were drawn on the same day, they were celebrating theirs on the same day). June gets Henry a remote-controlled car, but Henry forgot June's birthday! He makes up for it in the end, though.
* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'':
** In the episode "Hank's Dirty Laundry," Bobby assumes his parents are buying him a birthday present while shopping for a dryer. (His birthday is a month away.) He later, on a different day, assumes his birthday party is that day. (It isn't.) He bemoans to Luanne that he "can't believe my parents forgot my birthday." Luanne says that "they've still got a whole month to remember." Hank and Peggy's new dryer is then delivered and Bobby believes it's his birthday present and ''loves'' it.
** Another episode has Dale buy a weather balloon. Bill asks if it is his birthday. Hank corrects him, but only to realize his birthday was in fact last week. He first apologizes before wishing him a "happy belated birthday".
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Kipper}}'', an animated show targeted at young audiences about a dog by that name, features Kipper and his friends throwing a surprise party for their friend Jake, but him thinking that they forgot his birthday.
* This happens near the end of ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleRascals'' episode "The Case of the Puzzled Pals", when Spanky explains that the now-broken microscope was a gift intended for the surprise birthday party he's planned at the treehouse.
-->'''Alfalfa:''' But whose birthday is it, Spanky?\\
'''Spanky:''' It's your birthday, Alfalfa!\\
'''Alfalfa:''' Mine? Of course! That's the one clue I overlooked.
* "Happy Birthday Llama Llama" from ''Literature/LlamaLlama'' has a fairly obvious forgotten birthday plot going on from the beginning when Llama's excited about his birthday, but it seems like none of his friends want to play with him. Fairly obvious to the viewer, anyway. Llama was caught off-guard because he had been told his party wasn't until later in the week. Nevertheless, Llama's friends actually chide him for not realizing what they were up to even though they were obviously leaving him out of something, which they would normally never do.
* WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes has a variation in the 1967 cartoon "Fiesta Fiasco." WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck finds out WesternAnimation/SpeedyGonzales and his mice amigos are having a party to which he is not invited, and attempts to crash it by creating a storm cloud to rain on it... only to find out in the end it was a surprise party for '''his''' birthday, which he forgot about.
* The ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouseClubhouse'' episode "Minnie's Birthday" has Minnie and the gang plan a surprise birthday party for Minnie, but when they constantly keep it a secret so she doesn't ruin the surprise, she thinks they forgot it.
* The ''[[WesternAnimation/MightyMouse Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures]]'' episode "It's Scrappy's Birthday" had Scrappy run away from Mouseville when he assumes everyone forgot his birthday. He eventually returns home and discovers to his joy that everyone was just pretending to forget his birthday as they prepared a surprise party.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' inverts the trope in the episode "Party of One." Pinkie briefly [[SanitySlippage loses it]] when the others drop excuses not to attend her spur-of-the-moment party. It's only at the end that Pinkie realizes ''it's her own birthday'', and the others had made plans to throw her a surprise party well in advance.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'', Pooh (sticky with honey) accidentally pulls several pages off Rabbit's calendar, leading Rabbit to mistakenly believe it's his birthday and misinterpret his friends' activities as preparations for a surprise party. Angst ensues when he concludes they've forgotten, but fortunately there's a party on his actual birthday the next week.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewScoobyDooMysteries'' episode "Happy Birthday, Scooby-Doo" had Scrappy, Shaggy, and Daphne pretend to forget Scooby's birthday to surprise him.
* The short-lived English cartoon series ''WesternAnimation/ThePondles'' had an episode in which the main character, Pip, is led to believe that everyone had forgotten his birthday -- though Pip, when hints don't work, breaks tradition by actually telling everyone he meets what day it is. Then they enthusiastically wish him a happy birthday but regret that they're too busy to celebrate it. Of course, what they're busy with is preparing his surprise party.
