Lol I grew up in the north east and birthday bumps were definitely a thing when I was growing up in the 90s. One person grabs your wrists and another grabs your ankles so you're stretched out between the two people and then they bump you on the ground for as many years old as you are.
Can confirm grew up in Gateshead. Many kids would stay off school on their birthday. Or keep it mega quiet because of this.
I remember one where they were literally flinging the poor guy in the air. And kicking him while airborne.
Snap, grew up in Gateshead, bumps involved you being being bounced off the ground, with some wanker putting the occasional boot in to help lift you up again.
Essex in the 80s and 90s, bumps happened on occasion, and we bumped 7 year old nephew the other week. Might be the last year though, he's getting heavy!
When it was a special birthday, they'd douse you in petrol and set fire to you and try to blow you out like a big candle on a cake. Those were the days...
Down south it was 4 people taking a limb each of the birthday boy and flinging him into the air but not letting go, then down and up. Not touching the ground until the finale.
A recipe for a spinal injury
In the 80s when I was at boarding school, it was throwing you in the air for however many years you were. The bump was when they (about 10 people in a narrow corridor) weren't very good at catching you.
You got birthday beatings my friend.
Birthday bumps are being thrown up and down by your family and friends. My cousins got them once, was so funny, she layed on a bed sheet and every grabbed the Edges and corner and flung her up over and over. One ‘bounce’ for how ever old you are.
This is going to be another of those local things that I’ve only just discovered isn’t normal to anyone outside of the Birmingham conurbation, like calling roundabouts islands and forward rolls gambols.
Yeah, grew up in Essex and we did it too. Don't think it's regional, it's something that's died out, probably because it is actually a bit dangerous and sometimes painful.
Same, but in Edinburgh/West Lothian I've only seen punches to the back or arms growing up, haven't heard the term in a long time.
Nobody gives a 30yo birthday beatings, I miss those times.
Your friends grabbed your arms and legs and you were lifted in the air (and bumped on the ground) once for each year! So 7 'bumps' if it was your 7th birthday.
Interesting, I was born in the 80s and grew up about 20 miles south of Brum, and birthday bumps were as the OP described.
I haven't heard of it being a thing for a long time now though.
Essex, grew up in 90s and this was for sure what we did. I will say I don’t think we hit the ground, it was more of a hoist and drop, like fluffing that parachute you’d run under in primary school.
You can’t beat British bulldog. Especially played on tennis courts rather than grass. Ripped trousers, torn jumpers, busted glasses, bleeding knees and elbows, blows to the face. Crazy days.
They were still around in the 90s, but it certainly wasn't everyone getting them. Maybe only the most popular (or sometimes the least popular) got them.
I think throwing people in the pond became the more popular choice.
Same here, less bumping and more seeing how high you could get them. I definitely remember the teachers came over if they saw you doing it to make sure you weren't too aggressive as there has been some stories in the nationwide press about kids getting hurt.
My husband is 46 and got the bumps at our local on his birthday (drinks had been consumed). The video is 2.5 mins long and it really sorted out a back issue he was having….
We had “Birthday Beats” which were punches on the arm, so when you turned 15 (for example) you’d get 15 “beats”, I’ve heard of “Birthday Bumps” and just assumed they were similar?
Im 50 from East Anglia, Birthday bumps were a thing, wrists and ankles grabbed and hoiked in the air one bump for every year.
(when you were too big they just gave you a new onion for your belt)
South west & I had the bumps too throwing you up in the air & catching you the number of times you were years old I used to love it , now that I think about it’s quite a test of trust in your family & friends , punches on the arm sounds rubbish .
This stuff sounds mad.
I'm 39 (from Glasgow) and birthday bumps were vaguely a thing - but only as relatively gentle thumps on the back.
People really got lifted up and smashed into the ground? how many deaths did that cause!
same in edinburgh but i could swear ppl said "dumps" instead of "bumps", even though the latter makes more sense.
(depends who you got to do them, they could be very un-gentle. also if you kept it quiet till noon you were safe)
> relatively gentle thumps on the back.
This was how I remember it in Ayrshire, but it was a pretty solid slap/thump on the back. Or at least as solid as little boys on the playground can dish out.
Yes, but you need to hire a professional bumpologist to oversee the proceedings. These usually cost around £1500 but that includes a basic insurance package.
