I scheduled vaccine appointments with my Dr. My parents were anti-vax and once I was old enough I went and did it myself.

Every birthday I ask for pizza. It was largely the same.

In HK, being 18 almost always means you are studying for HKDSE, basically the biggest and most important exam of a Hongkonger's life. I got a few blessings from my family lol.

All of my friends got arrested and I was homeless, so I just slept in my truck all day.

As you can tell people love me at parties.

Nothing special. I was just one year older. I never was much into birthday and I'm now many, many years older than 18 ;)

My parents are throwing me a huge party, my dad’s idea, of course, and it’s nonnegotiable

It probably is negotiable but it may happen the stakes are too high. Hard to say without any context.

I threw my dad out of my first home the day he came to visit. Right after he started behaving like he used to when I was living under his own roof, I asked him to stop. He did not. I explained him I was not living at his place anymore and he was my guest and he should stop now unless he wanted me to show him the door. He persisted. I grabbed him by the seat of his pant and drove him out, shutting the door on him. It was not nice and it did not end in the most respectful way but it was still a negotiation ;)

Nothing noteworthy about 18, except voting and easier job hunts (technically, but I had to change cities to find work still, so YMMV). 21 was boring too.

But a week from now you'll be 40.

Don't be one of those who at 40 realizes they should have been investing 20% of their income and utilizing their employers 401k match, or taking better care of their health.

The time goes by real fast. Faster than as a teen.

Or at least it tends to seem that way.

Enjoy your 18th today.

Plan for you 60th tomorrow.

Don't wait.

Man don't even fuckin remember wat happened my 18th birthday other than turned 18

I just... did my own thing, by myself. Had my own car, a tank of gas, and some cash in my wallet. No concrete plans when I woke up that morning.

I ended up spending most of my 18th birthday at the zoo, just wandering around at my own pace. Whenever my folks would take me before that point, we'd always end up trying to speedrun the whole place, spending no more than a minute at each exhibit, if we'd stop at all. And without spending a single cent on anything other than admission.

I spent two hours just hanging out in the zoo's walk-in aviary, feeding seed sticks and nectar cups to parrots. Best birthday ever.

I got to wait 30 minutes until midnight so I could buy fuel system cleaner and a sharpie. Walmart can be silly.

When I turned 21 I got a liquor store to break the law and stay open late to sell me my first legal bottle of scotch at midnight (my roommate was good friends with the owner)

Ah, I will turn 18 soon too :^). My parents prolly aint throw a huge or expensive party for me. Just go 2 a relative w/ big house and call a few friends after school maybe. I want a blue BFDI (Battle For Dream Island - a cartoon on web which Im grown up w/) cake with some stuff like maybe getting some useful things 4 my pet rock (yes I have a huge "breed" pet rock) and get myself a bike I wanted for years or an ugly sweater, BFDI Woody (the char from same cartoon) plush maybe. I want that plush since it is out and loving the character since late 2010's.

Anyways, I dont think much stuff will be changed really. Prolly will have a legal right to drink, have a job, drive or smth. And methinks I cant neither afford any one or my mentally ill ass prolly will commit some crimes or go die while being drunk so Id rather to not drink. And the best thing after 18s prolly getting into a some meh kind of an university.

Lmao I think lemmy.world bans anyone admitting to be under 18 so if admins see this, you'd be banned for a day lol

But anyways, when I was 18... I was kinda in an existential crisis so I kindabinged watched The Good Place... don't remember doing any thing special...

Don't think I got a birthday cake... I mean I didnt even ask for one, cakes arent even that good once you get older and like sweet things are kinda overwhelming for taste buds sort of

I think I might have went to a Chinese restaurant and had dim sum or something. Or maybe like ordered food... forgot what I did... but these things like ordering food are common enough that it didn't exactly feel special (first world problems?) (I think restaurants were kinds closed during covid, so I think we just ordered food, don't think I got a cake since I didn't really care)

Like ever since I got to like... idk 10 or something... I don't remember birthdays becoming that important... it's mostly just like:

mom: "hey, what do you want for your birthday? want a cake?" like just so casual...

then mom be like, "oh btw did you know I had to go through a C-Section to give birth to you, do you feel grateful that I sacrificed so much for you? 🤗" "Also I had to pay a lot of fines for giving birth to you against one child policy"

Oh yeah, elections...

