Happy 50th birthday: 50 birthday wishes + 5 longer messages
50th birthday wishes can be beautiful, funny, cheeky, or thoughtful. We have put together a selection of quotes and messages for you, so you can spread some birthday cheer to your family members, friends, acquaintances and work colleagues.
50th birthdays are usually the most celebrated of them all. Although most people do not live to be one hundred years old, people like to think of the 50th birthday as the golden mean of their life.
On this occasion, you should congratulate the birthday boy or girl with some particularly good quotes and messages.
50th birthday wishes
When someone turns 50, special congratulations are in order and tactfulness is required too, because not everyone is actually happy on their 50th.
Many people have problems with getting older and would not be happy if they saw their age splattered across every card. Others are happy and enjoy celebrating their age.
In any case, it is important to consider your relationship with the recipient and adapt how you wish them a happy birthday accordingly.
The Importance of Personalizing 50th Birthday Wishes
When crafting a message for someone’s 50th birthday, it’s important to remember that this milestone is deeply personal. Your words can either brighten their day or fall flat, depending on how well you connect with their personality and feelings about turning 50.
Consider what makes them unique: Are they someone who embraces humor, or do they prefer thoughtful and heartfelt messages? Tailoring your message shows that you care enough to think about their individuality.
Whether you highlight their accomplishments, express your gratitude for their presence in your life, or simply share a cherished memory, personalization ensures that your words leave a lasting impact.
50th birthday messages
The following examples are a combination of sayings and text. A saying always looks great in a card and is ideal for combining as part of a longer message, but it’s quite difficult to formulate your own message without sounding corny.
To make your birthday wishes something special, we have created five example messages for you which you can use as a guide.
The first three examples are more personal and affectionate, meant for family or good friends. The other two examples are more traditional and general. They are suitable for acquaintances or work colleagues.
A loving birthday message to mom
Dear Mom,
What you have managed to do in the last fifty years, some people do not manage in their whole lifetime. Thank you for everything and I am so proud that you always gave your all for our family. So enjoy the day and be proud of yourself too. You still look top-notch and will always be the most beautiful mom to me.
I love you and wish you nothing but the best for your birthday!
F – Fabulous, that’s how you look today.
I – I love you so much.
F – Fifty years of happiness.
T – The next decade shall be filled with health and good luck.
Y – Your family and friends want to congratulate you!
Birthday wishes for Dad
Hello dear father,
dear protector and advisor,
dear listener and personal hero,
there are many things I like about you.
You are a role model to me,
I have to let you know,
You have often made me
dare to do something.
Today, on this special occasion,
I wish you only the best!
Here’s a kiss on the cheek,
And to congratulate you, I’ll gladly stand in line.
I love you with all my heart, your daughter/son.(Unknown)
Birthday wishes for your sister or brother
Dear sister, … / brother, …
Not long now and it’s coming for me too. But I know that 50 is not so bad when I look at you. You were and always will be my role model.
I wish you a happy birthday and am glad to be able to spend the day with you today. Even though we don’t see each other that often, I always feel connected to you and am grateful to have you in my life.
Birthday wishes for a friend
Dear Mary,
Now you have also reached the age of 50 and I wish you all the happiness in the world on this day. I am incredibly happy to call you my friend and look forward to the next years with you.
You are a strong woman who, by the way, is still in super shape! I love you very much. Happy birthday to you.
Short wishes for an acquaintance
Dear Peter,
At fifty, you can look back on a long, successful life.
But I wish from the bottom of my heart that it continues in a way that’s just as long and successful. Thank you very much for the invitation. I am happy to be with you today.Happy 50th birthday to you.
Birthday wishes for a work colleague
Our job can be tough,
but working with you makes me not sweat the small stuff.
You are calm and composed, still cheerful even when things go wrong –
happy birthday to you, and please keep going strong!(Unknown)
50th birthday wishes
There are many ways of saying happy 50th birthday and they are as different as people themselves. For this reason, you should think carefully about what the recipient might like to read in their card.
While some people see the funny side and are relaxed about their age, others are sensitive and would prefer not to celebrate 50 at all.
