Greeting card with bookcase, cat, and sign that says "Happy Day"
The Goods

11 Happy Birthday Cards for Readers and Tons of Gift Suggestions

Wish a very merry birthday to your favorite fellow bookworm with these bookish birthday cards! Plus tons of gifting ideas as a bonus.

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Tracy Shapley Towley

Staff Writer

Tracy is a freelance copywriter, all-around ne’er do well, very-adult graduate of the University of Iowa, and occasional waterer of plants. Her hobbies include writing fiction, reading fiction, mixing together various flavors of soup, and typing letters to her friends on an old red typewriter that doesn't have a working period so all sentences must end in questions marks or exclamation points? She has read every Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and has a lot of thoughts on them. Her old Iowa farmhouse is shared by her husband Sean, a pair of cats, a pair of dogs, and the ghost of Kurt Vonnegut.

View All posts by Tracy Shapley Towley

If there’s one thing many of us at Book Riot love, it’s a bookish birthday — and we’ve shared that love. We’ve rounded up the best birthday poems to help boost your own birthday or the birthday of somebody you like. We’ve suggested ways to bookishly celebrate your birthday during a quarantine. Today I’m going to help you find the perfect birthday card for your favorite reader.

Take a look at these cards to find options for people who love dancing mice (or rats? probably they should love both), terrible puns, or plants on bookcases.

Of course, along with a lovely card, you might want to include a birthday gift. Pop around this article on 25+ gorgeous gifts for book lovers if you don’t know where to start. We’ve got a lot of more specific lists, too, such as sustainable gifts for readers for eco-friendly birthday bashes, book club gifts for all your favorite folks to gab books with, and gifts for Bridgerton fans.

As a lover of subscription boxes (don’t tell my anti-capitalism-heart), I’d also like to recommend some pretty cool book subscription gifts. These are great because you smash that purchase button once but your recipient gets thoughtfully curated stuff every month — which means you continue getting credit. Bonus!

Birthday card that says I Hope You Have a Book Filled Birthday with dancing, partying animals.

I hope you have an animals-dancing, book filled birthday! $5

Blue book cover birthday card that says Happy birthday and many more.

Happy Birthday! and many more is certainly a nice sentiment and it looks lovely on this antique bookish background. $5

Birthday Card that says "Have a Novel Birthday" with a cake made out of layered books.

Have a novel birthday and enjoy your birthday cake that’s actually just stacked books. I love books but I want my cake. But if you’re going to insist on a cake made of stacked books, please don’t melt a candle on my books! $5

Greeting card with bookcase, cat, and sign that says "Happy Day"

Have a happy (birth) day! Check out cool book spines! Pet the sleeping cat! This card has it all. $5

Birthday card with stacked books and candles that says "Wishing you a birthday filled with books and zero distractions."

Reading is great but reading with zero interruptions is even better. $6

Personalized happy birthday card with books

This lovely, simple happy birthday card can be personalized with the name of your loved one. $6

Birthday card with bookcase and "Another Year for the Books."

When your loved one has successfully completed another trip around the sun, commend them on Another Year in the Books. $5

Happy birthday card with books and glasses.

If you’re a glasses hound like me, you’ll love this handmade bookish happy birthday card with specs. $6.5

Greeting card with books and a plant that says "Hope your birthday is one for the books."

I realize that this card means well but when I see something ambiguous like “Hope your birthday is one for the books!” I can’t help but think that of the potential sinister meaning. You know, like it’s “one for the books” like my February 2020 birthday was when I almost got trapped in Spain forever. Certainly one for a book about how I almost got separated from my dogs forever. $5

Greeting card with a stack of books with icing and candles on top. The book spines spell out "

I agree that birthdays and books are just better together. I do not agree that frosting belongs on top of a book. $8

Birthday card with a bookcase. "Treat your shelf it's your birthday" is spelled out.

Of course, no list of bookish greeting cards would be complete without this pun: Treat your shelf it’s your birthday. $4.5

Which of these happy birthday cards for readers do you love the most? If your loved one loves books and plants, there is really a lot of overlap here for you! But plenty of options for those without green thumbs, too.