Step 1
Make a Circle.
Give it a name and invite people. A family, a friend group, a team at work.
Circles
Birthday cards for your whole group.
kept together.
A Circle is a group of people who sign each other's birthday cards. Everyone adds their birthday once, and their address if they'd like a mailed card. Before each birthday, the others pick a card, sign it, and we mail it to arrive on the day.
The Tuesday Group
6 membersWren
next · Mar 4
August
next · Apr 19
Mira
next · May 7
Theo
next · Jun 22
Pia
next · Aug 11
Noor
next · Sep 30
Voting on Mira's card opens in 21 days. Three drafts, one vote each. Mira never sees this page.
How a Circle works
Set it up once. We handle each birthday after that.
Step 2
Members join.
Each member adds their birthday when they join, and can add a mailing address later in their preferences. Nobody in the Circle sees anyone else's address, phone or email, not even the organizer.
Step 3
We draft, the group votes.
About three weeks before someone's birthday, we draft three cards. Everyone except the birthday person votes for a few days, then signs the winner until about two weeks before.
Step 4
We mail it.
When signing closes, we charge for the card and mail it to arrive on their birthday. With no address on file, it goes out digitally on the day instead. This happens every year for everyone in the Circle.
If a birthday is close, the schedule is shorter: voting opens right away and there are still at least two days to sign. If it's too late for the mail to arrive in time, the group still votes and signs, and the card goes out digitally on the day. For addresses outside the US and Canada, everything starts about 10 days earlier.
The vote
Three drafts, one vote each.
When a birthday is coming up, we draft three cards in different tones. Every member except the birthday person gets one vote. The winner goes around for signing. In a tie, we pick.
Direction
Warm
Direction
Funny
Direction
Elegant
The recipient never sees their card
The birthday person doesn't see it coming.
We hide the card from the person it's for everywhere they might see it: the drafts, the signing page, kitty asks, and the Circle home page.
- Nobody else in the Circle sees their address, phone or email.
- The week of their birthday, their Circle home page shows everyone else's upcoming cards, not their own.
The kitty
Anyone can chip in. No one has to.
Each card is paid from the Circle's kitty first, then from the organizer's saved card. With no saved card and not enough in the kitty, no cards go out, and we tell the organizer. After signing, members can put a few dollars in the kitty if they want to.
- Pitch-ins go to the Circle's kitty. The kitty is spent first, before the organizer's card is charged.
- Organizers can choose set-and-forget: pay every card yourself, no asks shown to members.
- A recipient is never asked to fund their own incoming card.
Cards get cheaper as your Circle sends more
Price per card, in USD.
| Lifetime | Mailed | Digital |
|---|---|---|
| Cards 1–4 | $9.99 | $1.75 |
| Cards 5–10 | $7.99 | $1.50 |
| Cards 11–25 | $6.99 | $1.25 |
| Cards 26–50 | $5.99 | $1.00 |
| Cards 50+ | $4.99 | $1.00 |
Digital is the price when a card goes out by email or text only, because there's no address on file or it's too late to mail. +$1 for international mail (outside Canada and the US). Every card that's mailed counts toward the next tier. Digital-only and cancelled cards don't count.
What a Circle isn't
A few things we don't do.
Not a subscription.
No monthly fee. You pay per card, when a card actually goes out.
Not a leaderboard.
We don't rank members or count who signed the most.
Not a referral tree.
There's no network diagram and nothing to grow. Inviting people is about getting cards signed.
Not a place to find people.
A Circle is for people who already know each other.
Bring your people. We'll keep track of the dates.
Make a Circle, share the join link, and everyone fills in their own details. We take it from there.
Start a Circle