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Why wish someone something a little more creative than "happy birthday" this year?
Rebecca Wiggins, CC0, via Unsplash
We all know people are tired of hearing age-related jokes on their birthday, but I think it’s equally tiring to hear the old adage “happy birthday” every single year. While there’s nothing wrong with this classic phrase, we can always do better.
The intention of this list is to help you get creative with your wishes! There are countless ways to deliver birthday greetings. All we have to do is tap into the stream of ingenuity. We can be inventive, funny, witty, or clever about it. What’s important is that the message remains intact.
So, help yourself to this collection of alternative ways to say “happy birthday!” Break the norm and add some spark to the celebration.
New and Different Ways to Say “Happy Birthday”
• A million magic wishes to you!
• A remarkable year to come!
• All the best to you and the years to come.
• Blow the candle and make a wish.
• Haberday!
• Happy anni-birth-sary!
• Happy anniversary with life.
• Happy Beerday!
• Happy birthday you. Did you know that you’re one of the few people in the world that I can actually tolerate?
• Happy day of birth to you!
• Happy level-up day!
• Happy oldieth birthday.
• Have a blast!
• Have a smashing birthday.
• Have a spectacular time.
• Have an awesome day.
• HBD!
• Here’s a bouquet of happiness for you.
• How old are you again? 63?!
• I wish you never stop enjoying all the happy, little moments in your life.
• I’m happy that you were born on this day.
• It’s another year, and it’s still the same old you.
• It's time to celebrate!
• Let’s party!
• Let’s raise a toast to you and your life.
• Many more days, months, and years to come for you.
• May this day be as special as you are.
• The more candles you blow, the merrier. Blow them all away and wish for the best!
• May your day be filled with sweet things and cake.
• Sending laughter and joy on your way.
• To your good health.
• To your happiness.
• Wishing you a day that is overflowing with beer and happiness.
A million magic wishes to you!
Delaney Dawson, CC0, via Unsplash
How to Say “Happy Birthday” in Different Languages
• Alles Gute zum Geburtstag – German.
• Bon Anniversaire – French.
• Buon Compleanno – Italian.
• Charoúmena Genéthlia – Greek.
• Eyd Mawlid Saeid – Arabic.
• Feliz Aniversario – Portugese.
• Feliz Cumpleaños – Spanish.
• Furaha ya Kuzaliwa – Swahili.
• Gefeliciteerd Met Je Verjaardag – Dutch.
• Gratulerer Med Dagen – Norwegian.
• Hauʻoli lā hānau – Hawaiian.
• La Multi Ani – Romanian.
• Maligayang Kaarawan – Filipino.
• Otanjoubi Omedetou – Japanese.
• Saeng-il Chugha – Korean.
• Selamat Hari Lahir – Malaysian.
• Selamat Ulang Tahun – Indonesian.
• Sheng Ri Kuai Le – Chinese.
• Veels Geluk Met Jou Verjaarsdag – Afrikaans.
Funny Birthday Messages and Wishes
• Another step to the grave.
• Call me if you need help disposing of a body. Since it’s your birthday, the first one is free of charge.
• Cheers, you just went from b*tch to old b*tch!
• Congratulations, you’re another year closer to death.
• Don’t mind the past for you can’t change it. Stop thinking about the future for you can’t anticipate it. Pay no heed about the present for I didn’t get you one.
• Enjoy the dash between the two dates on your tombstone.
• Here’s to aging and wrinkles.
• Hmmm...didn’t we celebrate this just a year ago?
• Hooray, you just survived another year.
• I know it’s your special day but please take it slow. Too many birthdays can kill you.
• I know you’re old but I still got you a toy, so enjoy!
• I salute you for not being dead till this day.
• I see you’re still alive. Congratulations!
• I’m greeting you first so that I can feel superior to the rest of your well-wishers. Hence, happy birthday!
• Isn’t it weird that we’re celebrating at regular intervals as your life runs out? Anyway, cheers to you!
• It’s your day. Take it as a chance to do something stupid.
• May this special day of yours be absolutely terrific, and your hangover be compassionately negligible.
• May you be as fabulous as me on this special day of yours.
• Merry Christmas! Don’t ask.
• Now, now, don’t get all weird about getting older, you hear me.
• Oh, come on! Quit being younger than me!
• Okay, happy birthday. Now get back to work!
• Remember that I will always be there to pick you up when you fall. But only after I stop laughing. Happy birthday, my friend!
• This is the perfect day to thank me for remembering your birthday.
• Today’s a great excuse for you to make some bad decisions. Let’s party!
• Well, at least you’re not as old as you will be next year.
• Woah, you made it to another year without dying. Congratulations!
• Wow, you made another 365-day revolution around the sun! I hope you always enjoy your trips.
• Let’s eat cake, drink booze, and party all day and night. After all, it’s your birthday!
• You should feel like a newborn baby.
• You’re adopted.
• You’re a year closer to getting that senior citizen’s discount. Keep at it!
Here's to aging and wrinkles!
Jorge Ibanez, CC0, via Unsplash
Creative and Witty Ways to Say "Happy Birthday"
• Be happy because you will never be as young as you are today.