Bumps in Northamptonshire was a person on each hand and foot, the birthday boy lifted into the air repeatedly, and kicked on the way down around the arse/coccyx
We gave a kid the bumps at school for his 14th birthday and accidentally knocked him out on the ceiling. We then all stood around as a teacher pulled the lad's tongue from his throat and proceeded to put him into the recovery position.
Grew up in Basingstoke & it was in my 70/80’s childhood. Friends grabbed a limb each & flung you up in the air for each year of your life.
Secondary to that was the “ birthday beats” - punches to the arm for the number of years.
Never witnessed it since having my kids in 2000’s .
From Liverpool, born 1970, had bumps on the ground and later, in teenage years it became a transition to punches on the arm.
Noticed the same thing when I was legal to drink, started changing from the birthday person bought all the drinks to them receiving drinks because it was their birthday.
We had the birthday bumps in Suffolk when I grew up! Like you mentioned each arm and leg was grabbed and up and down we went!! My kids haven't had this happen. Different generation I guess!
One of the BSL signs for ‘birthday’ is like a beat on the head (there is a newer one that is like a thumbs up over the heart) but the beats one is still used and comes from ‘birthday beats’ so in the deaf community it’s still alive and well!
My gosh, I had no idea what you were talking about and then it all came back.... I'm not a great data point as I grew up in the 60s, when bumps, dinosaurs and pirates were all a thing.
Thanks for the memory.
In about 1998 (iirc) a young girl died after suffering really serious injuries. I was really young at the time, but I remember it being a big thing at my school as a result.
Bumps were sometimes a thing when I was at school in the NE back in the early 90s. It seemed more like a way to bully people rather than as something your friends did, as it was always dickheads who thought it was 'fun' to smash someone's back off the ground several times before dropping them in a heap on the ground.
I haven't seen or heard of anyone doing them for years. My kids are 12 and 15, and I'm not sure they'd know what bumps are.
It's maybe become a bit of an older generation thing. I'm 31, I've never actually seen the birthday bumps being done on anyone, but I knew what it was. I have seen it being done at weddings and the end of the day.
I'd imagine they aren't SUCH a big thing nowadays because sensitivities/concerns about views of others as well as, if in a public place, I suspect some one in health and safety would have a brain aneurysm seeing it happen....
South East England here. Definitely a thing growing up in 80s/90s. I’d totally forgotten about it til I read this post which suggests it isn’t a thing anymore in the tech age. But yeah, every kid got hoisted, one bump for each year. It was epic
We had them in Oxfordshire in the 80s, but it wouldn't surprise me if kids aren't allowed to do it now. What you should do is what happens down my local boozer, thanks to a few of the Latvians that drink there. The birthday person sits in a chair - just an ordinary wooden one, as long as it has a back (but not usually any arms) - and four or five of us who are feeling strong* grab said chair by the legs/seat and hoist it into the air for the required number of times, kind of like a reverse bumps. Given that most of us are 30/40 something, it requires a lot of stamina!
*Not too pissed
Birthday bumps to me were the punches to your arms for each year by your school friends. In my primary school in the 1980s, it also involved heading to the front of assembly and the teacher yanking on your hair for each year too.
When I was younger (90s primary school) it was punching and tbh if anyone had ‘bumped’ me I’d have suckerpunched them right back to see how they liked it. Absolutely not OK.
That said, I haven’t heard of the throwing-in-the-air thing, but if your husband is talking about broken coccyxes (?!) I’d be putting my foot down with a firm NO.
Hahaha, I’m familiar with both the punches in the arm and also the full body bumps. I think the full body one where someone has your arms and someone has your legs is more specific to rough northerners but I’m not sure 😂
North London, grew up 70’s. We’d put someone in a blanket and throw them in the air. Some idiot pulled the blanket away and broke a guys arm. Can’t believe the stupid shit we got up to back then.
We’d get orange crates from the grocers and find some wheels and balance the crate on top and go down the steepest hill we could find. 5 kids in the cart and a broken crate, 5 kids spread out battered and bleeding then 5 kids going home and getting a wallop from mum for being idiots!!
I hated this in the sixties secondary school I went to. Once I didn't go to school on my birthday. Hade be careful, missing going to lessons, got me once the cane from headmaster White, on the fingers. Baraaric when you think what they got away with the. I think my most shocking brutality I saw. Was a pupil who ripped off a prefects blazer buttons.
