My birthday is always "just another day". I usually get a text from my sister and one from my dad (I work rotating shifts, and they don't want to worry about waking me up). My sister remembers because her birthday is the day before mine, my dad remembers because my sister gets really upset if he forgets hers. I work if I'm scheduled to work. Sometimes my parents might bake a cake or buy a present to give to me sometime during the month, or month after.
This year my son asked me what I wanted (he got his first job last summer). At first I told him to take me to dinner, because it's been forever since someone took me to dinner. Then I remembered he had expensive tastes when it comes to food, so that would cost him too much, even if I eat cheap. So, I told him to make me some kind of dessert instead. He made creme brulee :)
When he was little, he'd want to do something for my birthday since I always did something for him, so we'd just go to Dairy Queen and get an ice cream. That died off as he got older.
For his birthday, I make a cake, get him a few small presents, maybe one bigger one. As he was growing up, we'd have lunch/dinner with my parents and a sibling or two if they were off work. Sometimes it was on the day, sometimes we just waited until we had a day off.
Growing up, birthdays were simple. We got to pick what tv channel we would watch (out of all five or so channels), and then when we got a VCR we could pick a movie to rent. Mom usually made a cake, and if she had time, she'd get creative in how she made it (I did that for my son as well). One year I baked a chocolate cake in different sized pans, stacked them, used black gel frosting to make a grey frosting, and Ding Dongs for towers, and made a big castle cake. I used an Imaginext dragon and knight as the cake topper. I'd post a photo, but don't have it on this computer.
Future--kiddo will probably move out in a year or two to go to college, parents may or may not do a cake/present. As I get older, ideal birthday would involve a text/phone call from the kid, a day off work, and time to just do what I want. So really, no change, since I pretty much get to do what I want when I have a day off anyway.
Ideally, birthdays should not cause stress, worry about "the perfect gift", "ruined" plans, etc. I don't get facebook "happy birthdays" (I don't let facebook tell everyone it is my birthday). If someone tells me happy birthday, it's because they actually remembered it is my birthday, and that's more than enough for me. Hell, I even forget it's my birthday until I have to write the date, and have even asked "what is the date today?" and got the answer before remembering. Weirdly, I still remember my sister's birthday the day before.
