Does she view her birthday as a day when she'll get tons of positive attention that she doesn't feel like she gets regularly?

My son (now 15) does make a big deal about it but it's partly because I do too. We always try to do something interesting; when he was younger a quirky creative party that we both put alot of time into planning and the last 2-3 years some kind of outing (day trip; adventure). I think it's fun and will miss sharing this with him when he's older.

Yesssss. My DD’s birthday is in December and she already has a list and is day dreaming about party ideas. It’s fine. But I usually tell her I won’t talk about it until Nov 1.