What to say
Birthday wishes for your best friend
Your best friend will get forty messages saying "happy birthday, have a great year". Yours should be the one that sounds like it came from someone who knows them.
Funny works. Sincere works. The only thing that does not work is generic.
Funny
- Happy birthday. Another year of me pretending your terrible ideas are good ones.
- Happy birthday to the person who knows enough about me to be dangerous.
- Congratulations on surviving another year of your own decision-making.
- Happy birthday. I would take a bullet for you, but only a small one.
- You are getting older and I am legally required to point it out.
Sincere
- Happy birthday. You have been the constant through some genuinely stupid years and I do not say that enough.
- Happy birthday to the person I do not have to explain myself to.
- You make everything about 30% less frightening. Have a good one.
- Happy birthday. Thank you for staying, particularly the times it would have been easier not to.
Long enough to mean something
- I have thought about what to write and everything sounded small. So: you have been the person I call first for about a decade now, through things I would not have got through alone, and you have never once made it feel like a favour. Happy birthday. I hope this year is kinder to you than you are to yourself.
जन्मदिन की शुभकामनाएँ (Hindi)
- जन्मदिन मुबारक। तुम्हारे बिना ये सारे साल आधे-अधूरे होते।
- हैप्पी बर्थडे। मुझे तुम्हारे सामने कुछ समझाना नहीं पड़ता, यही सबसे बड़ी बात है।
- जन्मदिन की शुभकामनाएँ। इस साल तुम अपने साथ थोड़ी नरमी बरतना।
Send it with flowers
Put any of these in a digital bouquet: flowers chosen by what they mean, on a page made for one person. Free, no signup, and about a minute.
Make the bouquet 🌷Questions
What do I write if we have drifted apart?
Be honest and short. "Happy birthday. I know we have not spoken properly in a while, and I still think about you." That opens a door without demanding anything.
Is a message enough without a gift?
A specific message is remembered longer than most gifts. If you want both, something free and personal beats something expensive and generic.