Birthdays are an important day of the year because they are about celebrating that you were born. Birthday celebrations vary in different countries and cultures. But today, I will teach you about birthdays in New Zealand!

Traditions

You will usually have a cake on your birthday. But don’t be alarmed when you go to a birthday party with a cake, because it will be on fire! Well not actually on fire, but it will have candles that are lit on fire. The number of candles you have on your cake are the same as the age you are turning. The person who is having the birthday gets to blow out the candles after making a wish. Another tradition people have is singing a special birthday song for you.

Food

On your birthday, there will normally be special food. I get to choose what my family has for breakfast and dinner on my birthday. At parties, there’s also yummy food like chips, lollies, maybe juice and other delicious – but not usually very healthy – food.

Presents

Presents will be given to you on your birthday by family and friends along with a card. Your birthday presents could be a teddy, toys, Lego, a book, a voucher or other things like that.

In conclusion not all birthdays and New Zealand are the same, but most of them have something – like cake, cards or presents – in common.

THE END!

By Anna

My dad – Jon – has short, brown hair that’s almost black. His hair is not very tidy but not too messy, apart from when he’s going to work, then it’s waxed and immaculate. He has calm, pale green eyes with a ring of light brown around his pupil. He is fit and strong and even lets me sit on his back while he’s doing push-ups! 

My dad likes quite a lot of stuff. Some of the stuff he likes includes roast lamb, roast chicken, (he likes roast anything really), turkish delights, beer and jiu jitsu. Not to mention watching cricket, playing cricket, watching rugby, Tool (the band), Taylor Swift (the singer) and hunting.

The main things he doesn’t like are fish pie and me and Autumn (my sister) being mean to each other. So not much.

My dad is a software designer and mostly makes parking meters. He uses so many computers for coding and once I got to play a game on a giant screen! That was so fun.

When my mum and sister were gone for a week, I lived like a queen; We watched a movie on a school night, I had two ice blocks in one night, I had a hot chocolate before school and it was very fun.

So now I’ve told you all the things I know about my dad. I wonder if he’s keeping anything from me… 

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Gilbert.

He was an orphan and very poor. His mum died giving birth and his dad had an unfortunate accident with a machine at the factory he worked at.

He lived on a street that people treated like a dump. There were plastic bottles along with plastic bags, cans of drink and lots, lots more. Poor Gilbert.

Have you ever wondered how astronauts shower in space? They can’t have a normal shower like you or I do on earth. Even if they tried, the water would float around and it just wouldn’t work. All because of gravity, an invisible force that pulls things down. But in space there is no gravity. As a result, you can’t do ANYTHING normally in space.

First, you need a comb, a towel, shampoo and a pouch of warm soapy water, plus a mirror to see what you’re doing. In the space station all of these things are strapped to a wall so they don’t float away.

To actually wash your hair, first, you need to squirt water onto your scalp, then you need to use your fingers to get the water all through your hair. You can use a comb instead if you want to. Try your hardest to catch all the water! Repeat those steps but instead of using water, use shampoo. Next, get your towel and rub your scalp to get the dirt out. Follow that by more water and comb through. Now rub your scalp with the towel one more time. The water will float off gradually and become humidity in the air and be sucked up by an air conditioner and will turn into drinking water.

Now if you think you can do that, try learning how to go to the toilet in space!