What I Got For My Birthday

It was my birthday at the beginning of the month- not that I celebrated it this year. I spent the day in bed sick with Covid, self-isolating from my family, and feeling too upset to celebrate after missing a trip to Brighton and a concert I'd been dying to see the day before.

It barely even registered that it was my birthday, except for the birthday cake, and presents from my family that got left outside my bedroom door, which did actually help to cheer me up a little. How can cake and presents not make you smile?!

I might do something fun to make up for my ruined birthday plans once we've all fully recovered from Covid, but for now I thought I'd keep with tradition, and give you a peek at the lovely presents I was gifted this year.

My parents gave me a couple of pairs of earrings and a set of cardi clips from Erstwilder. The cardi clips are a pair of gorgeous pink and white cockatoos (galahs?) called Pinky Promise from last year's Erstwilder x Jocelyn Proust collection. They're made from the prettiest pearlescent, bubble, and textured resins, and the best part is they're so versatile. They can be worn as cardi or collar clips, but also pinned closer together as a double brooch. I love them! I think the glittery cream opalescent flower earrings were from the same collection, but I can't remember which the plain black bubble resin cat earrings belonged to. Maybe one of the Halloween ranges? Doesn't really matter; they're cute, and will be perfect for spooky season.

I also got some money from my parents so I could choose something I wanted, so I pooled my birthday money, and put it towards this beautiful Bumblebee and Small Polka Dot Monty radio from Emma Bridgewater. I've been looking for a new bluetooth speaker for a while, as I've had nothing to play music on- except for straight off my phone or laptop- since my last speaker broke a couple of years ago. I've been tempted by the heart print Emma Bridgewater radio for ages, but just as I was thinking about buying it with my birthday money, I stumbled across this one and fell in love with it there and then. It's so unique, and I love the colourful bee and polka dot print so much. I've never seen a gadget quite like it. I haven't set up the radio or alarm clock features yet, but it's so easy to connect your phone or iPod to it to play music, and the bass on it is impressive. The sound quality is amazing. It even has a USB port at the back so you can charge your phone from it! It isn't cheap at £100, but if you sign up to the newsletter on the Emma Bridgewater website, you get 15% off your order, making it a much more reasonable £85. Trust me, it's worth every penny.

My younger sister bought me the Robin Hood Loungefly Wallet that I've been lusting over for the best part of a year, and it is amazing. It's blue and green with silhouettes of trees and bushes in the background, and a pattern of characters from the film in the foreground. There's Robin Hood and Little John (not running through the forest), Maid Marian and Clucky, her lady-in-waiting, Prince John and Sir Hiss, and even the little bunnies and turtle. It's so cute! The inside is petrol-blue with a pale blue lining printed with items associated with the film, like Robin Hood's hat, quivers, gems, and arrows and targets. It has space for notes and several cards, but annoyingly doesn't have a place for coins. You can kind of make a pocket out of the space behind the cards, but it's not ideal. Luckily, I don't often have much cash on me, so I'm sure I can make it work.

Along with the wallet, my sister gave me the coolest pair of Truffle Shuffle socks with the worm from Labyrinth on them. They're bright blue and red, and lovely and thick. I've always loved the worm from Labyrinth, so they're the best socks ever!

On my birthday, my other sister dropped a gift bag of presents off on the doorstep for me, not wanting to risk coming in and getting infected. She and my brother-in-law gifted me four books, and a lovely selection of treats from Marks and Spencer's. I sense she was trying to cheer me up after I got sick and our plans fell apart. The sugar definitely helped. I was given Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (which I've wanted to try after enjoying the Shadow and Bone books), The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, Jade City by Fonda Lee, and Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. I've only read Every Heart a Doorway so far, and it was a weirdly good but morbid little read. I can't wait to read all the others. As for the sweet treats, I was given some cookie dough bites, a couple of bags of chocolate peanuts (my fave M&S treats), some chocolate covered popcorn, and a couple of cakes in a jar. The Trillionaire one was particularly delicious. Would definitely recommend.

And one of my lovely friends sent me a gorgeous parcel of goodies wrapped in peach-coloured polka dot tissue paper. She sent me the sweetest selection of items, including a llama keyring, a set of cute wooden animal photo pegs, a bookish pin, a mint-green scrunchie featuring black and white dogs with patches that remind me of Rosie, a birthday candle and flower seeds in a little matchbox, some flower stickers, and a map-print pill box, that will be so handy for carrying my painkillers in my bag.

I'm really grateful for all I was given this year, so thank you to everyone who gave me a present. You're the best!

What's the best birthday present you've ever been given?