What should I do on your birthday? Via Seth Godin

Seth challenges the traditional notice of birthday gifts. Likely when it’s your birthday, you’re expecting cards, gifts, and maybe being taken to dinner. These are all about making you feel good and the person that provides those things for you good as well.

Why not give a donation or do an act of service on your birthday. Seth puts out that your friends and family could buy gifts for themselves or someone else if you’re into shoes. I’m supposing the same would go for books, my favorite right now.

Pointing out examples like the 4th of July, and Martin Luther King Jr day, where folks are supposed to celebrate in certain ways, Seth shows us traditional alternates to gift giving and receiving.

Social networking is all about giving. Causes on Facebook has made giving something besides traditional gifts easy. Causes allows you to recommend your friends and family to donate to your favorite cause in lieu of presents for you.

Visiting the causes page, you’ll find a link to donate your birthday to a cause.

What would you donate your birthday to? I’m following lots of causes and they’re all great. It’ll be hard to chose but I’ll definitely be doing that. Several of my contacts have already selected their favorite causes.

Chip-in is another good tool for something different on your birthday. Charities are starting to get on board with easy donation tools such as Chip-in, but even if they don’t, you can set up your own and donate the proceeds to your favorite cause. Chip-in is flexible for payment options, is easy to install on your blog or website, and easy to share a link for.

Ask folks to donate? Ask them to feed the homeless? Whatever it is, maybe Seth is on the right track. Why be selfish either in receiving or giving.

Question is what will I choose on my upcoming birthday, July 16.