Italian traditions: birthdays in Italy

Seeing as it’s my mum’s birthday tomorrow, I thought I’d give an insight into Italian birthday celebrations.
Most celebrations are very European and Western, but there are a couple of twists to the traditions.
One practice which I utterly disagree with is that the birthday boy or girl has to do the shouting.

That is, if you go out with your friends for a drink on your birthday, you’re the one that pays – your friends aren’t obliged to offer you a drink.
With us it’s generally the other way around – as the celebrated birthday boy or girl, you can sit back and let the others do the offering.

In Italy it feels a little like hire-a-friend for the evening – when you’re shouting, everyone’s your best friend.