Birthday Wishes for Your Son or Daughter That Are Not Copy Pasted

A birthday message to your own child should be able to fail the "could this be sent to anyone" test. If you could forward it to a colleague's kid without editing, it is not saying anything. One specific detail rescues almost any message.

Here are messages by age, then the method for writing your own.

For a small child, one to five

• You are one today. You have no idea what that means and you are delighted anyway. That is very like you.
• Three years of you. The house has never been quieter and never been better.
• Happy birthday to the only person who has ever woken me at 5 AM and been forgiven.
• You turned four and immediately told everyone you are nearly five. Slow down.

For six to twelve

• Happy birthday. You are funnier than me now and I am handling it well.
• Nine looks good on you. Please stop growing out of shoes.
• You were brave about something this year that you did not think was brave. I noticed. Happy birthday.
• Happy birthday to the boy who has explained the same video game to me four times with total patience.

For a teenager

• Fifteen. You have opinions now and most of them are better than mine. Happy birthday.
• I am not going to embarrass you today. Tomorrow is a different matter. Happy birthday.
• Happy birthday. This was not an easy year and you got through it better than I did at your age.
• You are turning into someone I would want to know even if you were not mine.

In Hindi

• जन्मदिन मुबारक। इस घर में सबसे ज़्यादा शोर तुम्हारा है, और सबसे ज़्यादा खुशी भी।
• हर साल सोचती हूं कि अब बड़े हो गए हो, और हर साल गलत साबित होती हूं। जन्मदिन की ढेर सारी शुभकामनाएं।
• तुम्हें देखकर लगता है कि कुछ तो सही किया होगा हमने। जन्मदिन मुबारक।

How to write your own in a minute

Answer one of these and you have a message:

1. What did they do this year that surprised you? Not impressed you. Surprised you.
2. What is the running joke between you right now? Put it in without explaining it.
3. What do you notice about them that they do not know you notice? This one produces the messages that get kept.

Skip the adjectives. "Kind, loving and hardworking" is what you write when you cannot think of anything specific, and children read it exactly that way.

When a message is not the format

Sometimes the year has been big enough that a card is the wrong size for it. The same details, turned into lyrics with their name sung out loud, are what a personalized songs for birthday does. English, Hindi and Hinglish all work, and Hinglish is often closest to how families actually talk at home. It starts at ₹149 and you hear it before you pay. The guide for daughters and the one for sons go into what to include.

Write the specific thing

Whatever you send, make it something that would be slightly wrong if it went to any other child. That is the whole test, and it takes about a minute to pass.

Quick questions

What do you write in a child's birthday card?

One specific memory from the past year and one sentence about who they are becoming. Two lines beats a paragraph of general warmth.

My teenager will not react. Is it worth writing?

Yes. Visible reaction and actual effect are different things at that age, and written messages get reread privately in a way spoken ones do not.

Should the message be in Hindi or English?

Whichever you use with them at home. A message in the language of the relationship reads as more sincere than one in the language of the greeting card.