Bilbo Baggins celebrates his eleventy-first birthday, meaning his 111th birthday, in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.
The birthday party opens The Fellowship of the Ring and takes place in Hobbiton. Bilbo’s unusually long life is highlighted by the large celebration he gives for family, friends, and neighbours. In Tolkien’s wording, “eleventy-first” is a playful expression for 111.
During the party, Bilbo delivers a famously unexpected speech and uses the One Ring to disappear from view. He then leaves the Shire, handing the Ring to his heir Frodo. This event sets the main story in motion and connects the earlier adventure of The Hobbit with the larger conflict against Sauron.
Readers sometimes confuse Bilbo’s age with Frodo’s. Frodo is much younger than Bilbo, though he is already an adult by hobbit standards when the party occurs. Bilbo’s 111th birthday is therefore a key date in the narrative’s opening.