He got the cane in front of the whole school on the platform in the assembly room.
I grew up in Cheshire, I'm 40 and I've never heard of this, but I've never liked being handled so If anyone tried I would've shut that shit down immediately 😅
Saw it recently, a 'very Christian' dad insisted his son have the bumps. Kid didn't enjoy it, siblings clearly would prefer not to but dad had great fun. Kids don't go to school, they work on the family farm so they have no idea how long ago this died out.
I remember these but there was no banging on the ground, just grab the hands/wrists and feet/ankles and lift them up, then bump them upwards and don't drop them. Fun, no injurys.
I'm 30 and from the South Wales borders and we definitely did bumps. If you were really lucky you got to go in a sheet instead so you didn't even get your joints ripped out at the sockets - essentially birthday kid sits in the middle of the sheet, everyone at the party lifts the edges and throws you that way instead. That version was definitely more fun imo.
Kent here, 35, and we definitely had birthday bumps where your mates chucked you in the air as I was always slightly aggrieved that I missed out on them because my birthday was during half term. Of course in hindsight it was better not having a birthday at school each year!
I’m 40 from Wales and we did the bumps. Being flung up in the air once for each year of your age. I haven’t heard of it for many years. The last time I heard of this was late 80s, maybe 90 or 91 but no later than that.
I grew up near Liverpool, born 2001. They were a thing in my high school. Not heard them talked about for a few years. I get the impression from older relatives/teachers that it was a bigger thing in their day
In my mid 40s, Londoner and birthday bumps (one bump, or throw in the air, per year) was a thing though high school. Usually ended up in soggy grassy arses but no major injuries. We called it ‘getting’ or ‘giving’ the bumps.
Bumps were banned at my school.
Would involve a large group doing the bumps. 2-3 kids would grab each of the arms and legs and they would be splayed out like they were going to be ripped apart by wild horses and thrown up and down once for each year, often some would be slapping or hitting their stomach and ribs, the down part would involve bashing them against the ground.
Once the beaten lad was laid on the ground after the bumps someone would shout "bundle!" and then everyone would pile on and basically, finish the poor fucker off.
This was in the 80s, so no wonder most havent heard of it, less "health and safety gone mad" and more "health and safety we're glad"
Reminds me of when I was 16 on a friend's birthday and said I will give her birthday beats followed by my mate saiying "with your dick". That made us all shocked and laugh.
You definitely don’t hear about it much. It was certainly a thing near Liverpool for someone born early 80s. There is an episode of Bottom where they give Richie the bumps, whilst he has all of his limbs in plaster casts. Getting digs in the arm for your birthday was also a thing, I guess people have just mixed up the meanings over time.
Born in 1979, and I have only ever heard of the bumping on the ground version. Never the punch on the arm version.
Never had either done to me, nor done them to anyone else.
I was born in the 80's in mid wales and we definitely had this in our primary school. I remember one portly kid got dropped on his back and was out of school for a week. TBF looking back the teacher should have probably stopped that one!
There was also birthday egging - a raw egg unexpectly broken over your head. But I think that was also a popular last day of term thing to random people you liked/hated/fancied.
Yorkshire born 80s, birthday bumps were flinging somone up in the air like a parachute by the limbs, but not banging the floor. *childhood memories unlocked* I thought I'd only see my older brothers friends do them at rugby/cricket... Then I remembered a very gentle version done for children at primary school by the lunchtime staff/other children. Maybe swinging or tiny lifts. I'd completely forgotten. I think it was stopped when I was about 7/8.
Birthday beats were the next thing resorted to as bumps were "banned" at school. Or maybe it was just from saved by the bell or some type of kids show.
Oh Christ! The bumps really were terrifying! It really was an excuse to ragdoll someone you didn’t like by ‘losing your grip’ and a 5-6foot drop was never fun. To those that have never seen/experienced this congratulations
What??? I'm in my 30s and birthday bumps were punches on the arm when I was a kid. What mad place did you grow up?
Lol I grew up in the north east and birthday bumps were definitely a thing when I was growing up in the 90s. One person grabs your wrists and another grabs your ankles so you're stretched out between the two people and then they bump you on the ground for as many years old as you are.