* ''WesternAnimation/QuackPack'' had such an episode. Instead of Donald Duck getting depressed because Huey, Dewey and Louie "forgot" his birthday, however, Donald gets incredibly ''angry'' at them because he thinks they're doing something illegal behind his back. They get sent to a correctional facility as a result.
* ''WesternAnimation/RogerRamjet'' had one. By the end, the American Eagles kids surprised Roger during a nap that scared him to jump out the window. Everybody came to the surprise party even his arch-rival Lance Crossfire, and his arch-nemeses Noodles Romanoff and the No-Goods [[spoiler:who rigged his birthday cake to explode on Ramjet, harmlessly, because Ramjet's birthday also falls on April Fools' Day]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS18E6MoeNaLisa "Moe'N'a Lisa"]] Homer forgets he made plans to take Moe fishing on his birthday. Moe is devastated until Lisa, who sees a rich artistic side to Moe, decides to write about him for school.
* [[SubvertedTrope Beast Boy's teammates didn't forget his birthday]] in ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo''. [[WithFriendsLikeThese They just plain]] ''[[WithFriendsLikeThese ignored it]]''. Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire hate birthday parties for various reasons (such as hating having to fake being amused at people opening their presents or being grossed out by people blowing out candles) [[{{Jerkass}} and refuse to give him a party]]. They are forced to throw one when Raven reveals [[SeriousBusiness that he'll literally die if he doesn't get a party]].
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'', this happens to Michaelangelo. He spends much of the episode depressed and getting into scrapes on his own, only to find himself celebrated when he returns to the sewer.
* On ''[[WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Total Drama World Tour]],'' [[CoolLoser Cody]] is so used to people forgetting his birthday that ''he'' forgets it... but [[LoonyFan Sierra]] doesn't.
* The ''WesternAnimation/TransformersRescueBots'' episode "Little White Lies", Chief Burns' children pretend to forget that it was his birthday when they were trying to make him a surprise party and order his favorite cake. Unfortunately, this "[[TitleDrop little white lie]]" has perilous results.
* ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'':
** This was the main plot of "Lenny and the Lost Birthday", where the main characters thinks everyone has forgotten his birthday. [[spoiler: The twist is that it's not his birthday because of leap year]].
** While not technically a birthday episode (though in real life, it's for 20th anniversary of Larry-Boy's debut appearance), the ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTalesInTheHouse'' episode "The Big Secret" has the heroes being busy with their own things rather than spending time with Larry-Boy after defeating Motato. Larry-Boy later suspects his team going against him when he was spying on them. [[spoiler:They were busy preparing for his party for his hundredth capture of Motato.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/WildWestCowboysOfMooMesa'' episode "Another Fine Mesa", Cowlorado Kid, Dakota Dude, and Lilli Bovine pretended to forget that it was the tenth anniversary of Moo Montana being marshal, only for Moo to go back to his hometown Miller Glen.
* In "Happy Birthday, Dog!" on ''WesternAnimation/WordWorld'', Dog believes everyone has forgotten his birthday, but they're planning a surprise party.
* In ''The World of WesternAnimation/StrawberryShortcake'' (1980), some of her friends do forget Strawberry's birthday, but even ''she'' doesn't seem aware that it's her special day (to be fair, Strawberry's said to be turning six). Once they're reminded and start to arrange a party, they deliberately keep it a secret from her and turn down her lunch invitation so they can set it up; she thinks no one likes her anymore, but is directed by [[Main/TheFaceOfTheSun the narrator]] to the party when he can't bear to see her that sad. Notably, this plot isn't the whole focus of the story, but instead sets up the circumstances that allow the evil Purple Pieman to force the kids to give him all their berries (he sells them a magic watering can they give to her as a gift -- it appears empty but generates water when you tip it. It's just that he's the only one who knows how to ''stop'' the flow...)
%% * Happened to both WesternAnimation/YogiBear and Ranger Smith at different times.
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