When asked if he wanted to come to my birthday party, my dad was his usual cheery self.

"I'll think about it," he grunted, "but I don't even tend to get excited about my own birthday anymore."

As invite refusals go, I think I'd have preferred "I'm washing my hair" (even though he's going bald) or even "I wouldn't spend an evening with you and your friends if you paid me in fishing tackle." Because if you can't get excited about your own birthday, the one day in the year when it's all about you, what can you get excited about?

First, you get presents. And even the least materialistic person in the world enjoys being given gifts. While we all know that the way to my heart is through a pair of dangly earrings or a pink bag from Jane Norman, it's not the presents themselves that mean a lot to me, it's the fact that my friends have made the effort to get me something nice. To know that people think enough of you to share their favourite book with you or make you a CD is incredible. People sometimes complain about presents that weren't what they wanted, but even if someone bought me a Take That CD I would still appreciate their generosity, however misguided. If two people get me the same present I don't feel disappointed, but pleased that my friends know me so well.

Second, you get to celebrate. I appreciate that big parties aren't everyone's thing, but it's not what you do that matters, it's who you're with. I rounded up my friends for drinks and a meal, but even if I'd been stuck in the Sahara desert with them I know I'd have had a fantastic time. Birthdays are an excuse to spend time with the people you care about, doing whatever you enjoy, and if that isn't something to get excited about then there's officially no excitement left in the world.

Third, birthdays involve cake. My love affair with cake is a whole other article, or maybe even a book, but even if you're one of those incomprehensible people who doesn't like sweet things, you'll be taking cakes into work for your colleagues, so your birthday is an excuse to give something nice to other people. True, it will mean they abandon normal eating habits in favour of consuming donuts on the hour, every hour for the rest of the day, but that's their lookout.

So how can anyone not get excited about their birthday? As far as I can see there's only one reason for it - people don't like getting older. But your birthday isn't supposed to be a doom-filled reminder that you're another year older, but a celebration of the fact that you were born. And why worry anyway? You can't stop the ageing process - look at Cher if you need proof of that. So you might as well appreciate each passing year of your life, all the good things it has brought you and all the things you have achieved, and use it as an excuse to celebrate.

After all, if we didn't age, I'd still be a mewling, whingeing child unable to form a coherent sentence, walk without bumping into things or do much apart from throw tantrums. Hang on, what do you mean not much has changed?