So, another year zipped by, and suddenly it was my nephew’s birthday again. Feels like just yesterday he was this tiny little thing, you know? Now he’s growing up fast. I wanted to do something a bit more personal than just grabbing a generic card from the store.
Figuring Out the Greeting
First thing, I sat down and actually thought about it. What does he even like these days? Kids change their minds so fast. Last year it was all dinosaurs, this year maybe it’s space or some video game I’ve never heard of. I scrolled through some old photos on my phone, trying to get some inspiration. Saw one of us at the park, him laughing his head off. That sparked an idea.
I decided against a physical card this time. We live quite a distance apart, and I wasn’t sure if mail would get there exactly on his birthday. Plus, doing something digital felt a bit more modern, maybe he’d appreciate that more? I thought about a simple text, but that felt… well, a bit lazy for my favorite nephew.
Making Something Personal
So, I settled on trying to make a little video message. Nothing fancy, mind you. I’m not exactly a movie director. I just used my phone.
- First, I found a quiet spot in the house. Didn’t want the dog barking or the TV blaring in the background.
- I propped my phone up against some books. Tried a few angles. Realized I looked really awkward in the first few tries. Had to loosen up a bit.
- I just started talking. Wished him a happy birthday, obviously. Then I mentioned that photo I found, the one from the park. Told him I remembered how much fun we had that day.
- I tried to throw in a little inside joke we share. Just something silly to make him smile.
- Then I thought, maybe just my face talking is boring. So I took a few quick snaps of things around the house I thought he might find funny – the cat sleeping in a weird position, a drawing he made that’s still on the fridge.
- I used a super basic video editing app on my phone. Honestly, it was mostly just trimming the start and end where I was fumbling with the record button. Then I stitched the talking part together with the couple of photos I took. Added some simple text overlay saying “Happy Birthday!”.
It took longer than I expected, mostly because I kept re-recording bits where I stumbled over my words or because the lighting was weird. But I got there in the end. It wasn’t perfect, probably looked a bit homemade, but it felt genuine.
Sending it Off
Once the little video was done, exporting it took a minute. Then I just sent it straight to his mom’s phone via a messaging app early on his birthday morning. I figured she could show it to him when they woke up or during breakfast.
Later that day, I got a message back with a picture of him grinning, watching the video. His mom said he loved the personal bits and the picture of the cat. Felt good, you know? Like the effort was worth it. It wasn’t about making something super polished, just about showing him his uncle was thinking of him and put a bit of himself into the greeting. Job done.
