Free Birthday Card SVG files

Birthday card SVG files for paper-cut cards

A store-bought card is gone in a minute, but a cut-paper card tends to stay on the shelf. These designs are made for that kind of card: lace, windows and lettering cut right through good cardstock, with a second color showing behind. A cutting machine does the hard part, and you finish the card with a little glue, a card base and a handwritten message.

Every design in this collection is an original drawing. The words are cut as windows, and where a letter has a closed center, such as an O or a B, a small stencil bridge keeps that center attached, so the front comes off the mat in one piece. Each design comes as a solid file for cutting, an outline file and a color file that shows the layers, and you can change every color in the editor on the design page before you download.

Styles in this collection

Cutaway and lace fronts

The Happy Birthday Cutaway Card is a single sheet of paper lace: a script greeting, rows of daisies, an eyelet border and a scalloped hem. The Lace Birthday Card sets a script greeting in an oval cameo framed by eyelets, surrounded by a diamond lattice. The Starburst card bursts with rays around its greeting, and the Another Year card scatters confetti around a big script Cheers.

Layered window cards

Several fronts come with a colored insert and a card base in the color file. The insert shows through every window. The Balloon Window Card, the Cake Window Card and the Make a Wish card with its dandelion clock all work this way, as do the Floral Corner card and the cards for family.

Cards for the people in your life

There is a floral wreath around a script Mom, a bow tie and argyle for Dad, corner sprays for Grandma, herringbone and stars for Grandpa, a daisy frame for a sister, bunting and stripes for a brother, two hearts for a best friend and an apple and ruler for a teacher.

Fancy folds and moving cards

The Confetti Shaker Card Frame gives you the front and spacer for a shaker card. The Birthday Slider Card has a star that glides along an arched slot. The Easel Birthday Card props itself up on a shelf, and the Stepper Birthday Card opens into two steps.

Blanks, envelopes and small formats

The Birthday Money Holder Card is a 10 by 7 blank that folds to 5 by 7 and holds a folded bill in four corner slits. The Birthday Envelope folds into an A7 envelope for a 5 by 7 card, and the Lace Envelope Liner fits inside it. A flat postcard and a fold-over mini tag card finish the set.

Project ideas

• A card and matching envelope, lined with lace in a second color.
• A layered front with a favorite color in the insert.
• Party invitations, cut in a batch from one window card.
• A cash gift tucked in the money holder.
• A card that stands up on the mantel: the easel or stepper.
• A shaker card filled with sequins for a child.
• Gift tags from the fold-over tag card.
• A framed paper-cut from a lace front, as a keepsake.
• A classroom card that a whole class can sign.

Choosing materials

Sizes that work

Each design’s smallest size is measured on the longest side of the whole cut file. For a portrait front that is the height, so a 7-inch minimum means a front at least 7 inches tall, which is 5 inches wide. For the shaker, slider and easel it is the width of all the pieces together. Measure the cut piece either way.

The envelope, liner and tag card go down to 2.5 inches, and the cutaway, balloon and cake window cards to 3, so only those three make an A2 front. The Starburst needs 4.5 inches; the stepper, postcard and Another Year card 5; the Grandma card and the easel 5.5; and the lace, Mom and Best Friend cards 6. The Dad card needs 6.5 inches. The slider, money holder, Grandpa, Floral Corner and Make a Wish designs need 7, so the portrait ones fit a 5 by 7 card at exactly 5 inches wide. The shaker and the Sister, Brother and Teacher cards need 7.5, which puts those three fronts on a 6 by 8 card. For anything smaller, print the color file and cut the outline with Print Then Cut.

How the color layers work

The single-color designs, such as the cutaway, shaker, slider and envelope, have one layer: the cut paper itself. Whatever you put behind it becomes the color of the windows.

The layered window cards have three parts in the color file. Base and lines is a full-size card base in dark espresso brown. On top goes a colored insert, slightly smaller, so a thin dark edge frames it. The cut front goes over both, and the insert color fills every window. The Floral Corner card skips the insert, so its dark base shows straight through. The palette is kraft, ivory, berry, sage and dusty blue, and our guide to changing SVG colors shows how to swap any of them before you download.

Making a layered birthday card

1. Pick a design and set the width. Check the smallest size on its page, then measure the result.
2. Cut the front from smooth cardstock with a fresh blade, at a slow speed for lace and lattice.
3. Lift it carefully by bending the mat away from the card, not the card away from the mat.
4. Cut the insert and base from plain card, using the color file as a guide.
5. Glue from the back: base, then insert, then the front, using glue only on solid paper.
6. Mount it on a folded card base and write your message inside.
7. Slip it in an envelope, such as our A7 envelope for a 5 by 7 card.

New to uploading files? Our guide on how to upload an SVG to Cricut walks through it.

Cutting tips

• Use a fresh blade for lattice, eyelets and stencil bridges.
• Test your setting on a scrap with a few eyelets before cutting a full front.
• Cut folding and moving cards from scrap first, as they have not been built in paper.
• Keep grouped pieces together when resizing the slider, shaker, easel and stepper, so the parts still fit.
• Use a strong grip mat for heavy card, and a light grip mat for text-weight paper.
• Clear the holes with a pick before lifting the card, so no chads tear the bridges.

Writing inside the card

A cut front says Happy Birthday beautifully, so the inside can be personal. Use a white or ivory card base so any pen shows, and write before you glue down any insert that sits inside. A memory, a plan or a short wish matters more than length. For a group card, the teacher and best friend fronts leave the inside plain for many signatures. For more birthday designs, see our Happy Birthday, floral birthday and birthday party collections.

Free to use

Every birthday card design here is an original drawing, with no brands, characters or logos, and free for personal projects and for up to 500 finished items per design that you sell. There is no sign-up and no email gate. Please share a link to the design page rather than the file itself.