Message ideas

Messages for a 60th, 70th or 80th birthday

Thirty milestone birthday wishes for a parent, grandparent or old friend. Pick one, then add a memory only you could share.

For mum or dad

• Happy 60th! Thank you for every sacrifice you made for us.
• You taught me everything that matters. Happy birthday.
• Sixty looks wonderful on you.
• Thank you for every Sunday lunch, every lift and every piece of advice.
• You are the reason this family is so close.
• I hope this year is all about you, for once.
• We may be far away, but you are always with us.
• Happy birthday to the strongest person I know.

For grandparents

• Happy 80th! Thank you for all the stories, snacks and secrets.
• You make every visit feel like a holiday.
• Thank you for teaching us to be kind.
• Your hugs are still the best.
• Eighty years young and still the life of the party.
• I hope I’m as cool as you when I’m eighty.

For a friend

• Happy 60th to my partner in crime for forty years.
• Some things get better with age. You’re one of them.
• Here’s to the next sixty adventures.
• Old enough to know better, young enough to do it anyway.
• Still the person I call first. Happy birthday.
• Remember when we thought sixty was old? Me neither.
• Thank you for fifty years of friendship and not one dull day.
• You’ve been there for every big moment. Happy birthday.

Funny

• You don’t look a day over 59.
• Seventy is the new fifty. Apparently.
• Happy birthday! Don’t count the candles, just enjoy the cake.
• Congratulations on getting all the discounts.
• At your age, every birthday is an achievement. Well done!
• You’re not old, you’re vintage.
• Another year wiser, or at least another year older.
• The candles cost more than the cake this year.

Tips

• Old photos make the best cards: the wedding, the first house, a holiday.
• Grandparents and older relatives can send a voice note instead of writing.
• Ask each branch of the family to choose one person to chase the others.
• Give people three to four weeks for a milestone birthday.