New birthday icon for Calendar in iOS 4.2

The release of iOS 4.2 has brought us a nice little surprise in the form of the new icon shown in this post. If you're tracking birthdays in your Contacts application, those birthdays will appear in your iCal calendar with a little gift package icon. It's a nice little touch to the friendly organizer application, and it helps you visually spot that special day for your loved ones.

No one's made a big deal about this being a new feature in iOS 4.2, of course, since it's such a small detail (much as the new Voice Memos icon is a small detail). But for those of us who rank reaching out to loved ones to say "Happy Birthday" as a priority in our to-do list, this little touch might be a favorite change in iOS 4.2.

In order to set up this functionality, pull up the Contacts record for the person whose birthday you want to track. Select Edit in the upper right hand corner, scroll to the bottom and tap "add field." Then enter the birthday, and the date will show up in your calendar app.

Updated to correct iCal/Calendar app mixup.

Thanks to Ryan for the tip!