Birthdays are scared on my side of the family.
I'm an only child and my mom has always been big on celebrating my birthday on the day... always had a birthday party with a theme and she made my cake. Now that I'm older, she still makes me any cake flavor I would like, most of the time it's carrot cake and she also makes me my favorite meal - tenderloin tips and mashed potatoes. Since I was born at 11:29am... she comes to see me at that time so that when the clock strikes the time, she can kiss me and sign me happy birthday... since high school, only twice I wasn't able to either see or or get a call from her at that time.
For my son (also an only)... I go all out on his birthday party (which is family), always themed and I make his cake... usually the weekend before or after his birthday. On the day of his birthday, he gets to choose all that we do (homeschooled so classes are canceled). Last year he wanted to play games, etc. We have lunch and/or dinner at my mom's... she makes him a cake and we open presents, etc.