Do Birthdays Expire? The Birthdays They Left Behind Birthdays can be fun—something to look forward to—or something to resent because they seem to come around faster than the extended-warranty calls about your car. Some birthday celebrations are extensive and complicated, involving decorations, dinner reservations and a cake that requires structural engineering. Others amount to a Facebook notification and a thumbs-up from somebody you went to high school with but haven’t spoken to since 1981. But what is the norm when the person is no longer celebrating birthdays? What do we do when someone we love has passed on? What, exactly, is the etiquette for dead folks’ birthdays? As a former newspaper person, I remember when families would pay for an advertisement wishing a deceased loved one a happy birthday. At the time, it felt a little cringey to me. Did the afterlife still receive the local newspaper? And if so, was delivery included with a heavenly subscription? Now we have social media. ...