Category: Business Birthday Cards

Birthday Cards and Good Company

Every year we get those cheery reminders that the little odometer inside of us just went up one. Those reminders are commonly known as birthday cards. Some of those birthday cards contain balloons, cakes, streamers, sailboats, palm trees, etc. and they all have meaningful or funny sentiments.

I am probably in the majority when I say that when my birthday comes around I would rather it pass without being noticed, especially at work. However, I cannot help but be thankful that my fellow employees are nice enough to remember my birthday and take the time to send me their best wishes in birthday cards.

One of the special birthday cards I receive is from our Chairman of the Board and our President. I do enjoy the personal touch that gets put into the birthday cards. I am not sure how many companies send out company birthday cards to their employees but I believe they serve an important purpose in further recognizing employees.

Out of all the birthday cards that I receive each year, the only birthday cards that I have kept are the company birthday cards from my employer. It may be that I feel those birthday cards are special because they are the ones that you do not really expect to receive.

This blogger celebrates his birthday on September 18th. You can feel free to send me birthday cards as a reminder that my odometer went up one again.

Birthday Cards Can Be the Best Birthday Present

It may sound weird to you, but I’m not a person who likes to receive actual birthday presents. Birthday presents cards, however, are quite another matter. I guess I’d better explain.

As a child, and most definitely as a teen, I knew exactly what I wanted (and what I just had to have) for all gifting occasions, especially for my “focus-only-on-me” birthdays. I didn’t need any prompting to produce my list, with detailed descriptions. As an adult, I realized that my children’s homemade gifts and homemade birthday cards were more loved than the finest jewels. I also found that I’d rather select my own clothes than to go through the agony of surreptitious return or the embarrassed wearing of things that looked hideous on me, in an effort to not hurt someone’s feelings. The more birthdays I’ve had, the more I realize that I don’t need anymore knick-knacks or trinkets in my life. Also, if I come across something that I do really want in my life, I’ll gladly buy it for myself.

None of this means that I want my birthday to be forgotten. Quite to the contrary, I want my birthday to be remembered and acknowledged by lots and lots of people. I start watching for my personal birthday cards several days in advance. The first birthday card to arrive always makes me feel like I’ve won a lottery prize. I tend to reread each of the birthday cards multiple times. I line up the birthday cards at home on my fireplace mantel and I line up the greeting cards at work atop my cubicle; the more birthday cards, the merrier.

When I get birthday presents cards (that is, birthday cards that picture one or more beautifully wrapped gift packages), it’s like getting the delight of opening that tempting package without disturbing the fancy wrapping (like “having your cake and eating it, too!”). To me, the best birthday presents are birthday cards, and plenty of them, because the greeting cards represent the very richest of presents – the warmth and goodwill of family, friends and business associates.

A Birthday Card Can Save a Friendship

I can’t remember where I learned this old Nigerian quote, but it came to mind recently when a friend sent me a birthday card. The quote is as follows: “Hold a true friend with both of your hands.”

My friend has been besieged lately with some complicated personal issues. We have been friends through more birthdays than I would care to say. In all of those years, I tried to be a good friend, but I did not necessarily always remember to send her personal birthday cards. After all, in today’s world what does it take…three minutes to dash off an emailed happy birthday? I mean, we’re all terribly busy, but the truth is that seeing a greeting card envelope in the mailbox brings a smile to anyone’s face. The extra effort really isn’t such a hassle if you keep assorted birthday cards on hand.

I realize now that I wasn’t holding this precious commodity of friendship with both hands. Shame on me! All it takes is the foresight to keep a box of birthday cards at the ready. My dear friend never neglected me, even though I’m sure she noticed my neglect, or mentioned my omission, even though I am sure I would have found a way to express my disappointment if she ever forgot my birthday card.

I guess what I want others to get from reading this is that when you never want to lose something as important as a true friendship, you need to hold it with both hands.

Receiving Birthday Cards – It’s the Thought that Counts

Remember when you were a kid and received happy birthday cards from your grandparents or aunts and uncles? What was the first thing you did when you took the greeting cards out of the envelopes? You looked to see if there was any money in them! Don’t deny it. Even if you weren’t so obvious as to shake the birthday cards upside down to see the cash fall to the floor, you surely peaked inside, ever so slyly. Once you saw the money, you thanked them and went on to open the next envelope without even reading the card; You may even have received a little reprimand from your embarrassed parents.