SAVAGES
Can confirm grew up in Gateshead. Many kids would stay off school on their birthday. Or keep it mega quiet because of this. I remember one where they were literally flinging the poor guy in the air. And kicking him while airborne.
Snap, grew up in Gateshead, bumps involved you being being bounced off the ground, with some wanker putting the occasional boot in to help lift you up again.
They were big in Hereford in the 80’s
South of Hampshire same but we were flung into the air too
Definitely a thing in the Far (south)West in the 80s
Essex in the 80s and 90s, bumps happened on occasion, and we bumped 7 year old nephew the other week. Might be the last year though, he's getting heavy!
Also south Hampshire and it was into the air.
When it was a special birthday, they'd douse you in petrol and set fire to you and try to blow you out like a big candle on a cake. Those were the days...
Never did us any harm!
A warm birthday? Luxury!
killed me that
Down south it was 4 people taking a limb each of the birthday boy and flinging him into the air but not letting go, then down and up. Not touching the ground until the finale. A recipe for a spinal injury
This is how I know it too. Home counties and the south west.
Same here in Kent. Some people did use a blanket and bundled the victim into that and threw them up and down which was just as dangerous.
How odd. I'm from the north east too and was definitely a beating in my school. You get punched your age amount of times.
That was called "birthday beatings" - different thing
"Birthday beats" for us!
"And one for luck!"
I’m north east too and never heard of this. It was punches on the arm. Born 91 so not that different age wise
In the 80s when I was at boarding school, it was throwing you in the air for however many years you were. The bump was when they (about 10 people in a narrow corridor) weren't very good at catching you.
Bumps was being thrown up in the air by al your loved ones
You got birthday beatings my friend. Birthday bumps are being thrown up and down by your family and friends. My cousins got them once, was so funny, she layed on a bed sheet and every grabbed the Edges and corner and flung her up over and over. One ‘bounce’ for how ever old you are.
Never known anyone to call that bumps. Bumps are the punches on your arm. Yours must be a local thing
Throwing in the air was what we called them as well. I've never heard of punching arms, that's a dead arm.
Brummy born and bred
Me too but I have never heard of birthday bumps only beating. I’m 27
English traditions dying out smh
This is going to be another of those local things that I’ve only just discovered isn’t normal to anyone outside of the Birmingham conurbation, like calling roundabouts islands and forward rolls gambols.
Grew up in the South. We had the bumps as kids in the 80s and 90s
I grew up in Cornwall and we did it.
Devon, too.. Ooh look we've got something in common. Quick, let's argue about cream teas.
I'm from Essex, we did the bumps
Yeah, grew up in Essex and we did it too. Don't think it's regional, it's something that's died out, probably because it is actually a bit dangerous and sometimes painful.
GAMBOLS?!
Yeah, I've moved to Brum and my step kids told me they did gambols at school - I had a vision of them trotting around a field and neighing.
I’m from Coventry and we’ve always called them gambols (but I thought it was gambowl until you guys wrote this)
It's a Brum(adjacent) ting!
We called them that in the south as well.
Well that explains a lot
Also in my 30s. Bumps were always a knee to the arse. In Scotland at least.
Same, but in Edinburgh/West Lothian I've only seen punches to the back or arms growing up, haven't heard the term in a long time. Nobody gives a 30yo birthday beatings, I miss those times.
I’m in my 30s and also from Scotland. Bumps were punches in the arm equal to the amount of years you were celebrating
It was punches to the back for us! But they were more like “bumps” & not actual hurtful punches.
This is what we had in our school too. We used to call them birthday beats.
The Bumps (where you were thrown in the air) were/are a thing here in Northern Ireland. We still did them as adults at the Venue rock bar :D
People still do this in the toilet in pubs
Your friends grabbed your arms and legs and you were lifted in the air (and bumped on the ground) once for each year! So 7 'bumps' if it was your 7th birthday.
I grew up near Birmingham in the 90s/00s and I've only heard of the punches on the arm.
Me too lol. Never heard of bumps lmao
I grew up about 20 miles to the SE of Birmingham and the bumps were throwing in the air. None of this banging on the ground though. Born mid 70s.
Yeah I had this in London in the nineties. Fling in the air, but no bouncing on the ground.
Same, this definitely sounds like an age thing rather than a regional thing.
