Birthday celebrations oftentimes call for birthday speeches.  This is the moment when everyone expects to hear a beautiful and well written speech. But often small mistakes ruin not only the speech but also the party atmosphere.

Here are the ten most important tips to consider if you want to write birthday speeches.

1. Your birthday speech should be clear, optimistic, upbeat and easily understandable to all.
2. Don’t mention the age of the celebrant unless it’s a special anniversary like the 50th or 21st birthday.
3. Don’t mention embarrassing stuff about the celebrant. He or she may not like everybody to know that they have a drinking problem or have spent time in jail.
4. Never tell a rude story about the celebrant. Birthdays usually are family events.
5. Never speak about sad events in the celebrant’s life. Anniversaries are celebrations of fun and joy and the reference to a sad time will probably kill the serenity. There may be exceptions but if you’re unsure stay away from these topics.
6. Don’t try too hard to be funny. Comedians are qualified, trained experts with perfect timing. Most of us are not able to do it that good.  It’s always better to be genuine than to spoil the fun with the wrong jokes.
7. Make sure your speech doesn’t offend anyone.
8. Never talk about deceased family members or friends, unless the guest of honor does so himself or if it is appropriate to say that the departed is certainly there in spirit. Sometimes the memory of death is still fresh and it is always better to avoid those subjects.
9. Never call the celebrant by his or her pet name. A husband may not want all his colleagues to know what hsi wife calls him at home. Or a teenager might be embarrassed to be presented as mama’s boy. But of course you can call a Thomas Tom.
10. Avoid writing reams. The guests are there to celebrate, not to listen to an half-hour long speech. Keep your birthday speeches between three to five minutes.

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• How To Write Entertaining Birthday Speeches (howtowriteaspeech.net)

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There is a list of things to say and even large lists of things not to say, but not much on how to write the speech.

OK, let’s start: Take a piece of paper and a pencil. We are going through the steps necessary to get a great birthday speech, which you can be proud to deliver.

Start off with a few basic questions first:

• Who is your target audience? Is it family? Is it the family and friends? Is it a mixture of family, friends and colleagues? What age are they?
• What type of celebration is it? Is it a formal dinner? Is it informal?
• Are you the only speaker or are there more?

The tone and the content of your birthday speech depend on your answers to the questions above. Of course, everything that could be misunderstood or be seen bad for your audience will be left out of your text.

Let us now get the building blocks of your speech together.

On your paper write down three headings with enough space between for notes.

1. Introduction
2. Main idea 1, Main idea 2, Main idea 3
3. Conclusion

Use your knowledge of your audience, the birthday person and the occasion to fill out the blanks.

For example, next to “Introduction” you can write: Hello and welcome to Michael’s 29th birthday. We are pleased that you all found your way here today.

And now to the next section: the middle.
This is where you are going for the most important points. Most birthday speeches are only three minutes long so that makes room for three main points. You decide what to choose. Most of the time they are a mixture of good-natured fun about the birthday person and maybe one or two words of wisdom.

Your “Middle” notes might look like this.

• Main idea 1: Childhood – I remember when Michael was seven he wanted to be a hair stylist. So one day he decided to paint his hair green with water colors
• Main idea 2: young-adult age – playing in a band, was never good at sports, his first girlfriend
• Main idea 3: Present/Character/Future – he now has a wife and is going to be a father soon, what will his career path be like in the next years

Finally take notes next to “Conclusion”: Quote (You can find some useful Quotes for Birthday Speeches in this blog) and final toast. Example: “Ladies and gentlemen, let’s raise our glasses to Michael. May you have another great 29 years!”

Ok. This is not speech, but it is already an outline. To make the transition from this to a whole birthday speech you have to go over your notes again and flesh them out so each idea will link smoothly to the next.

The easiest way I know to do is to say it out loud as if talking with a friend. You will notice quickly where your speech is lacking something or where you have problems delivering it. These are th parts that still need work.

I want to give you an example:

Main idea 1 “I remember, when Michael was seven years old he wanted to be a hair stylist. So one day he decided to paint his hair green with water colors.
What we need is a bridge or transition, from this idea to the next: Michael’s first girlfriend etc.

How about this? “Fortunately Michael decided that green hair was not his style. Otherwise he never have met his first true love: Margret.”

I hope now you get the idea. Use it throughout all parts of your outline.
It is important to say each segment outloud and experiment with links till you find the ones that sound right.

When you’ve finished linking say your whole birthday speech aloud multiple times. Listen carefully and amend, if necessary.

