Celebrate with handmade gifts! A perfect shikishi board and message card for a 100th birthday.
We all want the seniors who use our facilities to stay healthy and live long, don’t we?
I imagine many senior and welfare facilities hold birthday parties to celebrate.
Gifts are prepared for the birthday parties, too, and I’m sure the seniors are pleased.
Birthdays are wonderful at any age, but when a senior turns 100, you really want to express your heartfelt gratitude.
So this time, we’re introducing handmade message boards (shikishi) for seniors celebrating their 100th birthday.
We’ve also gathered ideas you can apply to the shikishi and recommended birthday message cards.
Please use this article to create and give a lovely shikishi.
- Let's celebrate turning 100 with handmade gifts! Introducing colored paper boards and message cards.
- [For Seniors] Gift It to Someone Special: A Collection of Handmade Birthday Card Ideas
- [For Seniors] Celebrate at the Care Facility! Handmade Birthday Card Ideas
- Design ideas for birthday message boards for seniors: easy DIY
- [At a day-care service, a birthday message you want to convey] For older adults
- Handmade Gifts: Ideas That Will Delight Older Adults
- Recommended for seniors! Origami gifts
- Easy-to-make origami birthday ideas for seniors
- [For Seniors] Tips for Birthday Messages They’ll Love
- [For Seniors] Enjoy Something New Every Day! Today’s Origami
- You can make it with construction paper! Handmade birthday card ideas
- [For Seniors] Recommended Birthday Gifts for Those Living in Care Facilities
- Handmade birthday cards recommended for birthday parties
Celebrate with handmade touches! Congratulatory shikishi boards and message cards perfect for a 100th birthday (21–30)
Flower cake illustration
Here’s a birthday card featuring a flower cake with cute pen-drawn flowers.
Let’s draw flowers with pink and yellow pens and add a cake, too.
By changing the design, you can create a simple card or a more elegant one.
All you need are pens in various colors and a card.
Besides birthday cards, this design works well for events and recreational activities.
You can also write names and place them on tables to use as seating cards for seniors.
Please use this as a reference and enjoy it in a variety of situations.
Candle made with masking tape
Here’s a simple but super cute birthday card with candles.
Prepare a white card and cut five pieces of your favorite washi tape to stick on.
Try mixing wide and narrow tapes, and vary the lengths and angles.
Draw the candle flames with color pens.
I used pink and yellow here, but it would be fun to customize with any colors or colored pencils you like.
Write “Happy Birthday” or a message in the empty space.
Using the video as a reference, try thickening the vertical lines, changing the lettering style, and adding your own personal touches!
Simple Mechanism Card
This card is packed with three-dimensional mechanisms: even before you open it, a 3D bouquet motif is set up, and when you fully open it, the message also pops up in three dimensions.
You layer origami on the base and build the mechanisms from there, and small touches—like intentionally leaving a bit of slack at the folds or arranging decorations to overlap—enhance the sense of depth.
A key point is assembling the whole piece while being mindful of how thickly you layer the messages and decorations.
By designing it so you flip through it multiple times before reaching the final message, you can give the recipient the excitement of wondering what surprise awaits next.
Bouquet illustration
Handmade birthday cards cut and pasted from construction paper or origami are lovely, but this idea is very simple and can be completed with just paper and a pen.
It’s perfect for seniors who enjoy drawing illustrations.
Draw triangles with a pen, then use a dot pen to add lots of tiny dots.
Mixing different sizes and colors makes it even cuter.
The key is to aim for a rounded overall shape.
Draw a ribbon and write your message with a brush pen.
The softly colored, cute bouquet illustration really makes the brush-pen message stand out.
A card with a heart-shaped flower that opens
Here’s an introduction to a message card featuring cute heart-shaped flowers.
Cut construction paper into a square, score the folds, then cut to create a heart-shaped card.
Make several heart-shaped cards.
It’s also recommended to make several heart-shaped cards in different colors and stick them onto the card.
Attach a stem and leaves to the card, and when you add the heart-shaped cards, they can look like tulips.
Open the flower, write a heartfelt message, and give it to an older adult.
These adorable heart-shaped message cards are sure to delight seniors.
Pop-up card with letters popping out
A pop-up card with raised letters might make even older adults let out a delighted cheer.
Attach the lettered template to the card base.
Use the back of a pencil or a craft knife to trace along the lines and create fold creases.
Between the letters, trace along the dotted lines.
Also make small cuts along the solid lines within the template.
Another tip is to arrange the letters with a rounded, cake-like curve, as if they were on a birthday cake.
It’s a fairly challenging design to make, but that level of craftsmanship is likely to delight older adults.
Pop-up cake and presents
At some senior care facilities, they may prepare birthday cakes as part of the celebration event.
Many seniors would surely feel happy if a delicious-looking cake appeared on their own birthday.
Here is a pop-up card featuring a cake and presents, filled with lots of happy feelings.
Let’s make the cake and present boxes out of construction paper.
Fold the cake in half and set it in the center of the card to create a pop-up mechanism.
Attach pieces of construction paper cut with scissors or punches to the card.
Opening the card to reveal the cake is sure to fill seniors with excitement.