Video Editing

10 birthday video ideas for friends, family, and colleagues

Posted October 5, 2021

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Want to impress your friends, family, and colleagues this year on their birthdays? Forget about sending old-school cards in the mail or an impersonal text message. Deliver instant, unique, and memorable birthday videos to their inbox instead. 

Whether you want to make recipients smile by sharing a funny happy birthday song, a birthday video message or fun greetings, Clipchamp’s free online video editor has all the features you need. Spark your creativity and virtually share the love this year with the help of Clipchamp's top 10 birthday video ideas. 

birthday video ideas CC thumbnail

Why send a birthday video greeting this year?

When you can’t be with your friends, family, or colleagues this year on their birthdays, send unforgettable birthday wishes from afar instead. 

Creating heartwarming birthday montage videos, slideshow videos and even webcam recordings are sincere and fun ways to show your love and appreciation when you can’t be there in person. Best of all, recipients can even replay their fun greetings as many times as they would like. 

Keep reading to learn how to create a surprise birthday video message. 

10 easy birthday video ideas

Now that you’ve hopefully got the hang of how to make a birthday video message using Clipchamp’s free online video editor, let’s explore 5 of our favorite easy birthday presentation ideas. 

​​1. Funny happy birthday song

If you can’t sing to your loved ones or colleagues in person this year, the next best option is to record and share a funny happy birthday song instead. Ask your friends, family members, or colleagues to put on their best singing voice, and webcam record themselves singing the happy birthday song. 

Turn the clips into a funny happy birthday song by taking a verse from each video submission and piecing them all together to form a birthday song mashup. Don’t forget to mention there are extra points for those who throw in a couple of dance moves. 

Show your recipient they’re loved and cared for even though you might not be able to give them a happy birthday hug in person. Share your funny happy birthday song directly with our free online video editor. 

2. Montage video

Take a trip down memory lane by gathering up your favorite birthday photoshoot or videos. Share your treasured memories with a heartfelt memory montage video. To make this montage video one to remember, choose a royalty-free soundtrack to play in the background that tugs on those heartstrings. 

Easily upload your images or video footage to our free online video editor, piece together your montage video, and share directly with the recipient. 

3. Virtual gift

Who doesn’t love a virtual gift? Instead of spending too much money on postage this birthday and risk the parcel won’t arrive in time, share a gift card or voucher online instead. 

Sharing a virtual gift via a birthday video message is one of the easiest ways to say “Thinking of you” or “happy birthday” on their special day. All you have to do is purchase a virtual gift card and paste the image or barcode into your birthday video message.

Just make sure to send the birthday video message directly to the recipient and not post it onto YouTube or a video-sharing platform. You don’t want anyone else to know the gift card secret code.

4. Corporate webcam recording

If a co-worker’s birthday is looming, gather up your team members via email or Zoom conference call and send them a birthday video message request. 

Share some brief instructions on how to easily film a webcam recording, what you want them to record and how to submit their birthday video message recording to you. They could send this to you via email, OneDrive, or GoogleDrive.

You should end up with a compilation of your co-worker’s video birthday messages to the recipient saved to your computer. Simply upload your video files to our free online video editor and make a memorable happy birthday video for your co-worker. All you have to do is send everyone a link for them to view the video.

5. Meme maker

Memes are part of our everyday life and they’re extremely easy video ideas. Whether you’re scrolling on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, there’s bound to be at least one meme pop up. 

Create a personalized meme with Clipchamp’s video meme maker and share it directly on social media. Tell your friends and followers whose birthday it is and get them to share the love. With Clipchamp’s endless library of royalty-free stock and GIFs, you can create your own in no time. 

Try these templates

6. Slideshow video

Slideshow birthday video messages are sentimental, fun to watch, and great for creating on the go. If your recipient has hit a milestone birthday, share all the pictures or videos you have of them growing up. 

All you have to do is browse through your smartphone camera roll, select the videos or images you want to add to your slideshow, add a birthday message then save. 

If you’re creating a birthday video message last minute, Clipchamp’s iOS app is the perfect tool to use. Whether you’re on the commute to work or relaxing before bedtime, you can create videos made for mobile in minutes with no experience required. 

