Celebrations traditionally occur only for children and the elderly. The most significant birthdays occur when a child is 1, 6, 10, and then every 10 years afterwards. The most important birthday when you get older is your 60th, because it is the first time that your zodiac sign is inline since your birth (I will do a blog post on the Chinese zodiac at New Year's).
While China is slowly adopting some Western traditions like celebrating your birthday every year and eating cake, the traditional celebration involves a few other practices. Instead of a cake, you must eat longevity noodles (长寿面). The noodles are really one long noodle, and the birthday boy or girl tries to eat the entire noodle without breaking it. The longer one can eat, the longer one will live. You also enjoy "peaches," which are really cooked buns with sweet meat and red bean paste to symbolize bliss.
Children are often given gifts decorated with tigers, as the tiger is believed to protect children from evil spirits. Children also receive red envelopes (红包) that contain money. Denominations are usually related to lucky numbers - 6, 8, 9 - or the child's age. Finally, you never want to give a gift with a clock. The clock represents death and is considered very unlucky.