I wasn't old enough for primaries but I was old enough for the 2020 US presidential election and good thing my mom got citizenship so I didn't have to go through that myself so I was already citizen... cuz the naturalization would've taken so long that I'd miss the chance to vote in 2020, so yea good thing I didn't have to spend so much time go through naturalizarion. I voted Biden obviously, dickhead trump literally wants to deport me lol

Had 4 years of relief then this shit happened again FFS 🤦‍♂️

Got really drunk and spent the next day vomiting into the toilet. Go slow and eat first!

I did what I do on most of my birthdays: went to a movie with friends. It was my first year in university abd I grew up in a small town, so that day was my first time riding a bus

Not a party, but my parents took me around to meet and dine with a few of their friends (mostly somewhat accomplished folks) as a farewell of sorts. I got sent to the US for college 2 months later and basically never had a chance to go back home in 10 years so

You do you.

Life isn't a dress rehearsal and you don't get extra points for suffering.

Show up at the party and have the best time you can. See which rich guy gives you the silliest advice, or see how much cake you can eat, or Find someone else who doesn't want to be there and do something to make them happy.

Absolutely nothing special and dont remember what it was

Just another tuesday

I honestly don't remember. I don't think it was anything special. My family was never big on birthday parties, and subsequently I haven't been either. More than likely I stayed in, ordered a pizza and watched Princess Bride like I do every year.

In my extended family there is a tradition. The new adult receives 200 € and we all go to the Casino. The rest essentially drink and watch as the new adult loses all the money and learns a lesson. None of us gamble.

I turned 18 during COVID, so not really.

My whole childhood I had seen the "adult" section of Family video and dreamed of being old enough to go in (I didn't know what it actually was for a long while)

I had stopped in during my last week of being 17 and saw the adult section, but decided against going in yet. I was only a week away, I might as well wait. Right?

The bastards closed the store the day before my 18th birthday. Waited my whole life just go be shut down one day before.

I'm sure it wouldn't have lived up to the hype in my brain from my younger self, but it annoyed the shit out of me that I'd never get to see what was back there. By 1 day!!

Happy birthday, the next years go by so much faster than you could ever believe

Went out for dinner with my family because it was a week night.

That weekend got tanked at a LAN Party.

I think I got drunk on Greek Row

nothing happened, like always, it was gradual, friends moving away, you finding new interests, finding new friends, slowly realising your shortcomings and working to over come them. 18 felt like nothing, but the years after felt like growing up

My family are shit. I don't think any of them even remembered it was my 18th. I invited some friends over to the flat I was staying at and we played cricket in the carpark, then drank beers for a couple of hours.

"Oh hey, I'm no longer legally dependent on my parents, nice."

I got the ability to unground myself after being denied any of my interests and social connections for a year because I didn't load the dishwasher fast enough.

I hate birthdays so I hoped to do nothing. My parents didn't quite respect that, but they didn't do much, thankfully... Just a small "party", nothing very memorable, thankfully.

Good luck with the embodiment of greed over there lol And happy birthday!

Graduating high school was the bigger milestone, tbh. That's when I felt like an actual adult.

The only thing that to me meaningfully changed: I could legally drive on the road alone (before I had my license but was only permitted to drive under supervision).
Besides that: The number of years I lived has increased by +1 :p

Wanted to buy my first beer but was too student broke, so played WoW with housemates. Good times.

I suddenly gained the power of telekinesis

In my country it meant I was able to vote, buy alcohol and get a driver's license. I was never interested in alcohol, but I did get a driver's license a few months later. I didn't feel that different, but my parents liked that I could ship stuff around for them. I indulged in some voting, too.

I was ill and throwing up on my 18th birthday. I had a family party a few days later when I'd finished my last A Level exam though. Nothing huge, just a nice meal together.

I didn’t have a lot going on at that age, I don’t remember doing anything special.

I took frankly far too much of whatever was put in front of me and I'm not fully sure of what happened for most of the might but was mostly a good night. As to feeling different no not really as I'd already been out of school and working for a couple of years at that point so not massively different in many ways aside from I could buy booze now without fear of getting denied.

I went to the pub with my mate where I'd been drinking every day for the previous year and got a legal pint. Told all the staff that it was my birthday. Then which one and almost got barred!

Proceeded to get shit-faced

I was in first year of college, but my birthday falls during winter break. So instead of being able to celebrate with all my awesome new college friends, I was stuck with like one good high school friend, two barely-friends (one was an ex, and their parents were friends with mine), and my gf.

It was... ok. Pretty underwhelming. Pizza and cake, got to watch a movie I had been interested in, and played some multiplayer game.

