Birthdays are such a special day in our lives. Some of us love to celebrate them and some claim to hate it. But regardless of this, our heart rejoices when the date of our birth is remembered (extra points if there’s no reminder on Facebook about it) and the birthday wishes start to pile in.

Traditionally, we usually called our friends to wish them a happy birthday or wrote/made them a beautiful card. And while we still may do this for our loved ones, our network of people has grown and so has our instant access to them via the social media. And more often than not, I see a plain assembly of “Happy Birthday!” written across the social platforms. Perhaps still nice, but it lacks personality. Why blend in when you can stand out and be memorable.

Put a little effort and thought into wishing someone a happy birthday with the following three tips:

1. At a minimum, use the person’s name. You’ve probably heard it many times before, but it still stands true: a person’s name is to that person the dearest sound in any language.

2. Go a step further and connect. Practice your oratorical skills online and write a thoughtful wish. Think of what associations you have with this person. Do your know their dreams and ambitions? What makes them laugh? What do they love? Who inspires them? And if you still feel stuck, reach out to the Internet. It’s a vast resource of quotes, poems, wishes, jokes…

3. Give your wish an extra oomph and add some sort of visual. It could be a photo, a cartoon, an animation, a video, etc., but whatever it is, it needs to complement step #2. Get your creative juices flowing and create something yourself or once again borrow from the Internet.

I hope you’ll put these into practice the next time you’re wishing someone a happy birthday online!

Mille bisous!