British families typically mark birthdays with cards, presents, and a cake with candles to be blown out. Significant ages — 18, 21, 30, 40, 50 and so on — are often celebrated with larger gatherings. Wedding anniversaries are sometimes marked with traditional gifts (paper for the first, silver for the 25th, gold for the 50th).
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The reigning monarch has two birthdays. The actual birthday is marked privately within the royal family, while an "official birthday" is celebrated in early summer, when the weather is more reliable, with the parade of Trooping the Colour on Horse Guards Parade in central London.
You may be asked what the monarch's second birthday celebration is called (Trooping the Colour), or how birthdays are typically marked.
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