For some reason my gf decided she needed to hang all over me. Think she was trying to make the ex jealous, which is hilarious because there had been zero chemistry with the ex, I think we kissed once maybe. It did make the ex jealous, and my high school friend got to enjoy more attention from her than I ever got. Cuddling, holding hands, hugs, nothing further than that but it really highlights how little had been there with me and the ex. Still makes me laugh thinking about it.

I remember a bunch of private jokes before and after between me and my gf about me finally being legal, because we'd been fucking like the horny teenagers we were for around a year and a half.

Overall, not anywhere close to the big deal people tend to make it. I honestly didn't remember any details until I sat and thought about it, and my memory was somewhat stirred by interacting with that high school friend again through work yesterday (ended up working for different sub-companies of the same org, doing similar work).

Plenty of more memorable times in my life. Only one birthday is particularly memorable now in my mid 30s. My 21st is memorable less for the birthday itself and more for everything around it, but the birthday is still memorable.

It's the last thing they can force you to do (but playing along can have benefits).

I had my parents out of the house for the weekend and throw a party with all my friends. We drank and smoked weed and I throw up before midnight from my bedroom's window. This didn't stop me from continuing the party that night. It was fun. Now days I get 48 hours of hangover if I drink 2 beers in 1 night, so my liver is fucked I guess. I regret nothing !

Haven't celebrated a birthday since I was 5, I hate it.

I think on my 18th I just got up and went to school like normal. Didn't tell anyone it was my birthday, so everyone acted like regular, then I went home and probably did what I did every evening back then, which is either youtube, games, or coding (one of those, i dont remember which specifically).

yess all my bone cracked at exactly 12am the night of, all in unison.

I had saved up over $1300 from odd jobs/paper route in my teens just for it. On my 18th, I bought 30 hits of acid and a few cases of beer for me and my friends, rented a motel room under a different name 80 miles from home, and partied for about 2 days.

When I turned 18 my parents took me out to dinner and joked about me paying for everyone since I was an adult now. It became clear quickly that the joke was how they actually felt and within months they had moved to a new home in which i was not invited to live. I say enjoy the part the best you can and try not to get dragged into the bullshit.

I really don't remember since it wasn't all that important or special to me.

Eh it was the summer after I graduated so felt anticlimactic, everyone else I knew was already 18.

Looking back though. It felt like the speed of life got turned up a bit. Like months started to feel like weeks.

Just remember to stop and soak things in

I didn't do a special party or anything. But I did file paperwork to legally change my last name to my stepdad's.

I don't even remember my 18th Not due to drinking (I'm a tea totaler) bit because from the ages of 13 to now (28) my life has been a meaningless blur. Not good or bad just grey. So I'd say enjoy your birthday warts and all because at least you still feel something.

It was nice, but I was still in high school so it didn't really feel like adulthood, that came in the form of my high school graduation, moving in to college, and then my 21st birthday.

Just enjoy it and appreciate the freedom and responsibility, but also take your time before acting on your newfound right to sign contracts. Maybe register to vote if you live in a democracy that doesn't do that automatically, for me that was the biggest thing about that age, I was finally a full citizen.

I bought a pack of Camel cigarettes. My mother's brand.

She got most of them. Not because she took them. I smoked one, I liked the taste, I didn't like the coughing. I didn't learn quickly enough. I might have smoked 3-4 of them (not all at once! I was not that dense!) before I realised smoking was not for me.

My mother: "Eh, free smokes!" (maybe)

Back then they were $1.89 (USD) a pack.

When I turned 21, I bought a "40" (ounce, like 1.2 litre) of Budweiser. Another mistake I learned from.

When I turned 40, I had the best party of my life.

No, it didn't feel much different beyond that i could legally get drunk. You're still the same stupid teenager, with the difference that your actions now have potentially more severe consequences. So sometimes. It's probably a good idea to pause for 5 seconds and think about what the consequences might be. Easier said than done for sure.

I'm now 32, and the most important thing I can say is take care of your body and your body will take care of you. Work out, eat your vegetables, stretch your limbs, maintain your cardio. And the next 20 years ahead of you will be even better.

I have friends my age that move like seniors. You don't want to be like that.

For my generation In the US the significant birthdays are 16, 18 and 21. 16 because you could get your drivers license, 18 because you could gtfo your parents house and 21 cause you can legally drink alcohol.

16 was awesome as I got my license and was able to get away from my nutty house.

18 was meh as I was really already out my nutty house.

21 didn’t matter as I didn’t really drink back then and when I did I never had problem getting alcohol.

Why is 18 still a thing? You can't even buy cigarettes at 18 today.

18 is when the full pedos lose interest and the borderline pedos come after you instead