In my classroom, I have a special chair banner that gets tied to the birthday students chair and a sign sits on top of their table spot. They also get a birthday crown, birthday pencil, a new book, and we sing in the style of the birthday students choosing.
We’ve celebrated other events such as adoptions, beating cancer, donating bone marrow, and sports achievements as well and families usually send in pictures and we have the student share their story with other students.
I always enjoy celebrating birthdays with a special chant that goes like this:
"This is your birthday song, it isn’t very long. Before we eat that birthday cake, we’re going to do a little shake—Awooga! Aw aw awooga!"
If a parent provides a treat, we enjoy it together as a class. If not, we end the day with a fun activity chosen by the birthday student.
For summer birthdays, I make sure they aren’t forgotten by hosting a summer birthday party. I provide a treat, and we sing the birthday chant to celebrate those students.
We include birthdays as a whole school in our monthly assemblies… we play this fun Boomwhacker version of the birthday song and the students learn a dance/moves that go along with the song!
I will sing really out of tune for those students who I know will love that but for others who I know would be embarrassed, I will just say happy birthday. I typically have something that can pick out to celebrate their special day! I have birthday bracelets and other trinkets for them to choose from.
I send home a "Birthday in a Bag". We are not allowed to have individual birthday celebrations or snacks the birthday bag allows our classroom to sing and celebrate with the student while the family can fill their bag with special treats and goodies. Students can enjoy their treats from home during snack (or some other established time during the day). We also sing and the student will get a birthday crown!
Here is a link to the free resource I use:
https://drive.google.com/drive/search?q=birthday%20in%20a%20bag