--- title: "Birthday Montage – Clips From Everyone | birthday.video" description: "Make a birthday montage or tribute video from friends: collect a clip from each person, add them to one video with their name and a closing message. Free." url: https://birthday.video/birthday-montage --- Free · made on your device # Make a birthday montage from everyone’s clips A short clip from each friend and relative, put together into one surprise video with a title card, their name and a message at the end. Free · no sign-up · no watermark Surprise Jordan 35 From everyone who loves you 14 friends, 3 countries A birthday montage is a set of short clips from different people, put together into one video with a title at the start and a message at the end: the surprise tribute that gets played at the party or sent on the morning of the big day. One person asks everyone for a clip, saves them as they arrive, then adds them all here with **Add photos and clips** and exports a single MP4. To be clear about how it works: birthday.video has no shared link, no accounts and no server, so friends don’t upload anything to it. You gather the clips the way you already share videos (WhatsApp, email, a shared album), and the video is made on your own device. Nobody’s clip is stored anywhere but with you. This page opens the group designs in Landscape 16:9, which suits a screen at the party. For tips on what each person should actually say, send them the [birthday video message guide](https://birthday.video/what-to-say-in-a-birthday-video-message). Start from one of these ## How to make a birthday montage from lots of people 1. ### Ask for clips Message everyone with a deadline a few days before the birthday and the brief below. Ask them to send clips to you, not to a group the birthday person is in. 2. ### Save the clips in one place Save each clip to your phone’s gallery or a folder on your computer as it arrives. 3. ### Start the video Press **Make a group birthday video**, pick a design from **Templates**, and type their **Name** and a closing **Message**. 4. ### Add everyone’s clips Press **Add photos and clips** and choose the clips in the order they should play. Add a calm tune with **Add music** if you want one. 5. ### Export and keep it secret Press **Export video** and **Download video** (or **Share** on a phone). Watch it through once before the day. ## The message to send your friends Clear instructions save you hours. Copy something like this into your messages: 1. Record a clip of 10 to 20 seconds saying happy birthday, plus a memory or a wish. 2. Hold your phone sideways and film somewhere quiet and bright, facing a window rather than with one behind you. 3. Say your name at the start if they might not recognise you. 4. Send it to me, not to them, by Friday. Please keep it secret. Asking everyone to hold the phone the same way matters more than it sounds. If most people will film upright, choose Story 9:16 under **Format** instead. ## Gathering clips without spoiling the surprise * **Make a separate group** for the video that leaves the birthday person out, or message people one by one. * **Use a shared photo album** if lots of people are taking part, then save the clips from it to your device. * **Mind the file sizes.** Chat apps compress clips a little, which is fine; email often refuses very large files, so ask for short clips. * **Chase gently.** One reminder the day before the deadline. Someone will still send theirs at midnight. Relatives who find filming hard can send a photo and a line of text instead. Add the photo among the clips and fold their words into your closing **Message**. ## Putting the montage in a good order ### Open strong, end stronger Start with someone lively, keep the clips from far away or from people they haven’t seen in years for the second half, and end with the closest person: a partner, a best friend, a parent. ### Keep it watchable Twenty clips of fifteen seconds is five minutes, about the most a room will watch. With more, pick the best and send the full set separately. ### Play it on the day Landscape 16:9 fills a TV or projector. Phone clips are quiet next to music, so keep any tune low or leave it out and let the voices carry it. Milestones such as a [40th](https://birthday.video/happy-40th-birthday) or [60th](https://birthday.video/happy-60th-birthday) are when montages get made most. ## Birthday montages: questions ### Can my friends upload their clips to birthday.video? No. There are no accounts or shared links, and nothing is uploaded to us. Friends send their clips to you by message, email or a shared album, and you add them on your own device. ### How is this different from paid group-video services? Paid services usually give everyone an upload link and edit the video on their servers, which is handy for very large groups. Here one person collects the clips, the video is made on that person’s device, and it is free, with no account for anyone. ### How long should each person’s clip be? Ten to twenty seconds: long enough for a wish and one memory, short enough that twenty people still makes a watchable video. ### Can I mix videos and photos from different people? Yes. **Add photos and clips** takes both, in any mix, so someone who can’t film can send a photo instead. ### What if some clips are sideways and some upright? They will still play. Choose the **Format** most clips match, and ask people to film the same way next time. ### Is there a limit on the number of clips? There is no set number, but every clip is held in your browser while you edit, so a computer copes with big montages better than an older phone. ## More birthday video ideas * [ Birthday video maker Start from an animated template, add their name, photos and a song. ](https://birthday.video/) * [ Birthday video message maker Your selfie clip with their name, a caption and confetti around it. ](https://birthday.video/birthday-video-message) * [ What to say in a birthday video message A simple shape and example messages for every kind of person. ](https://birthday.video/what-to-say-in-a-birthday-video-message) * [ Birthday video with photos and music Photos and clips mixed together under a tune or your own song. ](https://birthday.video/birthday-video-with-photos-and-music) * [ Happy 40th birthday wishes and video ideas Wishes, message ideas and a 40th video with the family in it. ](https://birthday.video/happy-40th-birthday) * [ Happy birthday coworker (colleague) wishes Office-safe lines and a team-signed video for a colleague. ](https://birthday.video/happy-birthday-coworker) * [ Birthday video ideas Twenty-four ideas, quick and ambitious, each with where to start. ](https://birthday.video/birthday-video-ideas) * [ Birthday video templates Every template in the editor, by occasion, with the formats it suits. ](https://birthday.video/birthday-video-templates)