Happy belated birthday, Tammy!!
The kids never have to go (do- when they were homeschooled) to school on their birthday. It's their official day off!
Depending on where we live, I will usually try to get the kids birthday balloons from the Dollar Tree. If we aren't near one of them or they don't sell balloons, I'll get one really nice balloon from a party store.
The birthday person gets to pick their favorite meal for dinner and I will make it (does not apply for my birthday)
The birthday child get to pick the theme for their birthday cake and what kind of cake (dessert) they'd like for their birthday).
Outside of those things, we don't really have any other traditions when it comes to birthdays.
We are always moving, so having family parties (with extended family members) isn't a luxury we can do. Because of moving all the time, the kids hardly ever have parties due to not having enough friends to invited. This year, we are going to try to have a party for William (his birthday is next month), but the teacher has a zero tolerance for birthday party invites, so I don't know if we'll be able to make that happen or not. I can count on one hand the amount of parties my three children have had. But we always celebrate as a family--it's that kid's day and we try to make them feel special even if we can't throw them big parties!