mushroom cloud
One of the most common sentiments I’ve found in birthday cards is this, “I hope your day is as special as you are!”
I despise that anemic one liner. Why?
Well, imagine if someone were to walk up to you and say, “Dude, your nose is too long,” and then stalk off. You don’t care about that person’s opinion because they gave you no context. You just hope you don’t encounter the bigot again.
Now look at the birthday sentiment again. “I hope your day is as special as you are!” It tells the recipient nothing about themselves.
Anyone can think they are special without you telling them so. But only you can tell them how they are special.
Such sentiments land on the heart like a deflated birthday balloon. We want substance, not vapid feel goodery. What’s the alternative?
First, banish the word “special”. Bomb it from your card writing vocabulary. Nuclear is preferred.
Second, sit down and exercise your shrinking noodle on the person you are wishing a happy birthday. See them in all their glory in your mind’s eye. Make a physical list of all their best qualities and talents.
Third, take up whichever medium of expression you are the most comfortable with, poetry or prose. Write a sentiment that expresses your appreciation of that person in terms of their real life qualities and talents.
Avoid describing the person in adjectives. Describe them in nouns and verbs. If you use adjectives only use them to accentuate and not replace the nouns and verbs.
Your friend isn’t fantastic. She is a working mom of three who still makes it to every soccer game and takes coffee breaks with you because she is a fantastic time manager. That hits the ball home close and personal.
Fantastic don’t. The s-word don’t.
And if you are on the look out for some handmade birthday cards in which to exercise your new birthday sentiment skills, you can find some here:
https://gracearant.com/product-category/all-cards/birthday-cards/
Go forth and really tell people what makes them so great.
To your card giving,
Grace Arant