Bilbo Baggins turned 111 at his birthday party in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
The party takes place at Hobbiton near the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring. Bilbo’s birthday is on 22 September, the same date on which Frodo was born. Tolkien presents Bilbo’s unusually long life as part of the leisurely, long-lived culture of hobbits.
Bilbo’s 111th birthday is especially important because he uses the celebration to leave the Shire. During his farewell speech, he disappears by putting on the One Ring, then leaves Bag End and eventually passes the Ring to Frodo. This event begins the main narrative of The Lord of the Rings.
Readers sometimes confuse Bilbo’s age with Frodo’s. Frodo is 33 when Bilbo leaves the Shire, and the two birthdays share the same calendar date. Bilbo’s age of 111 is also written as “eleventy-one” in Tolkien’s wording, a playful hobbit expression.