Now as an adult, I read every word in all of my birthday cards, even if they don’t contain cash! It means so much to know that a relative, friend, or coworker took the time to choose a card and send it to me. The gesture lets me know that I’m in the thoughts of my friends and family, especially if they can’t be with me to celebrate the occasion. As I go through all of my birthday cards, I sincerely appreciate the sentiments wishing me a fun day and success in the year ahead. Maybe money can buy some happiness, but so can sincere and thoughtful greeting cards!

Birthday Cards Help an Older Boy Celebrate

They say men aren’t really adults but just older boys who never grow up. I can certainly attest to that, at least when it comes to celebrating a birthday. Having just turned 59 (gasp!) about a month ago, I can tell you that being the birthday boy is still a great feeling. On that big day, it should be all about oneself…and why not? This is the day when I can and should feel that there’s something special going on and not be criticized for feeling that way. I can revel in all of the birthday cards I receive and enjoy all of the attention I get. More importantly, I can feel like a child again without the guilt.

As a perk, some companies give an employee a paid day off on his or her birthday. Where I work, I wouldn’t even think of taking a vacation day on my birthday. My coworkers shower me with cards, good wishes, a cake and a “happy birthday to you” serenade. Even the head honchos of the company come over and offer a birthday handshake along with company birthday cards personally signed by each of them. After the workday is over I head home, where I am again presented with more birthday cards, gifts, a special dinner, more singing and all the attention a birthday boy deserves.

And you know what? I love it all, even at this age, which is why I’m actually looking forward to turning the big 6-0 next year!

Boxed Birthday Cards for Oma

I sent my Grandmother “Oma” a set of boxed birthday cards to keep on hand after the holidays had ended. She had mentioned how difficult it was for her to get out of the house lately. The usually temperate small town she lives in had been hit hard very early this winter. Knowing my Oma would travel through snow, sleet, and flooded roads to get a birthday card for one of the dozens of people she acknowledges on their “special day,” I thought it best to send her assorted birthday cards so she wouldn’t have to travel outside her cozy home to show someone she was thinking of them.

I arrived home after work to a stack of mail as usual: a few circulars, advertisements for that week’s one day sale, and a couple of my monthly bills. Amongst the plain envelopes and colorful coupons was an envelope for a Gallery Collection greeting card. I can spot that envelope from a mile away! Not only does the unique deckled edge make the envelope pop, but the birthday cards are just the right size to make them stand out in a crowd.

I was running late for a night out so I hadn’t planned on opening my mail right away. The bills could wait, but this was a greeting card! I had to open it and see who had sent it to me. In the envelope was a birthday card with a blue balloon and soaring stars, one of my personal favorites. Inside was a sweet message from my Oma, in the most perfect handwriting you’ve ever seen, wishing me a happy birthday almost a week before the actual day. I can always count on my Oma to remember a special occasion, and now she can always count on those boxed birthday cards to have just the right greeting cards she needs to show her family and friends how much she cares!

Assorted Greeting Cards Will Get me Organized!

I start out each year with the same thought: “I am going to get organized! This is the year that I will be the person I want to be.” Who is that, you might ask? I want to be the person who has a place for everything, and everything in its place. Not the person who has small piles of papers, laundry, magazines, bills etc. all over the house. I want to be the person who quickly and efficiently accomplishes all of those items on her to-do list. Not the person who loses her to-do list! I want to be the person who remembers all of her family and friends’ birthdays and sends them birthday cards that arrive either on or before the actual day. Not the person who remembers the day before, the day of, or let’s face it, more often than not the day after (okay, I’ll admit it, sometimes it’s been the week after).

This year I’m going to be armed with assorted greeting cards so that I am never caught off guard. Whenever I realize that I need to send birthday cards or thank you cards, I can go and find the perfect greeting card from my boxed birthday cards. My aunt recently came to a family get-together and went around asking everyone their birthdays and writing it in a book she had received as a gift called “The Book of Birthdays.” I thought it was the coolest thing. I thought I had found just what I needed to get organized and be on top of sending greeting cards, which obviously is no small feat. It’s basically just a book like a journal with all of the days of the year so you can write everyone’s birthday, anniversary, etc. in it and be ready to mail out assorted greeting cards. No more transferring birthdays and anniversaries to the new calendar year after year. Especially since last year I threw away the old calendar and didn’t realize until a week later that I hadn’t copied over all those very important dates! Of course, then I realized that I would actually need to remember to go pull out the book each week to see if there were any special occasions coming up that I needed to send greeting cards for, and I lost my enthusiasm.

