TIL that if your island is too new, you don't get a birthday party or a New Year's celebration...
I restarted my island on the 25th. My birthday was on the 29th, and while Tom Nook made an announcement in the morning broadcast, I didn't get a surprise party or a post on the bulletin board. Even weirder, my villagers only acknowledged my birthday the day after.
I haven't started/restarted an island close enough to my birthday to experience this for myself, but that is a bit of a bummer.
HOWEVER, I started my very first New Leaf town when it came out on my birthday. Yep, my birthday is June 9th, so I didn't get a party that year, sadly. ;-;
(since it was the just the next morning.)
I do vaguely remember Isabelle recognizing the fact that I was starting out on my birthday, and her wishing me a happy birthday.
My dad's birthday is just two days after mine, and that was enough time for him to get a party. I still remember to this day...he said Dora was the host. I have no idea why I still remember all this after almost 11 years.
. . .
I noticed that having a decent friendship in City Folk is important for getting a cake. I remember reading a vent (it was posted back in 2008 or 2009) from a while back on another site about this because their child didn't get a cake in City Folk, but got one in the Game Cube version and in Wild World. I also vaguely remember the writer saying their child didn't even get an NES game, but getting a cake in those older games made their child feel better.
That fact that you have to basically work for a cake in City Folk can be seen as either a pro or a con.
It is a pro because it teaches people that these types of things are earned. One cannot simply expect such a deed just be done onto them from the get-go. Personally, I feel more proud knowing that I have to earn a cake from the villager I get closest to, rather than it just be handed to me.
Though, I can see why people see it as a con. While this is certainly not me, some people just do not care about befriending villagers. Some people may prefer other aspects of the game, and it may feel a bit unfair that they are being, I guess you can say "punished" for it. I think a good compromise would be to get a cake regardless of friendship and get something above and beyond for having a good enough friendship with one of the villagers.
Hell, I have an alt in City Folk whose birthday I put as February 5th -- today, but no cake.
I noticed that Valentine's Day also requires a significant friendship to be celebrated in most of the games. In the GameCube version, you get Valentine's Day cards from ALL of the villagers of the opposite gender, though the cards are more heartwarming if you have high friendships with those villagers. You also get furniture, whereas you will only get clothing if you haven't built your friendship enough.
WW doesn't have Valentine's Day unfortunately.
But in CF, NL, and NH, yeah, you have to have a high enough friendship with at least one of the villagers. One of my favorite YouTubers has had an on-going let's play on City Folk since January of last year. He didn't get a chocolate heart on Valentine's Day last year, sadly. He did, however, get a Valentine's Day letter. I never even knew you can get a VD card without a chocolate heart in City Folk until I watched that video last year around that time.
I would love to get a chocolate heart in City Folk this year. However, I am not gonna count on it, considering it seems like you have to talk to your villagers for MONTHS, but who knows? I have been pleasantly surprised before. <3333
Anyway, yeah. I digress. I just wanted to get all this out.
