1 . Celebrations, after the pattern of Thomas Alva Edison’s famous quote, often appear to be one percent inspiration and 99 percent preparation. People around the world take celebrating seriously.     1    

Exactly when and where human beings began coming together in public to celebrate as a group is unknown and unknowable. Logic suggests that the first public celebrations were related to the patterns of existence.     2     The earliest parades may have been processions of successful hunters returning to a joyful welcome by their thankful families. As civilizations developed, such celebrations became more regular and formal and served a broader social purpose.

    3     In some places, the commercial aspect has made us forget the original reason for the celebration. Carnival celebrations in Venice, Italy, was a festival on the day before the solemn six-week religious period known as Lent. In the current version of Carnival, hundreds of thousands of visitors attend the celebrations in Venice.     4     But their purchases of meals, accommodations, and Carnival masks bring great sums of money into the economy of the city. One cannot blame the tourists. They are attracted by Venice’s unique and undeniable magic.

Throughout history, across countries and cultures, the experience of a heartfelt celebration is always worth the often significant amount of time and money spent planning, preparing, organizing, and carrying out an event.     5    

2 . Countries around the world celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8. The United Nations says the theme of this year is DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender (性别) Equality.

The UN says that from the earliest days of computing, women have contributed to information technology. But it says those contributions have been little recognized or valued. The international organization says 37 percentage of women do not use the internet. It also says 259 million fewer women than men have access to the internet. Yet, women make up very close to half the world’s population. The UN says women are largely underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematic careers. “Bringing women into technology results in more creative solutions and has greater potential for innovations that meet women’s needs and promote gender equality,” says the UN’s website.

For this year’s International Women’s Day, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement, “Let us work together to build a more inclusive, just, and prosperous world for women, girls, men, and boys everywhere.” The IWD has its roots in the social and labor movement in the United States. It began in New York City on March 8, 1857, when female workers marched in protest (抗议) of unfair working conditions and unequal rights in clothing factories. The workers called for a shorter workday and better pay, the National Archives says. On March of 1908, women workers again marched through New York City to protest child labor and poor working conditions, and demand women’s right to vote.

The first recorded celebration internationally was on March 19,1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. At that time, over a million people came out to support women’s rights. After World War II, several countries started to celebrate women’s day on March 8. Two years later, the UN officially announced that date as International Women’s Day in 1977. Some countries, including China, Russia and Uganda, also recognize it as a public holiday. Past UN celebrations have included the issues of climate change, rural women and HIV/AIDS.

4 . My son’s seventh birthday is approaching, so conversation at my house has naturally turned to organizing his party.

For his sixth birthday, we booked the local trampoline(蹦床) park. This worked out well. But the whole event cost us hundreds of pounds. This year, I’m trying to convince him that the dinosaur-themed park down the road offers just as much fun—and you don’t even need to wear special socks! This will be cheaper, because we aren’t required to hire a space—we can simply buy tickets for his mates.

But I still keep pondering over one thing—party bags. Why should a bunch of seven-year-olds, who have already been treated to a day out and a mountain of sugar, also be handed a bag full of pound-shop gifts for simply bothering to show up?

Party bags are an environmental disaster. I reckon my son attends 20 parties per year, and at each party there are 20 kids in attendance, which means 400 plastic bags in total. Within these 400 bags are perhaps 800 plastic toys, almost all of which fall apart on the journey home and then get binned instantly. The waste is shocking, and I don’t want to be part of it.

I know there are some party bag alternatives: one couple I know covered a table with Mr. Men books and got the kids to choose one each. At another party, I saw the hosts fill a bucket with soft toys and crumpled newspaper, and do a lucky dip (抽奖). Admirable efforts.

Even if that is a nice try, and even if the contents in the party bags don’t fall apart, so what? Will our guests think more highly of our child because of the party bags from our party? Will my child’s ability to make and keep friends be improved?

Well, the tradition for kid’s party bags ends with me, and it ends here, and it ends now. Who’s with me?

5 . It seems a bit strange to imagine ancient Egyptians celebrating their birthdays with layered cakes topped with lighted candles.    1    

The first birthday cakes were nothing of what they are today and weren’t even called birthday cakes.    2    At that time only they could afford to celebrate with something sweet. That is how cake became associated with special occasions.

Ancient Egyptians are credited with“inventing”the birthday celebration. And ancient Greeks borrowed the tradition but rightfully realized that a dessert would make the celebration all the more meaningful. So they baked moon-shaped cakes to offer up to the moon.    3    

It wasn’t just the ancient Egyptians and Greeks who celebrated with sweet cakes.    4    And it’s believed that the original birthday cake came from them. Rather than just celebrating birthdays, though,ancient Rome was known for celebrating all things with a cake including wedding,but there was an exception—the birthdays celebrated were only for men who were citizens,and they had to be famous.

Modern birthday parties are said to get their roots from the 18th-century German celebration. On the morning of a child’s birthday, he or she would receive a cake with lighted candles that added up to the child’s age plus one.    5    The birthday child would make a wish,try to blow out all the candles in one breath,and dig in.