IF it's your birthday this week, you probably already struggle to arrange any kind of celebration around Christmas.

But a new survey has revealed it's a double blow for anyone in their 30s.

The study commissioned by Interflora found on average people stop celebrating their own birthday at 37 and start lying about their age at the same time.

After examining the attitudes of 2,000 people from across the UK towards their own birthdays, the study found that:

• 39% of us are choosing to not celebrate at all – with 1 in 4 saying they’d rather not be reminded of growing a year older.

The same number (26%) said they didn’t celebrate because they dislike being the centre of attention.

• More men (33%) than women (22%) are choosing to shun their special day.

• The research also found that men are more likely to lie about their age than women with 1 in 5 of the men surveyed admitted to having pretended to be younger than they are compared to just 17% of women.

So what occasions are we celebrating over our birthdays?

With people not wanting to celebrate their birthdays, other occasions are taking priority in people’s lives.

86.5% said celebrating their birthday was not as important as celebrating that of a loved one.

And surprisingly 49.8% of people thought a job anniversary was more important than their own birthday.

Occasions people are putting ahead of their own birthday include:

• Engagement - 89.6%

• Christmas - 88.1%

• Wedding anniversary - 84.5%

  • New Home - 84.5%