The birthday emoji everyone uses (and what each one says)
Birthday Cake is the birthday emoji in the literal sense: a layered cake with lit candles, in Unicode since version 6.0 (2010). On its own it already reads as "happy birthday", which is why it is the safest single emoji to send. Cupcake and Shortcake work as softer, cuter stand-ins, and Candle is what you add when the message is about the wish rather than the party.
Partying Face, with its party hat and blower, arrived in 2018 and quickly became a go-to face for any celebration. Party Popper and Confetti Ball carry the noise, Balloon and Wrapped Gift the decorations and presents. Put a face, a cake and a popper together, , and nobody has to read a word to know what the message is.
Happy birthday emoji text and birthday emoji combos
Most people search for happy birthday emoji text because they want a ready line to paste: "Happy birthday! " or " Happy Birthday ". A good birthday emoji combo has a rhythm of three to five characters: one for the occasion (), one for the feeling (), one for the extra ( or ). Longer strings start to look like spam in a group chat.
Match the combo to the person. For a best friend, play up the fun: . For a girl who loves soft and pretty, reads sweet and aesthetic. For a brother or a guy friend, or feel less sugary. For a partner, . For a kid, . To mark an age, use keycap digits: for a 21st.
Birthday symbols: text versions that work everywhere
If you want a lighter, typographic look for an Instagram bio, a card or a username, use birthday symbols instead of colour emoji: for sparkle, for love, for the birthday song, for flowers. They are ordinary text characters, so they take the colour of the font and sit neatly in a line such as happy birthday or .
The same symbols are how the popular aesthetic birthday captions are built: ｡ ｡ or ･ﾟ: happy birthday :･ﾟ. Mixing one colour emoji with a frame of plain symbols keeps the line pretty without turning it into a row of stickers.
Birthday emoji on iPhone, Android, WhatsApp and Instagram
Every major platform draws these emoji in its own style, but the meaning is the same: Apple's and Google's are both a face with a party hat. On an iPhone, open the emoji keyboard and type "birthday" or "cake" in the search field; on Android Gboard the emoji search works the same way. On a computer, press Windows key . (period) on Windows or Control Command Space on a Mac.
In Apple's Messages app, sending "Happy Birthday" makes balloons float up the screen automatically; the effect is triggered by the words, not by an emoji. On Slack, Discord and GitHub you can type the shortcode :birthday: for and :tada: for .
Symbols
92Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
How to use them
6 situationsClick to copyBirthday Emoji combos
14Worth knowing
- The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" comes from "Good Morning to All", a children's song by sisters Patty and Mildred Hill published in 1893. A US court ruled in 2015 that Warner/Chappell's copyright claim on the lyrics was invalid, and the song has been free to use since 2016.
- Partying Face only joined Unicode in 2018 (Emoji 11.0), the same release as Cupcake. Before that, birthday messages leaned on and , both from the original 2010 set that came from Japanese phone carriers.
- In Apple's Messages app the words "Happy Birthday" trigger a screen full of balloons on their own, no emoji needed.
- is the Chinese character 壽 (shòu, longevity) in a rounded frame. In Chinese tradition it decorates birthday banners and cakes for elders, the way "Happy Birthday" does in English.
Questions people ask
7What is the birthday emoji?
The official one is Birthday Cake. In practice people pair it with Partying Face and Party Popper, which together are the most common way to say happy birthday in emoji.
How do I copy and paste birthday emoji?
Tap or click any emoji in the grid on this page to copy it, then paste it into your message, card or caption. The combos above copy as a whole string.
What are good birthday emoji combos?
Short ones work best: for anyone, for a best friend, for a girl who likes it cute, for a brother, for a partner.
What can I use for happy birthday emoji text?
Paste a line like "Happy birthday! " or " Happy Birthday ". For a text-only look, frame the words with symbols: happy birthday or happy birthday .
What does the birthday cake emoji mean from a guy?
Usually exactly what it says: happy birthday. If it isn't anyone's birthday, it can be flirting, because "cake" is also slang for a curvy backside.
How do I find birthday emoji on iPhone?
Open the emoji keyboard, tap the search field and type "birthday", "cake" or "party". The matching emoji show up instantly.
Are there birthday symbols that aren't emoji?
Yes. are plain text symbols. They take the font's colour, so they look clean in bios, usernames and printed cards.
