Messages for Every Occasion: Sympathy and Birthday
Written by Quotes Giant Editorial TeamPublished on Category: Good
Occasion messages are short notes for a moment in someone’s life. This hub covers the two most common: sympathy messages, where etiquette guides say to speak plainly, name the person and offer help, and birthday messages, which work best when specific. Use the free helper to write three original messages, with an optional quote that was checked against its source.
This hub gathers our guides to messages for sympathy and birthdays, with a free helper that writes the first draft. Everything here follows one rule: accuracy comes first, so a quote is listed only if its wording and author can be verified at a source.
Sympathy messages
When someone has died, a short, honest note matters more than a perfect one. Our guide to what to write in a sympathy card explains what etiquette sources recommend, what to leave out and how to write to a friend, a coworker, a family member or a neighbor. It includes quotes that were checked against their sources.
Birthday messages
A good birthday message names the person and one real thing. Our guide to birthday messages by age and relationship has original examples for children, teens, adults and older relatives, and for a friend, a coworker, a parent, a partner, a child or a manager.
The message helper
The message helper turns the occasion, who it is for and the tone into three original messages and one verified quote. You edit the text and copy it. It runs in your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Quotes with their sources
If you want a quote, use one you can trace. The daily quote page shows one verified quote each day with its source, and has an archive by genre. To put a quote on an image, the quote card maker makes a PNG at the right size, and our guide to quote images explains sizes, fonts and contrast.
How accurate are the messages and quotes?
The messages are original, and the quotes are verified. We wrote every phrase the helper uses, and we avoided the phrases that Emily Post and Virtual Hospice say to avoid in sympathy notes. The quotes come only from public-domain works and government documents, and each was matched to the text of the source it links to. If you find a mistake, email us with the source you found.
All Occasion Messages guides
- Birthday Messages by Age and Relationship
Original birthday messages by age and by relationship, for a friend, coworker, parent, partner or child, plus quotes checked against their sources.
- Sympathy Messages: What to Write in a Card
What to write in a sympathy card: say what you feel, use the name, offer help. Examples for a friend, coworker and family, plus verified quotes.
Frequently asked questions
What are occasion messages?
Occasion messages are the short notes people write for a moment in someone’s life, such as a sympathy card or a birthday wish. The good ones are brief, sincere and specific to the person. This hub collects our guides and a free helper for the two most searched occasions, sympathy and birthday, and says where each quote comes from.
Are the messages on this site original?
Yes. Every message the helper produces is assembled from phrases we wrote for this site, and none is copied from a greeting card, a poem or another website. The only quoted words are an optional quote, which comes from a public-domain work or a government document and is always shown with its author, work and source link.
Which occasions do you cover?
Sympathy and birthday messages, for now, in two guides and one helper. Sympathy covers what to write in a card and what to avoid, using guidance from Emily Post and Virtual Hospice. Birthday covers examples by age and relationship. We add an occasion only when we can write it carefully and check the quotes.
How do you check the quotes?
We find the exact wording in the text of a cited source, such as a Project Gutenberg edition or a library or archive transcript, and take the author and work from that source. If we cannot find the wording, the quote is not listed. We also leave out the famous lines that are only attributed to someone, so the set is small and accurate.
Can I copy a message and send it?
Yes, and we suggest you edit it first. Add the person’s name and one specific detail, since that is what makes a message feel real. The helper puts the text in a plain box you can copy into a card, an email or a text, and you are free to change every word.
Sources
- Emily Post: Sympathy Notes and Letters (emilypost.com)
- Virtual Hospice (Canada): Sending Condolences (virtualhospice.ca)
Related guides
- Sympathy Messages: What to Write in a Card
What to write in a sympathy card: say what you feel, use the name, offer help. Examples for a friend, coworker and family, plus verified quotes.
- Birthday Messages by Age and Relationship
Original birthday messages by age and by relationship, for a friend, coworker, parent, partner or child, plus quotes checked against their sources.
- Zoe Saldaña Quote About Feeling Good in Your Own Skin
Verified source, full quote, and meaning of Zoe Saldaña's 'Glamour is about feeling good in your own skin,' plus other confidence quotes.