7. Birthday card

Looking to create a short but fun greetings video rather than a birthday message? Then a birthday card is the best video for you. They’re extremely fast to make, and an upgrade to a regular happy birthday text message. 

Start with an easy happy birthday card template, then personalize it with your text and recipient's name. It’s that easy. Birthday card videos are only 10 seconds long, so they’re great for sharing via text message or on social media. 

8. Birthday party invite

Invite your friends and family to your birthday gathering or Zoom party this year with a digital birthday party invitation. Include the date, time, and location (or Zoom link) along with a fun photo of yourself. You can even create a theme for your birthday invitation and have your friends and family dress up in person or over a webcam. 

9. Pet birthday celebration images

We can’t forget about our furry friends on their birthdays. Most of us have a camera roll full of happy snaps of our families or friends' dogs, cats, and even cute hamsters, so why not put them to good use and create a pet birthday video for their owner. Add your favorite pet pictures to our free online video editor and create a short slideshow video.

10. Belated happy birthday video idea

Forgot an important birthday? A belated happy birthday video can double as fun greetings and an apology. Your recipients will appreciate the extra effort you have gone to, and they won’t know it’s only taken you a few minutes to create. Add an entertaining image or stock video, personalize the text, and there you have it. 

Make fun greetings with a ready-to-use template

Making a professional-looking birthday video to share with your loved ones doesn’t have to be hard and time-consuming. Clipchamp’s free online video editor offers free fun greetings and celebration video templates for you to fully customize and make your own.

All you have to do is swap out our stock footage with your video clips or images and customize the text. It’s that easy. 

Below is a step-by-step tutorial on how to customize one of our ready-to-use birthday video messages. 

Step 1. Log in to Clipchamp or sign up for free

Head over to Clipchamp and log in to your account. If you don’t have an account, sign up today for free. 

Birthday video ideas - step 1

Step 2. Select a ready-to-use fun greetings template

Once you have logged into your Clipchamp account, the editor homepage will appear. Start your birthday video with a fun greetings template. 

Under Start with a template click on the Celebrations category. Scroll through the ready-to-use fun greetings templates then click on the template that best suits the occasion. 

A template preview pop-up tab will appear. Click Use this template to start editing your new birthday video. We have chosen the Kids Birthday Video template for this tutorial. 

Birthday video ideas - step 2

Step 3. Personalize the birthday video template with images or video

Clipchamp’s free online video editor will automatically open once you have selected your template. Once all the stock footage, images, and music have loaded, it’s time to start editing. 

Upload your personal video footage or images

First, let’s swap out our stock images and add in your own. To do this, click on the + symbol on the left sidebar. Drag and drop files from your computer, or browse your files. You can also select saved images or video footage from DropBox, GoogleDrive, OneDrive, and Google Photos.

Your files will appear in the My media tab. 

Birthday video ideas step 3a

Replace stock images with personal birthday celebration images

Drag and drop your images on top of the existing images on the timeline. Your birthday celebration images will automatically snap into place. 

Change the appearance of the image using the Transform, Filters, and Adjust colors tabs above the video preview. You can alter the size of your image by dragging the white corner buttons in and out. Freely move your image around the video preview by using the drag and drop method.

Repeat for each new birthday celebration image replacement. 

Birthday video ideas - step 3b

Step 4. Personalize text

It’s now time to edit the text of your template to suit your new images. Make sure to edit the example template name to your recipient’s name. To edit text, click on the text box on the timeline, then click on the text tab above the video preview.

Birthday video ideas - step 4

Step 5. Save and export new fun greetings video

Once you’re happy with your new birthday video, click on the Export button located at the top right corner of the online editor. Saving options will appear. We recommend saving your video in 720p or 1080p for the best quality. Under the optimization section, make sure Quality is selected. Click on Continue to export. 

You can directly upload your new birthday video to one of Clipchamp’s integrations like YouTube or Google Drive for fast sharing, or even copy and paste a direct sharing link to the recipient. 

Birthday video ideas - step 5
Birthday video ideas - exporting

Watch your new birthday video message

A birthday video message is a gift that keeps on giving

Our easy video ideas will have you creating birthday video messages faster than you can sing the happy birthday song. In just a few clicks, you can create funny greetings, memorable birthday video montages, and funny happy birthday song collations.

Sign up now to start creating with Clipchamp’s free online video editor.

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