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
- [For seniors] Birthday message board designs that delight: group messages, pop-up mechanisms, and brush-lettering art
- [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)
Convenient for attaching photos! Flip-through processed cards
How about a flip-through birthday card packed with surprise? It looks great with photos, too, so it’s a perfect idea for cards that facility staff can give to residents! When you pull the tab, the pictures or photos flip rapidly, flowing one after another.
The key is to offset the photos slightly and attach them to a strip-cut piece of construction paper.
It may look elaborate, but the mechanism is actually very simple—give it a try!
Cards made from 100-yen shop materials
These days, many 100-yen shops offer good quality and a wide variety of products.
You might also have chances to visit a 100-yen shop during shopping outings with seniors, right? It seems they also carry lots of craft and sewing supplies.
Some facilities even use 100-yen shops to prepare items for recreational activities.
Here are some birthday card ideas made with items sold at 100-yen shops.
On the card cover, draw lines using a heart-shaped template.
Stick stickers or rhinestones along the lines.
Depending on the materials you use, you can create all kinds of hearts.
Use message cards from the 100-yen shop for the inside of the card as well.
With a bit of creativity, you can easily make lovely pieces.
Brush-lettered birthday card
Let us introduce a simple yet very cute, hand-drawn birthday card.
No matter how old you are, receiving a handmade birthday card is always such a joy.
Pop-up cards made with origami or construction paper are lovely too, but this idea is appealing because you only need water brush pens to draw it, so there’s very little to prepare.
Use water brush pens in various colors to draw circles and turn them into balloons.
The key is to draw them so they overlap, without leaving spaces in between.
Finish by writing your message with a black water brush pen, and you’re done.
Create a colorful, warm, and delightful birthday card!
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.
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.