Forgot the birthday? Send a last minute card in about 60 seconds

The shops are shut, the birthday is today, and a text message feels thin. A last minute card doesn't have to look last minute: with Send Card you describe the person and the occasion, we paint a cover illustration for them and draft a handwritten-style message, and the finished card lands in their inbox as a sealed envelope they open in their browser. Start to sent is about a minute, and a digital card is $1.99.

How to send a card in the next five minutes

1. 1Say who it's for — their name, your relationship, and their age or the occasion.
2. 2Add a line or two about them: the in-joke, the hobby, the dog's name. This is what makes the artwork theirs rather than generic.
3. 3We paint the cover and draft the message. Tap any words to rewrite them, or choose to write every word yourself.
4. 4Pay once and send it by email, or schedule it for a specific time and timezone.

Running late in a different timezone? Schedule the card for 9am their time for $1.00 extra and it arrives at a civilised hour, not at 3am.

What the birthday person actually receives

They get an email with a link. Opening it shows a closed envelope that animates open to reveal the card — your custom cover art on the front, your message inside in a handwritten style. On a phone the card zooms in so the note is easy to read. There's nothing to download, no account to make, and no price anywhere on it.

Late, but not lazy: what to write

The best late cards own the lateness in one line and then get on with being warm. "I'm a day late and you're a year older — both of us are still improving." Then say the specific thing: what they did this year, what you admire, what you're looking forward to doing together. Specific beats poetic every time, and if the words won't come, let the draft write a first version and edit it until it sounds like you.

If you want something they can keep

A digital card arrives instantly, which is what a last minute card needs. If the birthday is still a few days away, the same card can be printed on real card stock and posted to them for $9.99, printing and postage included — so it lands in the letterbox instead of the inbox.