Tracey Hallam claimed the ideal belated birthday present with Commonwealth Games gold as racket sports proved the richest source of medals for the home nations on the final day.
Hallam, who celebrated her 31st birthday on Friday, defeated Malaysia's Mew Choo Wong 21-12, 21-15 in the women's singles final to complete her medal collection.
The left-hander from Burton-on-Trent, who won bronze in Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and silver in Manchester four years ago, was the No 1 seed and had not dropped a game on her way to the final.
She had lost a tight three-set match to the same opponent in the mixed team competition, but it proved to be a surprisingly straightforward victory.
Hallam admitted she had no chance to celebrate her birthday on Friday, adding: "I didn't do anything on my birthday. All I wanted to do was get into a position to win silver or gold, but this has put the icing on my birthday cake."
Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms completed a golden badminton double for England by becoming Commonwealth champions in the mixed doubles.
Robertson and Emms, the Olympic silver medal-ists, had to overcome a sluggish start to defeat second seeds Daniel Shirley and Sara Runesten-Petersen, of New Zealand.
England also struck gold on the squash courts when Peter Nicol and Lee Beachill retained their Commonwealth men's doubles against Australians Stewart Boswell and Anthony Ricketts while English pair James Will-strop and Vicky Botwright won silver in the mixed doubles.
Botwright then added a bronze medal in the women's doubles after helping Tania Bailey beat New Zealanders Louise Crome and Lara Petera.
There were two medals for England in the Elite Athletes with a Disability table tennis. Susan Gilroy won gold in the women's singles and Catherine Mitton took bronze.
In the cycling, Welsh rider Nicole Cooke picked up bronze in the women's road race. The 23-year-old, who was defending champion, came close to a silver but lost out in a sprint to the line.
In the men's race, England's Stephen Cummings finished just outside the medals in fourth.
England added a bronze in the netball after edging out Jamaica 53-52, but England's men's hockey team were unable to match that as they lost their bronze medal match 2-0 to Malaysia.
On Saturday, goalkeeper Carolyn Reid was the heroine as she saved two penalty strokes in a shoot-out to win England's women the hockey bronze medal against New Zealand. The game had ended 0-0.
Veteran shooter Mick Gault won the men's 25m standard pistol. It was the 51-year-old's 15th Commonwealth medal and his fourth of Melbourne 2006.
