History Main / NotSoForgottenBirthday

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%% * [[http://www.comics.org/issue/221951/ This issue of Betty and Me]] used the plot.
* A ''[[SpinoffBabies Little]] ComicBook/ArchieComics'' story presented a subversion of this. Veronica tells Archie that she thinks her dad has forgotten it's her birthday - and he has, because he's busy making plans for next week's Founder's Day celebration. Fortunately for him, Archie thinks he's planning a surprise party for Veronica and rounds up everyone to take part in it.

* ''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.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

* Played with in ''Film/McFarlandUSA''. It's subverted when Coach White really forgets the cake and is late to his daughter Julie's birthday dinner (due to an extended cross country practice), then played straight with her surprise quinceanera.

%% * A plot of many ''LittleGoldenBooks''.

* A variant of this happens in a ''Literature/GeronimoStilton'' book; in [[ValentinesDayEpisode "Valentine's Day Disaster"]], Geronimo's friends and family are nowhere to be seen and he has not received anything in the mail... but just when it seems like he's given up hope in the evening, it's revealed that they threw him a SurpriseParty, and shower him with gifts.
* Played with in ''Literature/ReaperMan'', when Windle Poons is upset no-one remembered his ''death''-day[[note]]On the Discworld, wizards and witches can sense when they're going to die of natural causes, which usually gives them time to get their affairs in order[[/note]], and even thinks to himself "It was like having your birthday forgotten, only worse." Then he blunders into a surprise "going-away" party being held by the other wizards.
* In the ''Series/SesameStreet'' picture book ''Abby's Pink Party'', Elmo tries to cheer up Abby Cadabby, who is sad because she thinks everyone forgot her birthday. The book ends with her surprise party.
* ''Literature/TheMamboKingsPlaySongsOfLove'': In one scene Cesar the band leader has turned 38 while the band is on the road, and is hurt that nobody remembered. His brother Nestor wishes him happy birthday and apologizes for forgetting. Then Cesar opens the door to his hotel room and finds a gorgeous naked hooker inside.

* ''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.
* 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.
* ''Series/ILoveLucy''

* 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]]
* ''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!"
* Doubly subverted in ''Series/SavedByTheBell'': they actually do forget Screech's birthday, and they spend the episode making it up to him.
* 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.

-->'''Red''': Well, Kitty, marking the calendar is your responsibility!
-->'''Eric''': [[NoJustNoReaction Dad. No!]]
* 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/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.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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 ''Series/TheFreshBeatBand'', Marina thinks everyone forgot, but she's wrong.
* 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.]]
* 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/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.
* 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 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 knowing they 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.
* 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/UnderTheUmbrellaTree'' uses this trope on Iggy's birthday.

* In ''Theatre/DisneysBelieve'', by the end of the show, Dr. Greenaway is able to properly celebrate Sophia's birthday with tons of Disney characters and gives her a fabulous cake and presents.

* 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 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.
* ''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]]

* ''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/TheBiskitts'' did this one to the letter.

* 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...)

* ''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".
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* ''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.
* 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.

%% * Happened to both WesternAnimation/YogiBear and Ranger Smith at different times.
* ''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/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.

* 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.
* ''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.]]
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* In "Happy Birthday, Dog!" on ''WesternAnimation/WordWorld'', Dog believes everyone has forgotten his birthday, but they're planning a surprise party.

-->'''Alfalfa:''' But whose birthday is it, Spanky?
-->'''Spanky:''' It's your birthday, Alfalfa!
-->'''Alfalfa:''' Mine? Of course! That's the one clue I overlooked.
* [[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]].
* 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/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/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.]]
* Something similar happened in the ''WesternAnimation/WildWestCowboysOfMooMesa'' episode "Another Fine Mesa", where 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.

* ''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.
* ''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.

* In ''VideoGame/NarutoShippudenUltimateNinjaStorm4'', Obito, Kakashi & Minato pretend they forgot about Rin's birthday so they can surprise her later. Having heard that the boys forgot Rin's birthday from said girl, a [[UnstoppableRage raging and furious]] Kushina comes and asks the boys to explain themselves. Minato tries to calm Kushina, to no avail. The fight starts, Kushina is in permanent [[TurningRed Awakening mode]].

