Even as a born ins who never had a birthday ourselves we never bought into the whole birthday nonsense even while we were " active" so we always did something special on our boy's birthdates. Sometimes it was a gift or toy or a special desert just for them or something they had been wanting for a long time. The idea was to let them know they were/are very much wanted, loved and it was a very big deal to us that they came into our lives. No matter how old they got, we'd corral them and administer the number of swats per year of age and a pinch to grow an inch and a sock to grow a block followed by a recanting of the story of the night they were born. To this day I do something on their birthdate. The last few years I've sent middle of the night text messages saying " X amount of years ago at this very hour the world became a little more wonderful when a certain little boy came into the world " etc....
We never told anyone about it, family or friends nor did we hide it. It was just a family thing that we felt was up to our own consciences. I was born on the 4th of July and it was always a bummer to have two cool things happening on the same day that I couldn't be part of. Lots of Witnesses who wouldn't dare celebrate a birthday and are utterly against celebrating the 4th of July, see nothing wrong with going to the beach and watching the fireworks along with all the worldly people who do the same thing as part of their celebration. It is such a load of nonsense and I'm glad I at least we can look back and say I made my boys know how special they are to us. It's what parents naturally want to do.