Birthday Cards

A birthday is a special day in each person's life. A day that is exclusively theirs! Every birthday is a milestone achieved for growing, maturing and, most importantly, enjoying living life king-size. The birthday boy or girl may be showered with gifts, flowers and chocolates, but it is the sentiment expressed behind these goodies that matter the most. And what can be a better way to express these sentiments in words, than birthday cards! The custom of giving birthday cards started in England in the 1800s and spread worldwide thereafter. Publishing birthday cards is a huge business and the world has witnessed many a name that has grown famous in this line of business. Birthday cards initially started off as small post-cards with illustrations and the words put together. They gradually graduated to illustrations on one side and words on the other. Still later came the era, which is prevalent even today, of folding a card to make it double-paged with only an illustration or an illustration accompanied by words on the outside and a message on the inside. Birthday cards are also available with many folds and new designs, shapes and ideas. These cards come in sizes as small as match-books to almost as big as a fully-grown adult. Some of them are musical cards that sing when opened; some of them have animals, flowers, or hearts popping out when opened. With the world going online, birthday cards too have gone the virtual way and gained popularity as 'e-birthday' cards. Incorporating animation and music, these cards have become even more interactive via multimedia.