How Important Are Birthdays?

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Facebook is good for keeping up with birthdays.  When a friend is having a birthday, you get a reminder.   For a while, I tried to keep up with wishing all my friends a good day on their birthdays, but I wasn't very good at it.  Eventually, I just stopped altogether, figuring if I couldn't acknowledge everyone's birthday, then I wouldn't acknowledge anyone's birthday - except really close friends and family.  In the interest of fairness, of course.

When I was growing up, we didn't celebrate birthdays.  We might mention that one or the other of us was another year older, but we didn't make a big deal of it.  Now that I'm grown up, I still don't really do much when it comes to birthdays.  My kids thought they were really deprived. 
I know there are people who plan big, elaborate parties for every kid's birthday.  Not me.

We did put together a backyard party for Beth when she turned 6.  I can't remember why we did it that year, but we never really did anything for any other birthday.  I can't even remember if Cory ever got a party.  I'm sure he remembers though, and will be quick to tell me when he reads this.  There were a few special birthdays, like when they turned 18 or celebrated their 'golden' birthday (something I'd never heard of until we moved to Wisconsin), when we their father gave them something they'd been wanting, like an iPod, Zune, or gaming system.  Other than that, maybe they got birthday cards, a hug, or just a happy birthday wish on their facebook wall.

How important are birthdays?  Should I be putting more effort into them?