Ancient mathematicians called 28 a perfect number, and this weekend, we couldn’t agree more. This Friday marks 28 years since Netflix was founded (at first as a DVD rental service — streaming didn’t come until 2007), which, following the ancient mathematicians’ logic, means this weekend kicks off a perfect year. And there’s no more perfect way to celebrate that than with a birthday stream!  

Pick from a special birthday menu of movies and shows (all Netflix Originals, naturally) to mark the occasion: A double feature of birthday-party movies, a show that serves up enough cake for everyone, or a pair of titles that go all the way back to the beginning. Whatever you choose, don’t forget to make a wish as you blow out the candles!

But first, what’s new on Netflix?

Tea and mystery. Chris Columbus’ The Thursday Murder Club, a new film adaptation of Richard Osman’s bestselling whodunit, stars Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie as a quartet of amateur detectives who investigate a murder in their quaint English retirement community. Don’t want to take that case? Try sampling Season 2 of With Love, Meghan; the Duchess of Sussex is back for another round of clever tips and tasty treats, all with a little help from her friends. Not your favorite recipe? Get your true crime fix with Skye Borgman’s chilling new title Unknown Number: The High School Catfish, which recounts the case of a teenage girl and her boyfriend as they were relentlessly cyberbullied. 

If you have just a night … 

Throw a little party. Actually, throw two! Sammi Cohen’s 2023 comedy You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, based on Fiona Rosenbloom’s novel of the same name, sees two preteen besties (Sunny Sandler and Samantha Lorraine) fall out while planning epic parties to accompany the religious rite tied to their 13th birthdays. Age up from there to Joe Mantello’s 2020 drama The Boys in the Band, an adaptation of Mart Crowley’s play of the same name, in which a group of gay friends in New York in the late ’60s gather for a birthday but end up unearthing buried emotions and long-kept secrets. The star-studded ensemble cast includes Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, and Andrew Rannells.   

If you have a whole day … 

Take a bite out of Is It Cake? The cake artists competing in this baking contest series build unbelievable confections that resemble everyday objects, down to the tiniest detail. They can win a cash prize by tricking the panel of celebrity judges trying to identify which items before them are just things and which ones are, in fact, cake. Serve yourself as many slices as you want out of its three seasons for a delectable (if deceptive) day.

If you have the entire weekend … 

Spend it with the OGs. Birthdays are a time to reflect on one’s origins, so queue up the two titles that started it all. First, the 2012 crime dramedy Lilyhammer, created by Anne Bjørnstad and Eilif Skodvin and lasting three seasons, marked the beginning of Netflix-exclusive series. Steven Van Zandt stars as a reformed New York gangster who, after testifying against the Mafia and entering witness protection, moves to Norway to start anew. Pair it with Cary Joji Fukunaga’s Beasts of No Nation, the 2015 war drama that kicked off the service’s run of original features. The acclaimed film follows a young boy (Abraham Atta) in West Africa who becomes a child soldier under a terrifying, manipulative warlord (Idris Elba) amid a civil war. 

Don’t forget, you have one last chance … 

For the summer of ’62. In George Lucas’ nostalgic sophomore feature, 1973’s coming-of-age classic American Graffiti, a quartet of teenagers (Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, Paul Le Mat, and Charles Martin Smith) spend the last night of summer vacation in their small town on the eve of a new era. Watch before Monday, when the film officially leaves service.