Happy 21st birthday: wishes, GIFs and videos

Twenty-one has its own traditions. In the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand it is the age of the “key to the door”, and a big silver key often appears on the cake. Ideas that fit:

• The key. Use the key line in Message, or end on a photo of the actual key if there is one.
• Three years at a glance. The best photo from each year since they turned 18: leaving school, the first term away, the summer job, the trip.
• Friends from every chapter. A clip from a school friend, one from a flatmate, one from a colleague.
• A look ahead. Ask a parent or grandparent to say what they hope the next ten years bring.

By 21, close friends are often in different cities or countries. One person puts the video together; there is no shared upload page, so everyone sends their clip to you.

Making it easy for people far away

• Give a deadline in their time zone, a few days before the birthday.
• Ask for clips filmed upright, in daylight, with the phone held still.
• Messaging apps can shrink videos; sending a clip as a file keeps the full quality. The WhatsApp status page explains the difference.
• Ask people to start with their name and where they are (“Hi from Melbourne”), which makes the distance part of the story.

The birthday montage page covers collecting clips from a big group, secret included.

If it will play on a screen at the party and also go to the group chat, export it twice. Set Format to Landscape 16:9 for the screen, then switch to Story 9:16 and press Export video again for phones. The project is saved in your browser, so changing the shape loses nothing.