Birthdays

Product Features

• More than 2,600 Hallmark birthday cards are available.
• Cards address a variety of relationships including spouses, children, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, cousins, stepfamily relationships, and friends.
• Hallmark also offers birthday cards for other special people including twin, pastor, priest, godparents, godchild, teacher, secret pal, co-worker, and more.
• Some cards are for unique situations such as half-birthday, mutual birthday, leap-day birthday, and birthdays that fall on holidays.
• Some cards wish “Happy Birthday” to the family pet or can be sent to the birthday person from the family pet.
• Specific cards mark children’s ages from 1st through 10th, as well as milestones including 13th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th, 65th and in five-year increments through 100th. In 2009, Hallmark improved and expanded its collection of milestone birthday cards in response to consumer research that revealed:
  • Some consumers preferred milestone birthday cards that talk in general about the life stage without mentioning the age.
  • When attending milestone birthday celebrations, guests often are told not to bring a gift, but they still want to bring a little something. Hallmark introduced cards that can act as small gifts, such as a card with a wine glass image and a detachable wine charm.
  • Milestone parties often pay tribute to the birthday person with slide shows or posters that show pictures through the years. Some new cards enable the sender to add photos and have space to write memories.
• Hallmark offers many innovative birthday cards including:
  • Cards With Sound — play original music by original artists or audio clips from favorite movies and TV shows.
  • Recordable Cards With Music — enable the sender to record a 10-second message that plays before a pre-recorded song.
  • Big Time Sound cards — measure 11-by-11 inches and pack powerful sound quality.
  • Cards With Motion — play a fully animated two-second scene when you tip the card from side to side. Some also include sound.
• Hallmark Gold Crown® stores offer an assortment of gifts appropriate for birthdays including Instant Scrapbooks, photo frames and albums, candles and home décor accents, gourmet foods and candies, Gift Books From Hallmark, and other items.
• Hallmark Gold Crown stores offer the most extensive collection of birthday gift wrap, bags, boxes and trims for presenting special gifts. 
• Party Express From Hallmark paper party supplies help celebrate birthdays. Designs are available for adult birthdays, milestone birthdays and children’s birthdays, and can range from elegant to casual to humorous.
• Popular kid's licensed partyware continues to take its cue from product categories such as apparel and bedding. Some designs feature favorite licensed characters including Spider-Man, Disney Princesses, Tinkerbell, Batman, Star Wars, Hannah Montana, Mickey Mouse and many more.
• In 2009, Party Express is introducing kid's patterns that can be enhanced with 3-D glasses, including Star Wars: Feel the Force and Monsters vs. Aliens patterns.
• Party Express continues to develop unique birthday party favors, including a new format in 2009. Cool Clings are removable MP3 player decals featuring popular licensed characters such as Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers and Wizards of Waverly Place.
• In spring 2009, Party Express introduced a Quinceañera birthday party pattern for Hispanic girls celebrating their 15th birthday.

Celebration History

No one celebrated birthdays before 4000 B.C., because there was no way to keep track of time. People could figure out how old they were only after the calendar was invented, but only kings celebrated birthdays then because no records were kept on the births of common people.

Even after the Greeks began to compile statistics for tax and military purposes, only heads of important families were allowed to celebrate their birthdays.

Today, people around the world celebrate birthdays with cakes, candles, presents and cards, which became popular in England and the United States around 1850, shortly after the first Christmas card.

In Stores

Hallmark birthday cards, gift wrap and partyware are available at Hallmark Gold Crown® stores nationwide and wherever Hallmark products are sold. A variety of gift items also are available at Hallmark Gold Crown stores. Use the store locator on Hallmark.com to find the nearest Hallmark Gold Crown store.