Goth Birthdays

Hey cyberworld! I know I have been absent lately, but I am trying harder to stay online. Recently (as of Sunday) I have become a fully-fledged 16 year old goth. Over the past few years I have slowly integrated my goth self more into my wardrobe and appearnce over all. I say 'slowly' so as to not completely scare my parents, because as we all know not everyone is open minded or understanding. I have done so and my parents have come to respect and even help me in my quest for all things goth.

This is my birthday cake from last year. Don't you all love the black dripping all around? I settled for that bit of black in my cake because i thought black roses might have been pushing it for my parents. Also, i heard black icing isn't as tasty as it looks.  All in all, I was quite happy with the results of the cake. 

Since then my mom has found me nice goth friendly clothing pieces. And my father has let me dye streaks in my hair. I think its been a very successful and batty year. 

I believe it is possible for young gothlings to make their parents understand or at least respect their culture. It is even possible for the parents to take part-- where as a supportive beam or a shopping partner- in the gothic journey. Because yes, goth is a journey. A lifestyle. One where one never stops learning or living. 

Now, I will take time in the rest of this post to talk about gothic birthdays. I know some baby-bats, when discovering and identifying with the gothic subculture, like to throw themselves in. The most obvious ways to make a birthday more 'gothic' is with the cake. 

Cake designs can range from simplistic designs :

to more complex and in your face qualities. 

You can theme for party with bats, skulls, coffins. The works. You can spend all your money on the cutest goth look. 

But then there are those of us with stricter parents. If this is the case, intrigate your gothic tendencies slowly. For a birthday perhaps do what I did with just a touch of black. Unless, of course, you go with the classy black and white theme.

Or convince your parents to let you wear a nice black dress to your taste, or ask for a shopping trip were you can buy some fishnet gloves or lacey shirts. Pick one thing and for the next event ask for one more, but don't demand or challenge. Be firm or a have a calm assertiveness.  Don't make your parents believe goths are demanding ( although some of us are) and scary. Remember as a goth you represent all of us as a culture. As the Lady of the Manners would tell us: be polite, remember your manners, and don't snarl. 

Perhaps ask for books that fall along the supernatural or gothic genres. I firmly believe every goth shold have a copy of the 'Gothic Charm School.' Maybe negotiate make up rights or room decoration. 

Some fun ideas that you might want to try with your friends are:

• Victorian era theme
• Cemetery picnic
• Tim Burton Movie Marathon (or Johnny Depp)
• original scary movies marathon
• masquerades
• goth for a day (where perphaps you can talk your friends into dressing like goths to show how much they love and support you)
• Nightmare Before Christmas
• Corpse Bride
• Dark Alice in Wonderland
• Glitter Bats!

By Glitter Bats I mean having a birthday theme where everything is batty but making more girly or less frightening by adding glitter to some garland bats or bat-shaped pink balloons (for the benefit of your parents or if you are just a candy goth). I like this idea so much I think this will be my theme for next year. =3