Ed Sheeran serenades six-year-old Belfast birthday boy

As far as birthday parties go, you might get balloons or even a bouncy castle, but what about a global superstar singing to you?

For one lucky six-year-old from west Belfast, that is exactly what happened.

Daniel Keatinge could not believe his luck when he attended an Ed Sheeran concert on Thursday and the multi-award winning artist spotted him in a crowd of more than 40,000 people.

With the help of the crowd and a colourful hand-made sign, Daniel caught the singer's attention at the concert in Belfast.

Not only did the singer-songwriter spot Daniel and wish him well on his special day, but he also got the whole crowd to join him in serenading the six-year-old with a special rendition of Happy Birthday.

Speaking to BBC News NI, Daniel's mum, Danielle Hilland, said the whole experience was surreal, and is so happy that her son got to share that special moment with his favourite music artist.

"The first time Ed said Happy Birthday to him Daniel just cried his eyes out," Ms Hilland said.

"He was just so overcome with emotion, I don't even think he realised that everyone in the crowd started to sing Happy Birthday at that point."

Daniel was gifted the tickets by his grandmother and has been listening to all of Ed's albums in the weeks leading up to the first night of his Boucher Road Playing Fields concerts.

For the big day, Daniel made his very own sign which read: 'It's my 6th Birthday! I love Ed Sheeran, please sing Bad Habits.'

Mum Danielle said had it not been for the kindness of other concert-goers the special moment may not have happened.

"We were quite far back when the concert started, we couldn't even see Ed in person, we could only make him out on the big screens.

"We then met these three lovely girls who saw Daniel's sign and said they wanted to help get him closer to the stage.

"So we ended up following these girls who were asking people in the crowd to let this wee boy through because it was his birthday.

"People were so friendly and started giving Daniel high-fives and wishing him a happy birthday as they let us through without hesitation.

"We were so surprised because people had been standing in their spots for hours trying to get the best view, but I think they were just so happy to see his wee smiling face.

"I think if it had've been anywhere else in the world, it may not have happened, the people of Northern Ireland just took to him and wanted Ed to see his wee sign."

The birthday boy told BBC News NI that he wanted to thank Ed Sheeran for singing to him and for making his birthday special.

Danielle said her son had been watching the video footage of the moment over and over again, and had been the talk of his primary school.

The only problem facing the mother-of-three now is how to top this for his seventh birthday.