Birthday Ideas & Advice

The Art of Sending Good Birthday Greeting Cards

Pretty much everyone has received birthday cards throughout their life. If you live in the western world it is almost inescapable. The problem is, that while many people send birthday greeting cards not many people really seem to get what makes a good birthday card.

If you want to send good birthday greeting cards, a good place to start would be choosing something that is specific to the person who is receiving it. This is not always so easy to do, but suppose the person celebrating a birthday is a big tennis fan. Chances are pretty good that you can find a card that has something to do with tennis. If your friend is a fireman, you are in luck. There seem to be a disproportionate amount of birthday greeting cards with a fireman on them. Only problem is, they usually look like they are not dressed to fight a fire!

Sometimes it is good to find greeting cards that have nothing written on the inside at all. That way if you see one with a picture on it that relates to somebody you know who is having a birthday, you can write a little joke on the inside of the card and it will really look like you put some thought into what you are sending them.

It might be a good idea to put a little note on a slip of paper inside the card when you buy it; you might think that you will remember the joke you want to write when it comes time to send the card. Then you are staring at the thing and wondering what on earth you were thinking of when you purchased it. Not only did you waste your time and your money, but now you do not have a good card to send to them on their birthday.

If you are really an organized person or especially if you are a terribly disorganized person it is a good idea to start a collection of birthday greeting cards so that you do not have to make a trip every time a birthday comes up. You can go and get some greeting cards or gifts suitable for kids, some suitable for teenagers and some suitable for adults and even some for seniors.

When you are putting your collection of gifts or greeting cards together, keep some of the people that you would normally send a birthday card to in mind. If you pause and consider that most of your friends are in their twenties, you probably will not want to buy a bunch of birthday cards that make jokes about being older than dirt. Actually, those might not work for anybody.

Remembering to send people gifts or greeting cards on their birthday can really be a nice gesture. If you do it right, it is even better. Try to keep in mind where and when they will be opening the card; if they are going to be at a party or if they might be opening the card in front of their children you might want to keep the subject matter a little more tame than you might if it was something they would read alone.

Birthday cards come in all shapes and sizes, types and methods.  You can get funny birthday cards, emotional birthday cards, and children’s birthday cards.  The best place to easily find cheap birthday cards is to go to a discount store like Walmart.  However, if you want something really flashy, or just like to spend a lot of money on your friends and family, you can always shop for birthday cards at a specialty store like Hallmark.

You can also find great birthday cards online.  You can find them to order in print, order in bulk, or order several different birthday cards for many occasions at the same time.   Alternatively, you can send birthday cards electronically, through email.  There are many websites that allow you to pick your general birthday card, then add your own birthday or other message to the birthday card.  You can also send musical birthday cards and animated birthday cards.  While some of these services are free, many of them require registration.

One thing that is becoming very common is hand made birthday cards.  You can find handmade birthday cards at flee markets and craft shops.  You can also occasionally find handmade birthday cards at wholesale clubs like Sam’s Club and Costco.  You may think that handmade birthday cards are expensive, but really they can be quite reasonable.  You can often find boxes of handmade birthday cards for around ten to thirty dollars.

These days birthday cards come in all shapes and sizes, and all genres.  You can find birthday cards related to every child’s age from one to eighteen.  You can also find birthday cards related to every landmark age, such as age twenty-one, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, and eighty.  I imagine they also have birthday cards for ages ninety and one-hundred, but I haven’t seen them.  You may need to special order these birthday cards, as few people reach that old age in today’s society.

Themed birthday cards are a lot of fun.  Themes such as “over the hill” are very popular.  My father received an over the hill birthday card with the phrase “you’re a national treasure…unfortunately the government has failed to allocate funds to your maintenance.”  These birthday cards are very humorous, and make older men especially feel much better about having their birthday.

There are also themed birthday cards for the younger generation.  Birthday cards with sexy women, alcohol, or crude gestures are very popular with today’s young people.  There are also Disney themed birthday cards for younger children.  These birthday cards include themes such as Disney Princesses, Cars, Aladdin, and other Disney favorites.  Some of these birthday cards are pop-ups, and some of them are musical.  Disney birthday cards are always a lot of fun to open, read, and play with again and again.  It’s almost like another toy!

The best way to learn about birthday cards is to visit the birthday card isle at any department store, discount store, or Hallmark store.  Birthday cards are so versatile, you are sure to find a birthday card perfect for your son, daughter, grandchild, spouse, or other friend or family member.