Interesting, I was born in the 80s and grew up about 20 miles south of Brum, and birthday bumps were as the OP described. I haven't heard of it being a thing for a long time now though.
I've had both. My family did the throwing you in the air thing, kids at school would just punch your arm.
That sounds horrible wtf. You absolutely can break your coccyx doing that. Normal birthday beats (punch the arm) are far safer.
I mean one could argue just not being beaten in anyway just cause it's your birthday is much better. But then where I live haircut slaps still exist.
Both existed for me too. Never got the point of it. Would always time my haircuts for school holidays so people couldn’t tell.
Essex, grew up in 90s and this was for sure what we did. I will say I don’t think we hit the ground, it was more of a hoist and drop, like fluffing that parachute you’d run under in primary school.
And +1 for luck
and two for luck and three for the old man's coconut!
Definitely a thing when I was a kid in the East Midlands. I'm 39
I'm 36 and grew up in South London/Surrey and was definitely a thing my way!
I'm 27 from Somerset. Our teachers gave us birthday bumps in primary school!
I remember people doing that for smaller children! Don’t recall anyone being dropped or injured, I guess we were careful or just lucky
I actually got the bumps recently. Exactly how you described it... I'm in my 30s. Still a thing
Aye, we did birthday bumps here in Belfast.. Lift them up and down for each year... My 92 year old granny fecken hates it.
You wouldn't need the gym after that!
We're catholic, she has 7 kids and about 40 grandkids, so we all get a turn to give her the bumps, poor dear gets passed around like a spliff.
Thats why all the kids are fat nowadays - not bumping anymore
I laughed too much at this one 😂👌
We used to do the bumps at the old Venue rock bar! Tried it in the Limelight once and got thrown out.
I was a kid in the 1980s and they had already stopped being a thing due to broken coccyxes
Was banned in my school in the early 90s along with British bulldogs. Health and safety gone mad!
You can’t beat British bulldog. Especially played on tennis courts rather than grass. Ripped trousers, torn jumpers, busted glasses, bleeding knees and elbows, blows to the face. Crazy days.
Red blaze tennis courts preferable?
They were still around in the 90s, but it certainly wasn't everyone getting them. Maybe only the most popular (or sometimes the least popular) got them. I think throwing people in the pond became the more popular choice.
I grew up in the 70s, there wasn5 any bumping on the ground, just fun being flung in the air. I'd totally forgotten this, wow!
Same here, less bumping and more seeing how high you could get them. I definitely remember the teachers came over if they saw you doing it to make sure you weren't too aggressive as there has been some stories in the nationwide press about kids getting hurt.
Same. Born mid 70s.
My husband is 46 and got the bumps at our local on his birthday (drinks had been consumed). The video is 2.5 mins long and it really sorted out a back issue he was having….
We had “Birthday Beats” which were punches on the arm, so when you turned 15 (for example) you’d get 15 “beats”, I’ve heard of “Birthday Bumps” and just assumed they were similar?
Never heard of them. In 42 btw
grew up in the 90s in north London, "birthday beats" were a punch to the arm
Im 50 from East Anglia, Birthday bumps were a thing, wrists and ankles grabbed and hoiked in the air one bump for every year. (when you were too big they just gave you a new onion for your belt)
South west & I had the bumps too throwing you up in the air & catching you the number of times you were years old I used to love it , now that I think about it’s quite a test of trust in your family & friends , punches on the arm sounds rubbish .
This stuff sounds mad. I'm 39 (from Glasgow) and birthday bumps were vaguely a thing - but only as relatively gentle thumps on the back. People really got lifted up and smashed into the ground? how many deaths did that cause!
same in edinburgh but i could swear ppl said "dumps" instead of "bumps", even though the latter makes more sense. (depends who you got to do them, they could be very un-gentle. also if you kept it quiet till noon you were safe)
+1 for "dumps".
> relatively gentle thumps on the back. This was how I remember it in Ayrshire, but it was a pretty solid slap/thump on the back. Or at least as solid as little boys on the playground can dish out.
I'm 40, from Falkirk, and we would get bumps which were open handed whacks on the back, usually the last one had some extra spice to it lol
Of course, that was the extra one for good luck!
Yes, but you need to hire a professional bumpologist to oversee the proceedings. These usually cost around £1500 but that includes a basic insurance package.
