My poor son has had his birthday fall during finals week for the past 4 years. No birthday celebrations for him until the weekend after. Last year when he turned 21, it was particularly hard. Personally, I was happy!!
I send my daughter a cake for her birthday each year at college (they have a service through the parent association where you can order a sheet cake that the student picks up on campus). She shares the cake with as many kids as she can and it works great. The cupcakes should be similar.
I met my husband the day I arrived at college and his birthday way 3 days later. A guy friend and I went and got him some presents (the three of us already became friends, nothing romantic.) We had a small celebration in the dorm. In retrospect (33 years later), now that I know him a lot better, I am surprised he even revealed it was his birthday!
Wow, I never even thought of birthdays away as a problem. My kids would have been embarrassed by mom sending cupcakes, I think. One of my kids is a dancer and has been away for her summer birthday since she was pretty young and we don’t do much at all. Depending on when she goes away i would give her a present before or after her summer program. Other two kids had birthdays during the school year at college and I sent a gift. My older daughter has always refused birthday celebrations.
i think our family might be birthday-challenged!
Not to do with the question at hand, but I think that something has happened with birthdays. Many of the younger people I work with (under 30 but even some 30s) take the day off for their birthday. That just never occurred to me and I found it odd but then noticed it to be more of a rule than an exception. I think I have stumbled upon a new trend.
LBowie, some companies around here actually give the birthday off as a paid vacation day…part of the benefit package.
I’ve only worked once on my birthday because it’s a holiday. I hated working that year (I was 15 and a summer babysitter) so I recommend taking your birthday off if you can.
@compmom,
Lol!! Birthday challenged! Love it!
We actually are very low key in birthdays when this kids got older and were in their teens. However, when kid went off to college, and birthday was in first month of college, sent cupcakes and balloons. Figured that this was a good way for kid to meet others.
Love @intparents gift card to restaurants ideas and the bday pizza party idea!
I have a cautionary tale about college birthdays. I know a kid who was a sophomore at a small LAC. He had mentioned the names of a few of his friends, and his mom asked one of them (a girl) to help her surprise him on his birthday. The mom shipped a bunch of birthday stuff to the girl. She apparently didn’t really want to help, and the son was mortified when he found out. He did not speak to his mom for a couple of months afterwards. Not saying that the OP is heading down that path, especially since her D is just going to be a freshman at orientation. But a point of reference for future years… it is great to provide a way for your kid to celebrate with whomever they choose to (cupcakes, cake, gift certificate to a pizza place large enough for a group, etc). But don’t try to go around them through their friends…
My birthday is tomorrow. I’ll get a card, and a call from my far away kiddo. And FB greetings. That’s really enough.
To the OP, you are celebrating before your daughter leaves. I think sending cupcakes or a cake is fine, if you want to. But it’s not necessary. I would not feel compelled to buy pizza for a whole wing of the dorm…or send enough cake to feed them all either. Send what you want to your daughter, and she can share…if she wants to.
<:-P Here you go @thumper1 <:-P
The birthday off as part off as a paid vacation day? You have got to be kidding me. The part I don’t get is it is not a holiday for anyone else. Everyone else is working, so what do you do? Drink alone? 
@LBowie…yes, it’s a paid day off. It’s like having one additional holiday day off a year. Some companies give the additional day, and you can take it whenever you choose. Some do it for your birthday.
Some folks just like to relax on their birthdays!
One of the guys on my team took his birthday off about a month ago on a critical day for our project. He knew it was a day he shouldn’t miss, and I ended up working overtime to cover his tasks. He did not earn any goodwill points with me… I think part of being an adult is getting over needing to celebrate things ON the specific date.
^exactly.
I don’t think you should tell anyone at school when the birthday is… your kid will share if she wants to.
I’m sure there will be tons of kids that will be happy to go out for food or dessert.
If you want to be concerned about something, it should probably be about handles of alcohol that are ready to be consumed at a dorm party in her honor.
Just FYI since your daughter sounds like a leader… our DD1 was lucky enough to make some close friends in Freshman Orientation the week before school started. One of the guys had a birthday the second week of school or so, and their “group” decided to decorate his door for fun. (One of the things that I sent her was a bunch of crepe paper, balloons, happy birthday banners, etc to decorate for other people’s birthdays. It was one of my better brainstorms!) Fast forward four years - every year that group of kids decorated each other’s doors. (One year, DD1 was living with her friend off campus. They felt wierd about decorating an apt door, so she put a Post It note sign on the door that said “Consider this a decorated door.” LOL
Happy birthday, Thumper, my fellow SLP poster!!! 
Cupcakes are a brilliant idea. If she doesn’t already have friends, w cupcakes she will!
My DD turned 21 on her third day of grad school. She happened to mention it to one of her roommates (whom she had just met) and the girl said she at least had to have a glass of wine and they went to dinner together. We’d had cake at home before she left the week before and that was it.