Birthday Invitations

One page for every birthday

A birthday is the one party everybody gets. A toddler gets one, a teenager gets one, your mother gets one, and so do you. This is the page where all of them live together: cakes and candles, balloons, flowers, cocktails, big gold numbers for the milestone years, and quieter designs for a dinner with the few people you like most. Scroll until a picture looks like the party you have in mind, then open it.

How it works

Every design here is a finished card with sample words on it. Open one and type over the sample: whose birthday it is, the age if you want it there, the day, the time and the place. The card changes as you type, right on your phone, and when it looks right you send it the way you already talk to your guests, in a group chat, by text or by email. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is stored. The invitation is yours, the guest list stays in your phone, and your guests see no ads and hit no sign-up wall. There is no account to create and nothing to cancel later.

Why a short clip gets opened

Any invitation here can also go out as a short clip instead of a still picture. In a busy chat a video gets opened faster than a picture or a wall of text, and the whole card gets seen, date and address included. It also looks like someone went to real trouble for this party, which is a nice thing to look like.

What to write

Four things, and then stop: who, what, when, where. "Nora is turning 9" tells a parent more than a whole paragraph would. For a grown-up party, name the occasion in one plain phrase: dinner for Mark's 40th, a surprise for Dad, drinks because it's my birthday and that's reason enough. Put the age on a child's invitation; for an adult, ask them first. If you don't want presents, say so in four words, "no gifts, just you", and people will believe you. If the party is a restaurant dinner and guests cover their own meal, write that on the invitation, plainly, so nobody is surprised when the check arrives. For a surprise party, say it's a surprise, tell guests to arrive fifteen minutes before the guest of honor, and send the invitation only where that person will never see it. For a joint party, both names and both ages, in the same size.

When to send, and how to get answers

For a children's party, two to three weeks ahead is right: earlier and the invitation gets lost, later and the weekend is already taken. For adults, three to four weeks. For a milestone with people flying in, six to eight weeks, with a quick "save the date" message even earlier. Ask for an answer by a date, about a week before the party, and make the answer easy: a yes or a no in the same chat is all you need. The people who are coming reply first; the silence from everyone else is usually a no, and you don't have to chase it. Two days before, send the address once more. Nobody scrolls back.

The party changes with the age

Small children have small batteries. Two hours in the early afternoon, after the nap, with one theme taken from whatever they love this month, is a party they will remember and you will survive. For school-age kids the activity is the party: the pool, the bowling lane, the trampoline park, a sleepover with pizza and one movie. Teenagers want fewer people, chosen by them, less decoration and more food, and they want to approve the invitation before it goes out. Let them. Adults go back to simple things: a long dinner, brunch, a game night, karaoke, an afternoon at the spa, a night built around the music of the decade they were sixteen in. For the milestone years the number itself is the theme; a big 30, 40 or 50 on the card says everything, and a photo from the year that person was born says the rest. For a seventieth, eightieth or ninetieth, the party is really about the people in the room: start it early, give everyone a seat, and invite the whole family, down to the newest baby.

Print it if you want to

Every design prints at home on heavier paper, or at any copy shop, and it looks like a printed card, not a printout. Hand a few out at school, slip one into a lunchbox, pin one to the fridge so the whole house knows the date.

Let the picture decide

The designs here are drawn, not stock photos, and each one shows a party you could actually throw: a particular cake, a particular table, a particular color of balloon. Pick the picture that shows the party you're planning and let it set the colors for the rest. The invitation is the first thing your guests will see, and it's the first thing that can match.