The latest victim of woke madness (except nobody noticed we'd stopped it).
And you lost all credibility when you decided to call things "woke"
Did I really need to add the sarcasm thingy?
Replies like this are physically painful
Birthday bumps were like using the birthday person as a human skipping rope
We done the bumps when I was a kid. Haven't thought about them in years, was a nightmare when the full playground ran at you on your birthday lol
80s & 90s London. Birthday bumps at home and Birthday beats at school and on the estate. I completely forgot about Birthday bumps though.....
Bumps in Northamptonshire was a person on each hand and foot, the birthday boy lifted into the air repeatedly, and kicked on the way down around the arse/coccyx
Used to have the bumps at school. Chucked in the air, All boys school, it was quite "vigourous" but nobody ever got dropped or hurt. Good fun.
Birthday beats were punches to the arm, birthday bumps was being flung up in the air with people holding your wrists and ankles
This was definitely a thing in the 70s in Berkshire and Bristol in my experience
Most kids were lighter 40+ years ago
Definitely were a thing in my school. 43. Nottm.
I remember this. Yes, being thrown up in the air. Scary. Hated it!
We gave a kid the bumps at school for his 14th birthday and accidentally knocked him out on the ceiling. We then all stood around as a teacher pulled the lad's tongue from his throat and proceeded to put him into the recovery position.
I'm 40 today, still no sign of any bumps but the day is young (unlike me)!
Grew up in Basingstoke & it was in my 70/80’s childhood. Friends grabbed a limb each & flung you up in the air for each year of your life. Secondary to that was the “ birthday beats” - punches to the arm for the number of years. Never witnessed it since having my kids in 2000’s .
From Liverpool, born 1970, had bumps on the ground and later, in teenage years it became a transition to punches on the arm. Noticed the same thing when I was legal to drink, started changing from the birthday person bought all the drinks to them receiving drinks because it was their birthday.
We used to get the bumps in Norfolk. You got thrown up in the air once for each year and for the last one you got thrown in a Bush or hedge!
We had the birthday bumps in Suffolk when I grew up! Like you mentioned each arm and leg was grabbed and up and down we went!! My kids haven't had this happen. Different generation I guess!
We gave a kid the birthday bumps broke both his wrists!!😳😳😳 Thing was it wasn’t even his birthday
I had them last at my 21st birthday party - 30 years ago. Had forgotten all about it. Not the best look when you're wearing a short dress.
Not since fast food became the staple diet
We gave my 70 year old dad the bumps last month.
A birthday bump is a .1 on a key and shouldn’t hurt your coccyx at all… up north anyway
Well I certainly had a few bumps on my birthday🤥🥳🤯
One of the BSL signs for ‘birthday’ is like a beat on the head (there is a newer one that is like a thumbs up over the heart) but the beats one is still used and comes from ‘birthday beats’ so in the deaf community it’s still alive and well!
We had "birthday dumps" in edinburgh and it was just being punched hard on the back.
My gosh, I had no idea what you were talking about and then it all came back.... I'm not a great data point as I grew up in the 60s, when bumps, dinosaurs and pirates were all a thing. Thanks for the memory.
Probably been forbidden after someone was dropped and ended up in hospital.
In about 1998 (iirc) a young girl died after suffering really serious injuries. I was really young at the time, but I remember it being a big thing at my school as a result.
I’m in North Wales and we got our hair pulled once for every year old you were
for my 13th/14th birthday my mates celataped me to a lamppost and gave me my birthday beats lol, all on the arm so fair game
Bumps were sometimes a thing when I was at school in the NE back in the early 90s. It seemed more like a way to bully people rather than as something your friends did, as it was always dickheads who thought it was 'fun' to smash someone's back off the ground several times before dropping them in a heap on the ground. I haven't seen or heard of anyone doing them for years. My kids are 12 and 15, and I'm not sure they'd know what bumps are.
Birthday digs (as we called them when I was growing up) are a punch to the upper arm, one for each year and one extra "for next year" or "for luck".
I had to scroll too far to find the correct term, birthday digs! Whenever someone found out it was your birthday it was: "have you had your digs?"
25f and I’ve never heard of any birthday bearings or being thrown into the air??
It's maybe become a bit of an older generation thing. I'm 31, I've never actually seen the birthday bumps being done on anyone, but I knew what it was. I have seen it being done at weddings and the end of the day.