• Birthday hugs and kisses incoming!
• Congratulations on the new wrinkle on your face.
• Happy level-up day! I see you’ve gained a lot of XP in your life already.
• Happy independence day from the womb.
• Happy womb eviction day!
• How’s the cruel world treating you? I hope you’re all good.
• Just because it’s your birthday today doesn’t mean you’re special. You see, you are always special no matter what day it is.
• I can’t help but imagine how you would look like with a cake stuffed on your face. Happy birthday!
• I commend you and your ability to evade death. Your survival skills are the real deal!
• I don’t have the power to manipulate the wind direction. However, I wish to change the direction of happiness and point it all towards you.
• I know many people, but you’re one of the few whose birthday is today.
• I’m looking forward to more of your shenanigans in the future. More mischief to come!
• I’m just here for the cake.
• If you were Jesus, today would be Christmas.
• Please enjoy your nth trip around the sun!
• Savor this happy day for you will be dead soon.
• Smile while you still have teeth.
• The older you get, the finer you become—just like wine.
• What else could you wish for? I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to you.
• Wow, you survived another trip around the sun.
• Youth may be fleeting, but you can stay immature forever.
• You are way close to becoming a classic!
• Yours is one of the few birthdays I approve of.
May your day be as sweet as your birthday cake.
Joyce Adams, CC0, via Unsplash
Other Ways to Say "Happy Birthday"
• Do you know what I got for you? It’s the most precious gift I can ever give to you—the gift of friendship!
• Don’t count your candles. Just enjoy the glow.
• Don’t think about anything else today. Yours meals are on me!
• Happy Birthday! Be good, but not too good.
• I know it’s against the rules, but I wish you to have many more wishes granted on your special day.
• I see you’ve got a lot of experience in life.
• I wish you a happier birthday than anyone else has wished you.
• I’m sending you smiles and laughs to make your special day brighter.
• Know that I will forever keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
• Let’s celebrate this epic day with an extravagant celebration.
• Make all of your years count!
• May everything you wish for be granted to you.
• May each candle you blow today grant you a wish.
• May your day be as sweet as your birthday cake.
• No matter how old you get, you seem to be forever young.
• No one holds a candle to you. Nope, not even the candles on your birthday cake.
• The best things in life are yet to come for you.
• The best way to count your life is not by the number of years you lived, but by the number of friends you have.
• The key to living a happy life is to always live it like you’re a child.
• You always make me happy, so I plan to make you even more happy on today’s occasion.
• You can’t escape growing old. You can, however, always grow up in meaningful ways.
• You yourself are a gift to Earth.
• You’re older now, but you never seem to get old.
Tqu on August 24, 2022:
Haha just love it full of creative enjoy to read this blog
antoinette on August 22, 2022:
Funny and creative
Idongesit Sunday on August 07, 2022:
I love dis webpage
ANDREW SAYAN on July 29, 2022:
Happy birthday wish
bernice on July 13, 2022:
good jobs
David B Katague on November 09, 2022:
Enjoy reading this blog! It reminded me on my article on how to send congratulatory messages and compliments with more personality and warmth, instead of just the one word-CONGRATULATIONS !
¡Feliz cumpleaños! – Happy birthday!
As you may have guessed, feliz cumpleaños is the direct translation of ‘happy birthday’, meaning that this is one of the most common ways to wish someone a happy birthday in Spanish.
‘¡Feliz cumpleaños!’ is a standard expression that not only you can use in any Spanish speaking country, but also it’s perfect for both formal and informal situations. Below there are some examples:
[Feliz cumpleaños] + [complement]
¡Megan, feliz cumpleaños! Pásatela bien.
Happy birthday, Megan! Have a great time.
Happy birthday, mom! I love you very much!
Jossie, ¡feliz cumpleaños! Te mandamos un abrazote
Jossie, happy birthday! We send you a big hug!
Take Note: Among friends or in a more casual conversation, you can use the short version feliz cumple to wish someone a happy birthday in Spanish.
Amor, ¡feliz cumple! Thank you for everything.
Babe, happy birthday! Thank you for everything.
¡Felicidades en tu día! – Congratulations on your day!
Another common way to wish a person a happy birthday in Spanish is by using the expression felicidades en tu día. This expression is slightly more formal than ‘feliz cumpleaños’. In fact, I only use it with acquaintances and people that I’m not very close to.
However, whether you decide to use it depends on your personal preference. Felicidades en tu día means ‘congratulations on your day’. You can make this expression more formal by changing the possessive adjective.
Check these examples below:
Felicidades en + [possessive adjective] + día + (complement)
¡Felicidades en su día, Patty y Laura!
Congratulations on your day, Laura and Patty!
Abue, ¡felicidades en su día! Muchos besos y abrazos
Pops, congratulations on your day! Kisses and hugs
Lenna, espero que te la pases muy bien, ¡felicidades en tu día!
Lenna, I hope you have a great time, congratulations on your day!
Take Note: Notice that in this context day (día) is a singular noun. This means that you will only be working with singular possessive adjectives. Think about it, as much as we would like to eat cake every day, we only have one birthday. As a result, día remains singular.
