- tbf work
- Birthday cards
The office
birthday card.
A birthday message for a coworker should be short, kind and about them. Below are messages for a work friend, a colleague you hardly know and your boss.
A group card collects one from everybody, every year, without anyone chasing.
Updated 18 September 2026
Birthday wishes for a colleague
Pick one, change a detail so it is true, and sign it.
Short
Happy birthday. Hope the cake in the kitchen is as good as it looks.
Wishing you a good one today, and a lighter inbox than usual.
Hope today comes with fewer meetings than usual.
Happy birthday, enjoy the day away from your desk.
Here's to a good birthday and a quiet afternoon.
Have a good one today, and a proper lunch break for once.
Hope the day treats you well, birthday or not.
Enjoy the day. You've earned a slow one.
A work friend
Happy birthday. Save me a slice if there's cake going round.
Happy birthday to my favourite person to complain about meetings with.
Hope today's a good one. Lunch is on me if you're free.
Thanks for always being the one who tells me the truth, happy birthday.
Here's to another year of you talking me out of bad ideas at work.
Wishing you a proper good one today, you've earned a slow afternoon.
A colleague you hardly know
Happy birthday. Hope you have a good one.
Didn't want the day to pass without saying happy birthday.
Happy birthday, hope the day treats you well.
Wishing you a genuinely good birthday today.
Hope today's a properly good one for you.
Enjoy whatever the day brings, happy birthday.
Your boss
Happy birthday. Hope you get a proper break from the calendar today.
Wishing you a good birthday, and thanks for the steer this year.
Happy birthday, hope somebody else is running your meetings today.
Here's to a good birthday, and thanks for backing the team's calls.
Hope today's a good one for you, away from the inbox for a while.
Funny
Happy birthday. May your inbox stay under a hundred all day.
Somebody hide the good mugs, it's the birthday shift today.
Happy birthday. Try to get through the day without a single meeting.
Cake in the kitchen means one thing today, and it isn't you retiring.
The projector's still broken, but happy birthday regardless.
Hope the birthday email doesn't autocorrect your name wrong this year.
Belated
Late, but happy birthday all the same, hope it was a good one.
Missed the day, so here's a belated happy birthday.
A few days late, but wishing you a good one regardless.
Sorry this is late. Hope the birthday was a good one.
From the team
Happy birthday from all of us. Hope the day's a good one.
We hope today's a good one for you, from the whole team.
The team wishes you a happy birthday, and a quiet afternoon.
From all of us, happy birthday, enjoy the day.
Every birthday, without a spreadsheet.
Birthdays repeat each year, so you set this up once.
- 01
Add the date.
Type birthdays in, or connect BambooHR.
- 02
Choose who to ask.
Their team, or anyone. Each person gets a link by email or in Slack.
- 03
Everyone writes their own words.
In a browser, with no account. The card is sent on the birthday.
Questions
What do you write in a birthday card for a coworker?
Wish them a happy birthday and add one line about working with them. "The team is calmer on the days you are in."
What is a professional birthday message?
Warm, short and about work. Nothing about age, and nothing you would not say in a meeting.
What do you write for a colleague you do not know well?
Keep it simple and sincere. "Happy birthday. I hope the day is a good one."
How do you organise a group birthday card at the office?
Add the birthday once and choose who to ask. Each year a card starts on its own, people write from a browser, and it is sent on the day.
Is there a Slack birthday bot that does this?
tbf work starts a card in Slack and sends the invitations there. See group cards in Slack.