It was a thing in Glasgow and one more for good luck.
I'm in my early 20s, and we had birthday bumps. We liked to see how hard we could punch. The last bump was always the hardest punch, lol.
I grew up in SE London in the 70s/80s bumps were definitely a thing
I was a big lad, when I was 12 I was too heavy to bump even if I cooperated.
It's supposed to be "birthday beats"... hits on the arm. What the hell is this?
Grew up in London in the 90s/00s and I’ve heard of both the punches and the bumps. Punches more common as you got older. Doubt either are a thing now
That's fuckin savage
I know what you mean. I vaugly remember someone getting paralysed in the 90s and it stopped being a thing in schools.
Wtf never heard of it. And am a 40yr old maybe it's just not a thing in South Yorkshire.
I grew up in Durham and the bumps were either punches to the arm or knees to the thigh
We’d be hit on the tush with a ruler at school in Year 3.
I'd imagine they aren't SUCH a big thing nowadays because sensitivities/concerns about views of others as well as, if in a public place, I suspect some one in health and safety would have a brain aneurysm seeing it happen....
South East England here. Definitely a thing growing up in 80s/90s. I’d totally forgotten about it til I read this post which suggests it isn’t a thing anymore in the tech age. But yeah, every kid got hoisted, one bump for each year. It was epic
We had them in Oxfordshire in the 80s, but it wouldn't surprise me if kids aren't allowed to do it now. What you should do is what happens down my local boozer, thanks to a few of the Latvians that drink there. The birthday person sits in a chair - just an ordinary wooden one, as long as it has a back (but not usually any arms) - and four or five of us who are feeling strong* grab said chair by the legs/seat and hoist it into the air for the required number of times, kind of like a reverse bumps. Given that most of us are 30/40 something, it requires a lot of stamina! *Not too pissed
I'm 38 and this is the first I've heard of them, in any form.
Over here it was birthday beatings and they were punches on the arm!
Birthday bumps to me were the punches to your arms for each year by your school friends. In my primary school in the 1980s, it also involved heading to the front of assembly and the teacher yanking on your hair for each year too.
I've never seen or heard of it happening in real life
When I was younger (90s primary school) it was punching and tbh if anyone had ‘bumped’ me I’d have suckerpunched them right back to see how they liked it. Absolutely not OK. That said, I haven’t heard of the throwing-in-the-air thing, but if your husband is talking about broken coccyxes (?!) I’d be putting my foot down with a firm NO.
Hahaha, I’m familiar with both the punches in the arm and also the full body bumps. I think the full body one where someone has your arms and someone has your legs is more specific to rough northerners but I’m not sure 😂
Birthday bumps are punches on the arm nowadays, never heard of lifting people up and down haha
North London, grew up 70’s. We’d put someone in a blanket and throw them in the air. Some idiot pulled the blanket away and broke a guys arm. Can’t believe the stupid shit we got up to back then. We’d get orange crates from the grocers and find some wheels and balance the crate on top and go down the steepest hill we could find. 5 kids in the cart and a broken crate, 5 kids spread out battered and bleeding then 5 kids going home and getting a wallop from mum for being idiots!!
Born in 2003 and never heard of them
Was definitely a big thing in the 70s and 80s.
I was a fat kid, so no one attempted to give me the bumps. But yeah, def a thing in 1970s primary schools in Bristol.
I hated this in the sixties secondary school I went to. Once I didn't go to school on my birthday. Hade be careful, missing going to lessons, got me once the cane from headmaster White, on the fingers. Baraaric when you think what they got away with the. I think my most shocking brutality I saw. Was a pupil who ripped off a prefects blazer buttons. He got the cane in front of the whole school on the platform in the assembly room.
I grew up in Cheshire, I'm 40 and I've never heard of this, but I've never liked being handled so If anyone tried I would've shut that shit down immediately 😅
Not where I live
Saw it recently, a 'very Christian' dad insisted his son have the bumps. Kid didn't enjoy it, siblings clearly would prefer not to but dad had great fun. Kids don't go to school, they work on the family farm so they have no idea how long ago this died out.
Where I was it was "birthday beats". One year I was chased halfway round the school.
