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Here’s one of these interesting things you can get for a friend of staff member of your place of work that’s a little bit different from the brief staff gatherings you’d normally get for a birthday: a USB Birthday Decoration Kit!

Of course, you would need to have access to the staff member or friend’s computer in order to pull it off, but it can be quite a welcomed and much appreciated “surprise” that you can give him or her. Imagine coming to work on your birthday (groan) and just expect to start the same old boring work day only to be greeted by a “Happy Birthday” screensaver on your computer with a set of decorative lights hanging over your computer monitor, a Happy Birthday mouse pad and of course, your very own Birthday hat (okay, we can forget about the hat ). This can really help show that your co-workers and boss not only remembered your birthday but took the time and care to set it all up to wish you a Happy Birthday. It’s always the thought that counts. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a Birthday cake and a little work break too to for the Birthday song and cake eating. But you know what I mean.

This Birthday Kit from USB Fever is just that, a birthday kit that you can use to decorate a computer with Birthday greetings to create the appropriate mood and to show someone you remembered his or her birthday and took the extra care to set it all up.

Or, alternatively, you can send it off as a gift to someone for his or her upcoming birthday too. The element of surprise is somewhat muted as you are no longer setting up as part of the surprise, but he or she will get somewhat of a surprise when they open your gift.

For those who want to skip over all the detailed review and just want a summary, you can jump to the review summary

The Birthday kit contains a set of colorful and decorative lights that plugs into the computer and powered via the USB port, a Happy Birthday mousepad, a Happy Birthday hat, a self-adhesive Happy Birthday stand up sign for the top of your monitor and a Happy Birthday screensaver (obtained via online download). Here’s the link to the product where you can download the Birthday screensaver.

More details (taken from USBFever’s website):

Highlights:

- Birthday lights x 1 (cluster)
- Birthday Hat x 1
- Birthday Mouse pad x 1
- Birthday screen saver x 1 (To be downloaded)

Click on the thumbnail images for a bigger picture

Product Video

Video at YouTube

Please note that the screensaver does come with a Birthday song tune playing in the background. I made a mistake assuming that there was no sound (must have turned off the speaker or turned down the volume when I did the review) and may have mistakenly assumed that the screensaver did not have any sound. Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Here’s a video of the screensaver setting panel that shows the screensaver with the tune playing so that you get a better feel of what the screensaver was like.

Screensaver settings panel showing the Birthday screensaver at Blip.tv

Here are my observations:

Although you can wish someone a Happy Birthday in many other ways, this is quite a new take or idea on this. By taking the time and money to get this kit and set it up, the recipient will likely appreciate the time and effort spent on it, as opposed the usual generic Happy Birthday card that you can buy at the local card shop. This unique USB Birthday kit will not only be a nice surprise, but something that the recipient will likely appreciate. Since the lights are powered via the USB, there is no need for batteries, which is quite nice. Like I mentioned previously, having a birthday cake or something similar also doesn’t hurt either but even if only using this USB Birthday Decoration kit should at least get a smile if not heartfelt thanks.

I was a bit disapointed that the lights were not flashing ones. To me, it seemed a no-brainer to have the decorative lights flash to focus attention to it as well as the entire package. But, even without flashing lights, it still looks fine. I also was expecting a bit more with regards to the screensaver. It probably wouldn’t hurt to have a changing screensaver that would have that Happy Birthday message and then change to a short cute cartoon or at least to another variation of the Birthday message. But, this is what it is.

Review Summary

USB Fever’s USB Birthday Decoration Kit (Dream Cheeky) seems like an interesting idea for the office, or a friend, especially when that co-worker or friend is stuck working on his or her birthday. It certainly will brighten up the work space if not the birthday guy/gal and add a bit of color to a normally dull working day. Of course, as this kit can only be used once a year, you should consider whether it is worth it for the cost of the kit. It may be a good investment for a company or business as you can re-use it for all your employees all year round. So, take some consideration on whether this is worthwhile for you or not.

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