Seasonal guides: Christmas, Easter and birthdays

Three dates carry most of the year: Christmas, Easter and whoever's birthday is next. They need the same four things - a date people can make, food that arrives on time, something for everyone to do, and a card that sounds like you.

This hub pulls the lot together. Start with the season you're planning for, then drop into the jokes, rhymes and games guides for the bit that fills the afternoon.

Everything below is written for UK homes, halls and offices, with cards you can order and post the same week.

Christmas

• Christmas card messages for family, friends, neighbours and colleagues.
• Secret Santa: the rules, how the draw works, and gifts under £10.
• Christmas cracker jokes worth reading out loud after dinner.
• Funny Christmas rhymes for the card and the table.
• Stocking fillers that fit in a stocking and still get used.
• Office Christmas party planning, games and invite wording.

Easter and spring

• Easter card messages and gift ideas for children and grown-ups.
• Garden games for the first decent weekend of the year.
• Rainy day activities for the half term that never dries out.
• Playground games to run on the grass after the egg hunt.
• Mother's Day falls in the same stretch - messages and cards ready to go.

Birthdays all year

• Birthday party ideas by age, from an 18th to an 80th.
• Funny birthday rhymes to write inside the card.
• Knock knock jokes and jokes for kids for the party table.
• Old fashioned party games that need nothing but a room and a spoon.
• Milestone birthday cards for the big numbers.
• Pin badges as the add-on that posts in the same envelope.

Filling the afternoon

• A quiz - sixty nostalgia questions, ready to read out.
• Classic family card games for three generations round one table.
• British pub games that work in a function room.
• Dad jokes and one-liners for whoever ends up doing the speeches.
• Office jokes for the work do, kept clean enough for the whole room.
• Short funny poems for anyone stuck on what to write.

The bits people forget

• Post Christmas cards by the second week of December for first class.
• Buy the birthday card at the same time as the present, not the night before.
• Put a finish time on every invitation - it decides lifts and babysitters.
• Print the quiz questions; nobody wants to read them off a phone.
• Keep one spare card in the drawer for the birthday you forgot.

Christmas cards

For family, friends and the whole office list.

Birthday cards

The designs that cover most of the year.

Pin badges

A small extra that posts with the card.

Where to shop next

• Christmas card messages
• Easter card messages and gifts
• Birthday party ideas
• Secret Santa gift ideas
• Christmas stocking fillers
• New year card messages
• Mother's Day card messages
• Christmas cracker jokes
• Knock knock jokes
• Dad jokes
• Funny one-liners
• Jokes for kids
• Office jokes
• Funny Christmas rhymes
• Funny birthday rhymes
• Short funny poems for cards
• Funny rhymes for kids
• Funny limericks
• Old fashioned party games
• Garden games for a party
• Playground games we all played
• Classic family card games
• Classic British pub games
• Rainy day activities for families
• Nostalgic quiz questions
• Christmas cards
• Birthday cards
• Milestone birthday cards
• Celebration ideas
• Pin badges
• How to make a balloon arch
• Photo booth prop ideas
• Gifts to make someone smile
• Thinking of you gifts

Frequently asked questions

What are the biggest UK celebrations through the year?

Christmas and New Year, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Easter, Father's Day, Halloween and Bonfire Night - plus birthdays, which land in every month. Each has its own guide linked from this page.

When should you post Christmas cards in the UK?

Aim to post by the second week of December for first class within the UK, and by the end of November for international post. Write them the weekend you buy them, or they sit in the bag.

What games work at both Christmas and a birthday party?

A quiz, a card game and one silly team game cover almost any room. The nostalgia quiz and the old fashioned party games guide both work with mixed ages and no equipment.

What do you write in a seasonal card?

Name the occasion, add one specific thing about the person or the year, and finish with a short line, joke or rhyme. Two sentences that sound like you beat a full page of borrowed wording.

Do you need a different card for Easter and Christmas?

Yes - the tone is different. Christmas cards go to a long list and can be light or sentimental; Easter cards go to a handful of people, usually children and close family, and are shorter.