I noticed that a lot of people (including myself) struggle with what to write in birthday cards or messages,
especially for coworkers, family members, or people you’re not super close to.
Most of the time, it’s not about creativity — it’s about feeling awkward or overthinking the tone.
So I built a small side project that organizes birthday wishes by relationship, tone, and occasion.
No AI magic, just curated templates and examples that people can quickly adapt.
One small thing I added that I didn’t expect to matter much:
at the top of each article, you can define who the message is for (for example, “Jack”),
and the name gets substituted throughout the examples.
It turns out seeing the other person’s name inside the message makes it feel significantly more personal,
even if the structure of the wish stays the same.
It changed how I think about “templates” — they don’t have to feel generic if the context is right.
The hardest part wasn’t building the site, but structuring the content in a way that feels natural and not repetitive.
I also underestimated how much “tone” matters depending on who the message is for.
Still very early, but I’m curious how others here think about content-heavy side projects
and small personalization features that meaningfully change user perception.
I built a small site to help people write birthday messages · HackerTrans
Most of the time, it’s not about creativity — it’s about feeling awkward or overthinking the tone.
So I built a small side project that organizes birthday wishes by relationship, tone, and occasion. No AI magic, just curated templates and examples that people can quickly adapt.
One small thing I added that I didn’t expect to matter much: at the top of each article, you can define who the message is for (for example, “Jack”), and the name gets substituted throughout the examples.
It turns out seeing the other person’s name inside the message makes it feel significantly more personal, even if the structure of the wish stays the same. It changed how I think about “templates” — they don’t have to feel generic if the context is right.
The hardest part wasn’t building the site, but structuring the content in a way that feels natural and not repetitive. I also underestimated how much “tone” matters depending on who the message is for.
Still very early, but I’m curious how others here think about content-heavy side projects and small personalization features that meaningfully change user perception.