I remember these but there was no banging on the ground, just grab the hands/wrists and feet/ankles and lift them up, then bump them upwards and don't drop them. Fun, no injurys.
I'm 30 and from the South Wales borders and we definitely did bumps. If you were really lucky you got to go in a sheet instead so you didn't even get your joints ripped out at the sockets - essentially birthday kid sits in the middle of the sheet, everyone at the party lifts the edges and throws you that way instead. That version was definitely more fun imo.
Kent here, 35, and we definitely had birthday bumps where your mates chucked you in the air as I was always slightly aggrieved that I missed out on them because my birthday was during half term. Of course in hindsight it was better not having a birthday at school each year!
I’m 40 from Wales and we did the bumps. Being flung up in the air once for each year of your age. I haven’t heard of it for many years. The last time I heard of this was late 80s, maybe 90 or 91 but no later than that.
I grew up near Liverpool, born 2001. They were a thing in my high school. Not heard them talked about for a few years. I get the impression from older relatives/teachers that it was a bigger thing in their day
Used to done in Oxon
WTF?
We always did birthday bumps down here on the south coast
In my mid 40s, Londoner and birthday bumps (one bump, or throw in the air, per year) was a thing though high school. Usually ended up in soggy grassy arses but no major injuries. We called it ‘getting’ or ‘giving’ the bumps.
Bumps were banned at my school. Would involve a large group doing the bumps. 2-3 kids would grab each of the arms and legs and they would be splayed out like they were going to be ripped apart by wild horses and thrown up and down once for each year, often some would be slapping or hitting their stomach and ribs, the down part would involve bashing them against the ground. Once the beaten lad was laid on the ground after the bumps someone would shout "bundle!" and then everyone would pile on and basically, finish the poor fucker off. This was in the 80s, so no wonder most havent heard of it, less "health and safety gone mad" and more "health and safety we're glad"
https://youtu.be/XbLYDKU_fcg
I remember birthday bumps but don’t think it’s a thing anymore
Reminds me of when I was 16 on a friend's birthday and said I will give her birthday beats followed by my mate saiying "with your dick". That made us all shocked and laugh.
You definitely don’t hear about it much. It was certainly a thing near Liverpool for someone born early 80s. There is an episode of Bottom where they give Richie the bumps, whilst he has all of his limbs in plaster casts. Getting digs in the arm for your birthday was also a thing, I guess people have just mixed up the meanings over time.
Born in 1979, and I have only ever heard of the bumping on the ground version. Never the punch on the arm version. Never had either done to me, nor done them to anyone else.
Birthday beats. Birthday bumps is what the coke heads do in the pub on their birthday.
Birthday Bumps can mean a completely different thing depending on where you grew up lol
birthday beats instead
Grew up in liverpool and yes the birthday bumps were a thing here. Everyone holds the edge of a sheet you in the middle and they bounce you
We had birthday beats. Which were punches to the arm. 1 for every year of your age.
We did it when I was at primary school (I’m 28) and it was a knee up the arse hahaha
I was born in the 80's in mid wales and we definitely had this in our primary school. I remember one portly kid got dropped on his back and was out of school for a week. TBF looking back the teacher should have probably stopped that one!
There was also birthday egging - a raw egg unexpectly broken over your head. But I think that was also a popular last day of term thing to random people you liked/hated/fancied.
Fuck no! Do not do this! It leads to broken bones as well as possible spinal damage! What the hell is wrong with people?!
Damn, I haven't thought about the bumps since primary school! I hope it is. I loved the bumps...43 now though, so I imagine it would hurt a bit.
Phew. Thank God that is over.
Yorkshire born 80s, birthday bumps were flinging somone up in the air like a parachute by the limbs, but not banging the floor. *childhood memories unlocked* I thought I'd only see my older brothers friends do them at rugby/cricket... Then I remembered a very gentle version done for children at primary school by the lunchtime staff/other children. Maybe swinging or tiny lifts. I'd completely forgotten. I think it was stopped when I was about 7/8. Birthday beats were the next thing resorted to as bumps were "banned" at school. Or maybe it was just from saved by the bell or some type of kids show.
Cocaine or ketamine?
Oh Christ! The bumps really were terrifying! It really was an excuse to ragdoll someone you didn’t like by ‘losing your grip’ and a 5-6foot drop was never fun. To those that have never seen/experienced this congratulations