Casey Recommends: Catbirdthdays

Whether or not I’m spending my birthday in exotic locales like JFK Airport or Homestead, Florida¹, you know I’m always spending the day doing something fun for myself.

And whether or not it happens on my actual birthday or on another day during the month of March, every year I’m going to celebrate my Catbirdthday.

What is a Catbirdthday?

Quite simply, it’s me using my annual birthday discount on a purchase at the jewelry store Catbird. But that doesn’t sound half as fun or special, does it?

Catbird is the place where all the treasures that adorn my ears, fingers, and neck (and sometimes head and home!) come from.

I’ve been a ride-or-die Catbird kitten since they opened their very first teeny-tiny sliver of a store on Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg — a fitting space for all the teeny-tiny sparkly things inside.

Disclosure: I am never sponsored by any company to provide any recommendations, ever. If I’m telling you I love something, it’s because I spent my own money on it and honestly enjoy using it.

They’ve since moved and expanded their digs in Williamsburg, in New York City, and across the U.S., and of course have an extensive online shop too (which came in handy during my COVID birthday years).

And like many companies, Catbird offers a birthday discount² if you sign up for their email list, and I use it to my advantage every year.

Why am I so obsessed with Catbird?

It’s also quite simple: Because once I put a piece from Catbird on, I never have to take it off again unless I want to switch it out. And sometimes, in the case of their o.g. Forever zapped bracelets, I’ll never take them off in this lifetime.

Not everything they sell is teeny-tiny — you can get some chonkers of precious stones and hefty rings and earrings too — but that’s not my style.

I love things that you can wear all the time and not worry about what’s going to happen, whether I’m strength training, making pizza, paddleboarding, cleaning the bathroom, taking a monthlong road trip, wrangling a cat at the vet, or painting a wall.

So I stack my fingers with the most whisper-thin rings and go about my business feeling like me no matter what I’m up to.

And that’s the other key point: Just because my Catbird jewelry pieces are small doesn’t mean they’re boring. They are individual signifiers of my me-ness.

Sure, you can get plain bands (and my wedding band, purchased at Catbird, is more or less that), but there are so many more options to highlight your personal quirks, loves, and vibes. And so many that can be engraved and personalized!

That’s why I wear a Bittersweets NY-designed ring that says “adventure” and a necklace charm that says “⭐️ fun ⭐️”. And a pretzel charm, and a key engraved with my lucky number, and a stud earring of the initial “c”, and a ring shaped like blobs of paint.

Because why should you wear the same stuff as everyone else, unless you want to be twinsies with with your best friend?³

This year for my Catbirdthday, I’m getting my third zapped bracelet with a new charm to make the trifecta with my existing mirrorball and star charm-bedecked forever bracelets. Can you guess which charm I’m going to choose?

1. We were in Homestead because it was the closest town to Biscayne National Park, and it had a surprisingly amazing Italian restaurant! ↩︎
2. Privacy Tip: You don’t have to give these companies your actual birthday, you know! You can pick an adjacent date in the same month if you want to get the swag around the time your birthday is happening, or pick any random date if you just want a pick-me-up at some point during the year. ↩︎
3. Here’s where I shout out my West Coast bestie Lauren, with whom I have shared many special Catbird moments over the decades. We’ve been zapped together, wear a few matching rings and charms (like the limited-edition kitten mask we just HAD to splurge on), and have some that coordinate in their own little way. She’s a croissant charm girl and I’m a pretzel charm girl, and that feels absolutely right. ↩︎