We all want our birthdays to go off with a bang, but not quite as literally as this. You know you’re lucky when you have a group of friends who will go above and beyond to make your birthday as special and as commemorative as can be, even if they don’t have a pair of brain cells between them. Such is the case for one birthday gal, whose devoted if misguided pals turned what should’ve been a harmless birthday cake into an explosive health and safety hazard.
As shared by TikTok account @vt, the hilarious video that needs to be seen to be believed depicts a woman being presented with a birthday cake by her friends at a restaurant. Although they thought the fizzing candles affixed to the cake were sparklers, it soon became clear that they were actually full-blown fireworks when they went off at the table and transformed this cozy restaurant scene into a Fourth of July party. As the video’s caption admits, “the silence afterwards was DEAFENING.”
This is one of those videos where you discover a new layer of comedy each time you watch it. The out-of-place whistling of the fireworks. The way the genial atmosphere just dries up instantly. The smoke clearing to show Birthday Girl’s traumatized expression… And don’t miss the guy in the back slapping a hand over his mouth. We can only guess at what happened next, but we wouldn’t be surprised if this birthday meal had to end sooner than expected as the party was escorted out of the restaurant.
The people of TikTok couldn’t get enough of this torpedoed attempt at a birthday celebration. “Who needs enemies when you have friends like this,” joked one, while another couldn’t believe nobody noticed that these were fireworks not sparklers: “The tissue on the wick didn’t give it away?” Another foresees some major policy changes coming for this establishment: “They not gone let nobody else bring anything to the restaurant.” A different user wrote, “This is the funniest thing I’ve seen this morning,” although at least someone had the politeness to apologize for laughing: “I’m sorry this is so dangerous but so funny.”
Dangerous it is, as this week has shown us just how deadly getting overambitious with your birthday cake candles can be. A nightclub in Athens went up in flames this past weekend when an oversized candle placed on a birthday cake set the ceiling alight. The popular club in the Pangrati neighborhood of the Greek capital was thankfully evacuated before any fatalities could occur, but six people were nonetheless injured.
There’s a moral to this story: clearly, when it comes to throwing your friend a big birthday bash, sometimes less is more. That said, if the aim was to create a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime experience, then you have to hand it to the Birthday Girl’s BFFs because this is one b’day she won’t forget in a hurry. Mostly because she’ll be reminded of the experience every time she looks in the mirror and sees she has no eyebrows.