Desear un feliz cumpleaños – To wish a happy birthday
In Spanish, desear un feliz cumpleaños is a popular phrase that we speakers use to wish someone a happy birthday. This expression can be translated as ‘to wish a happy birthday’ and it can be used in both formal and informal situations.
Unlike other expressions in this list, desear un feliz cumpleaños works with a verb. In other words, you’ll need to conjugate ‘desear’ to customize your sentence. Additionally, there are some other elements that you’ll need to keep in mind.
Check this structure as well as some examples of how to use these elements together:
[Indirect object pronoun] + [desear conjugated] + un feliz cumpleaños
Niños, ¿le desearon feliz cumpleaños a su papá?
Kids, did you wish your dad a happy birthday?
Zoey, tu tío y yo te deseamos un feliz cumpleaños
Zoey, your uncle and I wish you a happy birthday
Les deseamos un feliz cumpleaños, ¡muchas bendiciones!
We wish you a happy birthday, many blessings!
Take Note: Note that in the first example, we use the preposition ‘a’ to introduce the person having a birthday. This is useful when we’re talking with someone else and what to refer to the cumpleañero/a (birthday boy or girl).
¡Feliz cumpleaños atrasado! – Belated happy birthday!
If you struggle to remember birthdays or for some reason you forgot to congratulate the cumpleañero or cumpleañera, ‘¡feliz cumpleaños atrasado!’ is here to help.
In Spanish, feliz cumpleaños atrasado is used to wish a late happy birthday. As a result, this expression is the direct translation of ‘happy belated birthday’ or ‘late happy birthday’. Like other phrases, ‘feliz cumpleaños atrasado’ is appropriate for both formal and informal contexts.
‘¡Feliz cumpleaños tardío!’ is a more formal variation that also means ‘late happy birthday’. To be honest, I’ve always come across this expression in books, movies or extremely formal conversations.
¡¿Ayer fue tu cumple?! ¡Betty, feliz cumpleaños atrasado!
Yesterday was your birthday? Happy belated birthday, Betty!
¡Más vale tarde que nunca! ¡Feliz cumpleaños atrasado, amiga!
Better late than never! Late happy birthday, buddy!
Lau, ¡feliz cumpleaños atrasado! Espero que la hayas pasado bien
Lau, happy belated birthday I hope you had a great time
¡Felicidades! – Congratulations!
In Spanish, felicidades means ‘congratulations’. Therefore, you could use this word to wish a happy birthday to someone else. Since this is a standard term, you can either use it in a formal or informal context.
Something to keep in mind with this word is that you can use the word muchas to intensify the congratulations. Even though people may already know that you’re saying ‘felicidades’ because of their birthday, if you want, you could include this information as well.
Tina, ¡muchas felicidades en tu cumpleaños!
Tina, congratulations on your birthday!
Amigo, ¡muchas felicidades! Te queremos mucho.
Buddy, congratulations! We love you very much.
Me acabo de enterar que fue tu cumpleaños, ¡felicidades!
I just found out that it was your birthday, congratulations!
¡Que cumplas muchos más! – Hope you have many more!
¡Que cumplas muchos (años) más! is a casual phrase that expresses our wish that the people having a birthday remain with us and keep having more birthdays. As a result, this expression can be translated as ‘hope you have many more’.
Given its nature, this expression tends to be used in more informal situations. Additionally, it can be combined with other expressions from this list.
[Expression] + que cumplas muchos más
¡Felicidades, mi niña! ¡Que cumplas muchos más!
Congratulations, my girl! I hope you have many more!
Te deseo un feliz cumpleaños, ¡que cumplas muchos más!
I wish you a happy birthday, I hope you have many more!
Espero que tengas un excelente día, ¡que cumplas muchos años más!
I hope you have an excellent day, I hope you have many years more!
Take Note: In Spanish, one of the uses of the verb ‘cumplir’ is used to talk about birthdays. In fact, cumplir años is the direct translation of ‘have a birthday’ or ‘going to turn’. If it’s clear that you’re referring to this topic, you can just use ‘cumplir’ instead of the whole expression cumplir años.
¡Feliz Aniversario! – Happy anniversary!
Feliz aniversario is also an expression that you use to say ‘happy birthday’ in Spanish. Although this expression is used in Spain and some Latin American countries, in some places this expression might be more formal.
For example, in Mexico, when referring to a birthday, ‘feliz aniversario’ is only used in very formal situations.
Paul, feliz aniversario, espero vernos pronto.
Paul, happy anniversary, I hope we see each other soon.
Lin, ¡feliz aniversario! Pásala bien con tus seres queridos.
Happy anniversary, Lin! Have a great time with your loved ones.
Take Note: Just like in English, in Spanish, feliz aniversario can be used when referring to other events.
Corazón, ¡feliz aniversario número dos!
Honey, happy second anniversary
Wrapping Up
If you have friends that speak Spanish, learning how to wish them a happy birthday in their own language can be a very nice gesture and a good opportunity to practice your Spanish.
Make sure you choose the most suitable option for you! Now, you know different expressions that you can use to congratulate the next cumpleañero o cumpleañera.