Now I’ve signed up at one of those websites that will remind you via email or text message when you have an important occasion coming up and need to send greeting cards. You can determine when you want the reminder sent and if you need a second reminder, they even do that too. So I’m all set. Now, I just need to find my to-do list!

Party at the Garden…Don’t forget the Birthday Cards!

How many birthday cards do you think celebrities get on their birthdays? It’s not just family and friends who send them. There are business contacts. There are members of the press. There are thousands of fans. You may be asking yourself why a gal like me would be sitting here, pondering such a question, but it didn’t come up out of the blue.

As I sat in Madison Square Garden on Valentine’s Day, enjoying the sights and sounds of Matchbox Twenty, the band pointed out that it was also lead singer Rob Thomas’s birthday. Rob’s wife, Marisol, brought a cake out on stage, and the words “Happy Birthday!” shone on the screen behind them as we were led in a rousing version of the song. Rob good-naturedly pointed out how wonderful it was to be sung to by 15,000 people singing in 15,000 keys.

I turned to my friend and said “Just how many birthdays are we going to spend at the Garden?” We had been there almost a year prior for Elton John’s sixtieth birthday. It was a different cake and a different crowd, but just as much confetti shot through the air and onto the spectators lucky enough to have floor seats.

Instead of the regular, run-of-the-mill confetti used in celebrations such as concerts and ticker-tape parades, we could recycle old birthday cards! Shred them up, spray them out, and as an added bonus, the confetti would be sparkly and shimmery thanks to the foils used in the original designs. As you can probably tell, working at a business birthday cards greeting card company makes you look at everyday things from a slightly different perspective. But really, what’s wrong with that?

Business Birthday Cards Inspired by a President

I recently purchased stamps from the USPS so that I could mail out business birthday cards for my company, and there was an interesting quote from John Adams on my receipt:

“Let us dare to read, think, speak and write.”
John Adams, 1765

This quote got me to thinking how nice it would be to write a personal note on all of the birthday cards I send out. Every employee enjoys receiving that special card to help celebrate their birthday. Would it mean more to them to include a handwritten note in their greeting cards telling them how much they are appreciated? After all, John Adams said “Dare to think, speak and write,” so I decided to give it a try to see the response.

One of the next upcoming birthday cards that I had to send was Melody’s. How original can I be? She is so creative that my idea could backfire, but I decided to write her a poem. Melody was so touched and surprised that I took the time to personalize her birthday card. Maybe it is a small step and surely not the type of writing that John Adams meant, but it certainly got me thinking and made Melody happy. Next in line…Dolly and Lauren! I am sure I can have fun with what I will write in their birthday cards.

I am sure John Adams had more on his mind with his quote, but isn’t making someone happy on their birthday just as important as writing an epoch? That may be going a little overboard but you can never tell, all this thinking about what to say may get me to writing the next great American novel.

Personal Birthday Cards Kept as Treasures in Grandma’s Scrapbooks

My vivacious grandmother, who would have celebrated her 100th birthday last November, kept a busy social calendar. In the Roaring Twenties-era storage trunks that she secured with worn brown leather belts – buckle and all – I recently came across a set of her beloved scrapbooks, which she had begun in high school and continued to fill throughout her life. What struck me was that in each book, amid the newspaper clippings, letters, and photographs that meant so much to her, she had dedicated several pages to personal birthday cards that had been given to her and that she especially treasured.

As attractive as these assorted birthday cards were, I knew this wasn’t why she had held onto the greeting cards. She was touched by how the birthday cards were personalized. All of the birthday cards were inscribed with a loving, handwritten message from one of her friends or family members. “A friend no finer could I find; while I’m no poet, I hope you love me enough not to mind…” reads one in flowing script. Another, from her father, expresses how proud he is of the “strong and resolute young lady” she has become. I found a few poignant business birthday cards from coworkers, one of whom wished her “a birthday as gorgeous and inspiring as you are,” this in the midst of Grandma Tjo’s grueling cancer treatments.

For most of these greeting cards, it likely took the senders only a minute or two to write good wishes to my grandmother. I wish they all knew what that meant to her.