The process is simple and that’s how to write birthday speeches that work every time.

If you need a speech right now try one of these professionally written and easily customizable birthday speeches here.

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• How To Write Entertaining Birthday Speeches (howtowriteaspeech.net)

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Everybody immediately know what that means: It is now time for the birthday speech.

Now, one of two things can happen here:

1. Guests will try to disappear.
2. Everybody moves forward so they do not miss anything.

What do you want your audience to do?

Seriously, what do you really want? Many people are in fact glad if as few people as possible hear their speeches. This is bad. Think about all this time and energy you put into crafting an original and entertaining birthday speech and in the end nobody wants to hear it. I am sure it is entertaining. However, only to put your mind at ease or to help you tweak it, here are some clues.

Fun birthday speeches should be:

• Short – Guests want to return to the party no matter how interesting your speech is. Guests have a short attention span (even shorter when they drank alcohol). Your speech should be no longer than three to five minutes.
• Appropriate – Who is your audience? Make sure that your content and vocabulary reflect the,. What may seem funny to you, may offend others. If you are unsure about something, leave it out.
• Humorous – Light-hearted humor works well. A speech full of facts and figures is always dry and boring, especially at a birthday. Use stories and anecdotes to introduce humor.
• Sincere – it is a special day for the birthday person, make sure they feel special. Use kind and sincere words to describe them. Family and friends are a good source.

Following these key points will ensure your audience’s interest and keep them interested. One thing we didn’t mention yet is content.

As I mentioned earlier, you have to write the speech for your audience. So how to find ideas for an entertaining speech?

Try talking to friends and family. They should provide you with a truckload of information because they know the birthday girl/boy a great part of his life.

If time is pressing and you’re still struggling to write a speech download one of 6 professionally written birthday speeches here.

Related articles:

• Quotes For Birthday Speeches – There are also birthday speeches that simply enhance a great party and make it even more fun. If you don’t want to write the next birthday speech all by yourself use one of these quotes to get your writing started. …

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• “The more things change, the more they remain the same.” — Alphonse Karr
• “Every ten years a man should give himself a good kick in the pants.” — Edward Steichen
• “Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.” — Larry Lorenzoni
• “There is still no cure for the common birthday.” — John Glenn
• “Because time itself is like a spiral, something special happens on your birthday each year: The same energy that God invested in you at birth is present once again.” — Menachem Mendel Schneerson
• “We know we’re getting old when the only thing we want for our birthday is not to be reminded of it.” — Anonymous
• “A birthday is just the first day of another 365-day journey around the sun. Enjoy the trip.” — Anonymous
• “I never forget my wife’s birthday. It’s usually the day after she reminds me about it.”
• “Birthdays are just nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.” – - Anonymous
• “Think of birthdays this way: you’re not getting older, you’re getting wiser.”– Anonymous
• “Inside every older person is a younger person – wondering what the heck happened.” — Cora Harvey Armstrong
• “Time may be a great healer, but it’s a lousy beautician.” — Anonymous
• “I wake up every morning at nine and grab for the morning paper. Then I look at the obituary page. If my name is not on it, I get up.” — Harry Hershfield

If you’re still unsure how to write a perfect birthday speech or don’t have the time why not try one of these professionally written, Fill In The Blank Speech Templates.

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• Thesis – Antithesis – Synthesis: First you present your statement and explain it. Then you present the counter-argument and elaborate on that. The reason for doing this is to present a completely new thesis as a solution at the end. The synthesis part develops from thesis and antithesis.
• Pro-Contra-Conclusion: Here you give arguments in favor of a statement, goal or decision. During the contra part you deliver arguments, proof and data that invalidates your pro part. The third part holds your solution, conclusion or decision.

Two or thee part structures constitute a simple way to write a speech. For special occasions and advaced speakers there’s the possibility of writing a five part speech. The main principle is the same: split your material into meaningful blocks.

The Five Point Formula. Use this template to back up your thesis:

• present your opinion
• prove it
• make your statement more plausible with additional information
• take a look into the future
• propose appropriate measures

Five Questions. It’s the same principle as above only now you are asking yourself questions that are meant to keep your speech on track.

• Why are you talking?
• How did it come to the situation/problem you’re describing?
• How should the situation be in the future?
• What can people do to achieve that goal?
• What should your audience do exactly?

Which structuring techniques do you feel most comfortable with. Which ones do you use for different kinds of speeches like birthday speeches for example? Tell me in the comments!

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