* In the ''Series/SesameStreet'' picture book ''Abby's Pink Party'', Elmo tries to cheer up Abby Cadabby who is sad because she thinks everyone forgot her birthday. The book ends with her surprise party.

* In ''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.]]

* In ''WebVideo/EchoChamber'' Tom forgot Dana's birthday. HilarityEnsues. Zac did not forget. This is not necessarily a good thing.

%% * In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'', this happens to Michaelangelo.
* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983'': Orko, of all characters, believes everyone has forgotten his birthday and nearly runs away. [[note]]Well it certainly wouldn't have been in character for He-Man to do so, though it would have been far more entertaining.[[/note]]

* 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. Whereupon 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.

** On 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.

* 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]]" caused perilous results.

** 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.]]

* ''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. Second off, 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.
* ''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-@ team victorious, Leota suggest the game ball be given to Teddy to help him remember his surprise birthday party.

A subtrope of BirthdayEpisode. May overlap with TheComplainerIsAlwaysWrong. For the version about the birthday of a marriage, (anniversary) see ForgottenAnniversary.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/JohnnyTest'' has Dukey thinking Johnny has forgotten his birthday. As it turns out, Johnny's just waiting until he buys a present before he acknowledges it.

* In ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'', 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!

->'''Timmy''': Don't worry about forgetting that my birthday was today, Mom and Dad. It's OK.\\
'''Dad''': What?! Forgot your birthday?\\
'''Mom''': We'd never forget your birthday, [[AccidentalMisnaming Tommy]]!\\
'''Dad''': Your birthday isn't until ''tomorrow!''\\
'''Timmy''': WHAT?!\\
'''Mom and Dad''': Happy almost-birthday, Timmy!
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents''

* ''Anime/MaiHime'' 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.

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

* ''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 Flumph. The educational purpose of the episode seemed to be explaining synonyms for "keeping a secret".

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8076284/27/Harry-Potter-And-The-Bonds-Of-Time Harry Potter and the Bonds of Time]]'' Sirius is annoyed because Ginny knows about Harry getting her a surprise birthday present.
-->'''Harry:''' She doesn't know what it is.\\
'''Sirius:''' She was supposed to think you forgot her present! James would be ashamed of you. He got Lily to fall for it! Birthday and anniversary! She didn't talk to him for a week!\\
'''Ginny:''' And he considered it a good thing?

* ''The Flumps'': 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 Flumph. The educational purpose of the episode seemed to be explaining synonyms for "keeping a secret".

* The short-lived English cartoon series ''The Pondles'' 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. Whereupon 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.

* An episode of ''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.

* A ''[[SpinoffBabies Little]] Franchise/ArchieComics'' story presented a subversion of this. Veronica tells Archie that she thinks her dad has forgotten it's her birthday - and he has, because he's busy making plans for next week's Founder's Day celebration. Fortunately for him, Archie thinks he's planning a surprise party for Veronica and rounds up everyone to take part in it.

'''Timmy''': [[BigWhat WHAT?!]]\\

%% * ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'': Done with Ord's birthday in the first-season story "Ord's Unhappy Birthday"

* ''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 Flumph. The educational purpose of the episode seemed to be explaining synonyms for "keeping a secret".

* The short-lived English cartoon series ''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. Whereupon 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.

* Subverted in the ''[[Series/TheSootyShow Sooty and Co]]'' episode "Birthday Boy" - everyone really ''does'' forget Sooty's birthday (except Richard), so they have to quickly put together a party for him once they remember.

* ''[[Disney/{{Dumbo}} Dumbo's Circus]]'' uses this trope on Dumbo's birthday.

* "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. Nevertheeless, 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.

* Played with in ''Discworld/ReaperMan'', when Windle Poons is upset no-one remembered his ''death''-day[[note]]On the Discworld, wizards and witches can sense when they're going to die of natural causes, which usually gives them time to get their affairs in order[[/note]], and even thinks to himself "It was like having your birthday forgotten, only worse." Then he blunders into a surprise "going-away" party being held by the other wizards.

** 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.