Birthday Wishes for a Wife

Warm and specific

1. 1 Happy birthday to the person who runs this house, this family, and quietly, me.
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2. 2 Happy birthday. You were right about the job, the house and the dog, and I have stopped arguing.
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3. 3 Another year of you making everything work. I do notice. Happy birthday.
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4. 4 Happy birthday. Everything good here started as your idea.
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5. 5 You are the most capable person I know. Happy birthday, and take the day off from all of it.
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Romantic, without the greeting-card voice

1. 6 Happy birthday. Fourteen years and I still look for you in a room.
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2. 7 Happy birthday to my favourite person and my best decision.
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3. 8 I would do all of it again. Happy birthday.
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Funny

1. 9 Happy birthday. I have booked the restaurant you were going to book anyway.
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2. 10 Happy birthday to the woman who is always right, which is exhausting and useful.
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3. 11 Another year of me being wrong about directions. Happy birthday.
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For a milestone birthday

1. 12 Forty and completely undiminished. Happy birthday.
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2. 13 Fifty. You have got better at everything, which is not how it is supposed to work.
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3. 14 Happy sixtieth. I have booked the quiet day you actually want.
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From the family

1. 15 Happy birthday, Mum. From all of us, and yes we did remember this year.
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2. 16 Happy birthday from everyone in the house, including the ones who cannot write yet.
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3. 17 Happy birthday. The children chose this card, which explains it.
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If she has had a hard year

1. 18 Happy birthday. You have held a great deal together this year and I have not said thank you enough.
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2. 19 Wishing you a gentler year, and a day off in the middle of this one.
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3. 20 Happy birthday. Nothing is required of you today.
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Short

1. 21 Happy birthday. I love you.
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2. 22 My favourite. Happy birthday.
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3. 23 Happy birthday, love.
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4. 24 Best decision I ever made. Happy birthday.
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Finding the specific thing

The difference between a card she keeps and one she recycles is one concrete detail.

1. 25 What did she sort out this year that nobody else noticed?
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2. 26 What does she do every week without being asked?
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3. 27 What has she changed her mind about, or changed yours about?
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4. 28 What would fall apart in a fortnight without her?
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5. 29 What does she say that you have started saying?
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For a wife who is also a mother

The card that acknowledges the invisible workload lands harder than any romantic line.

1. 30 Happy birthday. You carry the appointments, the birthdays, the shoe sizes and the whole calendar in your head, and I see it.
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2. 31 Happy birthday. Today nobody asks you where anything is.
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3. 32 Happy birthday to the person who knows where everything is and everyone should be.
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4. 33 Happy birthday. You have made three people who are better than either of us.
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From the children

1. 34 Happy birthday Mum. From all of us, and we did remember without being told this year.
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2. 35 Happy birthday, Mum. We have made you breakfast and a mess.
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3. 36 Happy birthday. You are the best one in this house and we all know it.
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For a long marriage

1. 37 Happy birthday. Twenty-six years and you are still the most interesting person I know.
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2. 38 Happy birthday. I would make the same decision again, faster.
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3. 39 Happy birthday. Everything I like about my life has you somewhere in it.
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When you are not good at this

Plenty of people find writing cards genuinely difficult. Saying so is allowed.

1. 40 I am terrible at this and you know it. Happy birthday — you are the best thing in my life.
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2. 41 Four attempts at this card. Happy birthday. I love you.
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3. 42 You know what I mean and I know I have not said it well. Happy birthday.
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Planning the day, which is part of the card

1. 43 A card promising a specific plan beats a card promising a vague one.
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2. 44 "I have booked Saturday and you do not have to organise any of it" is the best line in most cards.
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3. 45 If she always organises things, the gift is not organising it.
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Short lines

1. 46 Happy birthday. I love you.
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2. 47 My favourite person. Happy birthday.
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3. 48 Best decision I ever made. Happy birthday.
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4. 49 Happy birthday, love.
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Questions people actually ask