Anyone who knows me well knows that I rarely forget the date of someone in my family’s birthday, and there are a lot of us! Each year, it’s my job to write all the birthdays on my Grandma’s calendar so that she doesn’t forget. I love being the one that remembers all the birthdays, but I’m not always the best at remembering to wish those special people Happy Birthday on their special day or sending the card in time. D’oh!
So as part of my organised life challenge, that stops now! I want to be that person that sends the birthday cards so they arrive on the day, or even a couple of days before as a nice surprise for the birthday girl or boy. Because I know how much we all love getting fun mail that isn’t bills and I think it’s a great gesture to show you care.
With my birthday being so ridiculously close to Christmas, I know that it’s not easy to remember birthdays when you’re stressed out and super busy. It’s easy to put it on the back burner and hope that you’ll do better next year, but I don’t want to be that person any more. I’m looking to remove the guilt where I can and be the version of me that I want to be. I also think that the little gestures, especially as we get out of the years where a huge fuss is made of us on our special day, like a card in the post can mean so much without it costing the earth.
I’ve come up with a little way to not only remember those important birthdays but to also give us that reminder that most of us need. I have created a printable for myself and for you! so that we not only know when the birthday is, but that we get a 3 week warning beforehand! Giving us plenty of time to organise that card if it isn’t already in our wrapping kit and get it in the post! I like 3 weeks because 4 seems too far out to worry but 2 or under makes me feel stressed that I don’t have enough time. There’s even a tick box so you know you’ve added the reminder to your phone or calendar!
This could also be a sneaky way to surprise your new friends if you just ask when their birthday is because you’re just ‘getting organised’ and you’ll have something ready for them on (or before) their special day!
For something a little extra, I like to write a ‘Do not open until’ on the envelope so that they open it on their birthday and I like to decorate the envelope with stickers for fun. One day I’d like to get good at handlettering the address so that it looks really fancy, but I might have to stick with putting them through the printer and using a fancy font for now. Can’t be good at everything I guess! ;)
I can’t wait to start using it and seeing if the 3 week reminder actually works!! I think printing a separate one for all the school friends’ birthdays your kids might need to remember could be super helpful too!
You can download the free printable here. (right click and save as if you’re not using safari)
Do you have trouble with this? Or what’s your strategy to stay on top of the birthdays? I’d love to hear!
Happy organising!
Great idea and thanks for sharing!
Thanks Sarah! :)