Make a Birthday Card with These Free Vintage Card Designs

You probably have at least one person in your life who loves vintage or Victorian images. So if you make a birthday card with one of these vintage birthday cards and sent it either electronically or by mail, your friend or loved one would probably love it. Each birthday card design below is an authentic historical image, ranging in origins from the early 1900s to mid-twentieth century.

It's easy to use these vintage images to make your own birthday cards. Just download (right-click and "Save As" for PC users) and size them to fit on blank card stock, such as the type displayed on the right. You can then print it directly onto the card stock.

If you're worried about aligning the image perfectly when printing, then print it on another piece of stock, cut out the image and paste it onto your card stock with a glue stick. (I advise using the glue stick, then burnishing the image down well with a blank piece of paper over it and then placing the card under a heavy book or two for an hour or so to make sure it dries flat.)

I've also had great luck with using glitter glue on these images. But don't cover them completely with the glitter. Not only would that be gaudy, but it also will make the card stock warp. Just use a little to highlight a few areas. If you look at some store-bought cards, you'll see what I mean.

Sometimes it's nice to use several colors of glitter glue, either mixed together or on top of or next to one another. Whatever you do, just be sure to let applications of glue dry in between. That will help cut down on warping. Personally, I use a fan to decrease the drying time.

Choose a thumbnail version of any of the vintage birthday card images in the right column. When you click on one of the images, it will appear larger.

IMPORTANT: Once you've chosen an image and see it larger, double-click on the larger image, which will make the best version of the art appear. Sorry for the extra step, but this will give you the highest quality art.

If you have a PC, once you've done the steps above, just right-click and save the final version of the artwork to your hard drive.

Did you know that the little ditty we all sing at birthday parties is copyrighted? According to a fascinating Snopes article, it is. But that doesn't mean you owe the publisher a royalty everytime you sing Happy Birthday to a friend or relative. You only have to pay for public usage of the song. (And even that is rarely enforced.)

Have you ever wondered how the celebration of birthdays began? Well, maybe you haven't but it's an interesting story nonetheless. According to You Asked For It: Tamim Answers Reader Questions, there are three groups to thank for the fact that people celebrate you on your birthday:

• The ancient Greeks thought celebrating the guardian spirit that was supposed to protect each person would put the spirit in a good mood. Although the human got the gift in the form of a sacrifice (don't ask!), it was really intended for his or her other-worldy counterpart.
• Medieval Europeans thought people were particularly in danger from bad jou-jou on the day they were born, so they wished children well and gave them presents to keep up a positive vibe.
• The Germans made the current mode of celebration popular about 200 years ago when they established "kinderfestes," which were parties complete with gifts, cakes and candles.