40th Birthday Card Messages (Funny, Kind and Actually True)

Hello.

The card is bought. The pen is in your hand. The birthday is in forty minutes. And all you've got is "Happy 40th!" and a vague urge to write "fabulous", which you swore you'd never do.

Here are 40th birthday card messages that are funny, kind and actually true, sorted by who you're writing to.

Funny 40th birthday messages

• "Happy 40th. You don't look a day over 'I'll be in bed by nine'."
• "Forty: when your back goes out more than you do. Have a great one."
• "Welcome to the decade where you say 'ooft' getting off the couch. You'll love it."
• "Happy birthday. Your knees have filed a complaint. I've told them to sit down."
• "Forty is the new thirty. Unfortunately, so is your bedtime."

Warm messages for a best friend

• "Forty years of you, and I've been lucky enough to have a front-row seat for some of it. Here's to the next forty."
• "You're the friend I'd call at 2am, and the one I'd want at my table at 8pm. Happy 40th."
• "Nobody does this decade better than you will. I can't wait to watch."

Messages for a partner

• "Forty looks good on you. So did thirty-nine. I've been paying attention."
• "Happy 40th to my favourite person to do absolutely nothing with."
• "Still the first person I want to tell everything to. Happy birthday, love."

For a workmate

• "Happy 40th! May your inbox be empty and your cake be large."
• "Forty and still the only one who knows how the printer works. Legend."

For your sister

• "Happy 40th to the only person who remembers the same embarrassing things I do. Our secrets are safe. For now."
• "Forty years of borrowing my stuff. Happy birthday. I want the jumper back."

What not to write

Skip anything about wrinkles, "over the hill" or how old you feel compared to them. Skip "fabulous at forty" unless you mean it with a wink. And skip the long paragraph about the meaning of life. A card isn't a eulogy. Two or three true, warm lines beat a page of greeting-card verse every time.

The easy formula

When in doubt: one funny line, one true thing about them, one hope for the year. "Happy 40th, you absolute legend. Thanks for always being the one who shows up. Here's to a year of long lunches and short meetings."

Better than a card

Be Better @ Turning 40 is a short, funny and practical guide to what the decade actually does and what to say when it does it. It's a great gift tucked inside the card, with a free printable Defended Hour card for the hour they'll finally get to themselves.

Turning 40 yourself? Read Turning 40: What Nobody Tells You (and What to Say).

Betty xx