Birthday Cards, Reimagined

The birthday card has been having an identity crisis. Stuck between Hallmark sentimentality and ironic distance, it forgot it was supposed to be fun.

Our studio works with over 100 artists worldwide to make cards we'd actually want to send. Hand-lettered. Animated when it matters. Weird in the right places. The kind of card you screenshot and send to the group chat before you send to the person.

What Makes a Birthday Card Actually Good

A great birthday card does three things: it makes the sender feel like they made a choice, it makes the recipient feel known, and it survives the screenshot test — meaning it's good enough that someone wants to save it or share it. Everything we design starts there.

Most cards fail at least one of those. The rack at the drugstore makes you settle. The plain e-card makes you look like you forgot. A Givingli card lets you pick something that actually sounds like you, in about a minute.

Digital, But Not Disposable

"Digital birthday card" used to mean a clip-art balloon and a MIDI file. That's not this. Every Givingli card is illustrated by a working artist, animated where animation adds something, and designed to live in someone's phone — the kind of thing they actually scroll back to. (It's also a lot kinder to the planet than 6.5 billion paper cards a year, which we get into in our piece on sustainable gifting.)

How to Send One in Under a Minute

1. Pick the card. Browse by vibe — funny, heartfelt, a little unhinged. There's no account required to start.
2. Write the note. Two specific sentences beat a paragraph of "hope your day is amazing." If you're stuck, our thank-you note guide applies to birthdays too: name the thing, name how it lands.
3. Add a gift, if you want. Pair the card with a gift card from 300+ brands — Starbucks, Sephora, DoorDash — or Givingli Cash they can spend anywhere. They open your card first, then the gift.
4. Send it by text. It lands on their phone as a link. They tap, see your card, and feel it.

Make It Land On Time

A birthday card the morning of beats one buried in a 9pm pile of texts. You can schedule a Givingli card to arrive exactly when you want — more on why that matters in the timing of a good gift.

Happy birthday is the easy part. The art is what carries it.