Birthdays: What Type Of Well-Wisher Are You?

Birthdays. There are few words which conjure up such a differing range of reactions as this one.
When you’re a kid, birthdays are the best thing ever. If it’s yours, you’re likely in line for a shedload of presents. If it’s someone else’s, you’re at the very least getting to go to a cool party, play pass the parcel and stuff your face with free cake and cherryade.

But as you progress through to adulthood and beyond, the whole birthday deal can lose its luster. When it’s your birthday, you might just see it as being another year older. And when it’s someone else’s, it’s just another thing to add to your ‘to do’ list.

As an adult, it’s easy to look at birthdays in a negative light – but whatever your age, birthdays are what you make of them. They give us the opportunity to let our friends and family know how we feel about them. And the more you put into wishing them well on their special day, the more they’re going to feel appreciated and valued.

Think about you and your friends and family, and take a look at the categories below – which kind of well-wisher are you?

Wish and Run

Just above the ‘those who don’t bother with birthdays at all’ category, are the Wish-and-Runners, or Drive-By-Wishers. Facebook is a great tool for keeping up with friends, but when it comes to birthdays, it has made us somewhat lazy. Instead of picking up the phone and calling someone to talk to them, or making a note of their birthday in our diaries and posting a card, it’s all too easy to rely on Facebook to do the job for us. The Wish-and-Runner simply logs in, checks their notifications, and after three seconds of typing (‘Happy Birthday lol x’), it’s all done for another year.

Casual Well-Wisher

The next step up, the Casual Well-Wisher will remember days in advance about their friend’s birthday, and pick up a card in time to send via post. However, they won’t go out of their way to pick a specific card up. They will often choose the best possible card from the selection at their local supermarket, on a Saturday morning while they’re doing their weekly shop.

Attentive Well-Wisher

An Attentive Well-Wisher usually goes the extra mile. This person will go to a specialist card shop, and be more likely to select a card which befits their recipient. They will also spend more time than a casual buyer writing their in-card message.

Attentive Tech-Savvy Well-Wisher

The Tech-Savvy Well-Wisher can be defined as someone who regularly makes use of online card-sellers such as Ebay or Etsy. You could argue that the Tech-Savvy Well-Wisher is habitually less organised than an Attentive or even a Casual Well-Wisher, as they might rely on the online retailer to post out a card at very short notice. However, the level of engagement is often more involved – they may spend more time changing the message or basic design of their card, to cater it more specifically to their recipient.

Full-On Card Crafter

The most committed of all the Well-Wisher categories. The Card-Crafter will anticipate the birthday of a friend of family member weeks in advance, start to think about getting materials together, and put time aside to design and make a card of their own. It goes without saying that if you've got a friend who has made you a hand-crafted card especially, they’re definitely a keeper.

Featured images:

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• License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=birthday&ex=1#ai:MP900341731|

Adam, the author of this article, works for Craftsite.co.uk who offer card making supplies in the UK. On his days off, Adam enjoys shopping in the heart of Manchester.