In any case, it’s nice to highlight life’s milestones. This way, not only are you making wishes for the years to come, but you are also reflecting on the years already passed, when so much has been accomplished.
At this age, many people prefer to look backwards instead of forwards. Make sure you empathize with the birthday boy or girl and find out how they feel about their age.
Heart-warming 50th birthday wishes
The following heart-warming wishes, quotes and short messages celebrate turning 50 and getting older. They highlight the positives and are suitable for people who are more sensitive about their age.
They are little pearls of wisdoms that are suitable for any older age without inadvertently offending the birthday boy or girl. You can write them in your birthday card or on a gift tag.
If you particularly like one of them, you could even frame it and give it as a gift. The phrases below are especially good for close friends or family.
- May you live all the days of your life.
(Jonathan Swift) - Let us celebrate the occasion with wine and sweet words.
(Titus Maccius Plautus) - You never notice what has already been done; you only ever see what remains to be done.
(Marie Curie)
On your birthday today, look back at what you’ve already accomplished, because that’s something to be really proud of. - No wise man ever wished to be younger.
(Jonathan Swift) - Nice to be here? At my age, it’s nice to be anywhere.
(George Burns) - Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.
(Mark Twain) - Let us never know what old age is. Let us know the happiness time brings, not count the years.
(Decimus Magnus Ausonius) - At age 50, everyone has the face he deserves.
(George Orwell) - You didn’t turn 50 today, you turned 30 with 20 years of experience.
(Unknown) - Wishing you a happy 50th birthday and many happy returns to enjoy the finer things in life.
(Unknown) - With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.
(William Shakespeare) - If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written upon the heart. The spirit should never grow old.
(James A. Garfield) - Go with the flow on the big five-oh! I hope you have a fabulous 50th birthday.
(Unknown)
You are such a good friend. All the best for your 50th birthday. - Happy 50th Birthday! Wishing you a wonderful day and a fabulous year being fifty.
(Unknown) - Age is strictly a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!
(George Bernard Shaw)
Sayings about ageing to celebrate a 50th birthday
When it comes to sayings about ageing to celebrate someone turning 50, you need to be extra careful. Ageing is a process that not everyone likes, and not every saying speaks of the good things about ageing.
So make sure the person you’re congratulating doesn’t feel offended. After all, you want them to feel good on their birthday.
When choosing what to say, you should also always consider how old you are yourself. When a fifty-year-old talks about someone else turning 50, it’s very different to when a twenty-year-old comments on or even jokes about it.
So you should make sure that you are also able to identify with the saying and not choose a wise quote about ageing when you yourself are still very young.
- Old age has a great sense of calm and freedom. When the passions have relaxed their hold, you may have escaped, not from one master but from many.
(Plato) - Middle age is the time when a man is always thinking that in a week or two he will feel as good as ever.
(Don Marquis) - We are always the same age inside.
(Gertrude Stein) - It matters not how long we live but how.
(Philip James Bailey) - Ageing is not for cowards.
(From the U.S.) - The best tunes are played on the oldest fiddles!
(Ralph Waldo Emerson) - Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
(Franz Kafka) - Happy 50th Birthday. This milestone brings you the privilege of no longer needing an excuse to stay home on a Saturday night. But privileges should not be abused either, so don’t forget to go out once in a while, because fun is the elixir of youth.
(Unknown) - Your first 50 years on earth have been pretty incredible, so I can’t wait to see what you get up to in the next 50. Happy Birthday!
(Unknown) - Age is simply the number of years the world has been enjoying you!
(Unknown)
Here you can find more great ways of saying happy birthday.
Rhyming 50th birthday wishes
Not only are rhymes more descriptive and easier to read, but they are also more likely to stick in people’s memories.
The sentences read as if by themselves thanks to their catchy tune. This is why there are so many rhymes which are great for wishing people a happy 50th birthday. Here we have selected the best ones for you.
Using rhymes can also help you to put your own thoughts into words by simply focusing your message around the words you want to rhyme. Think about what words you want to rhyme in advance and then think of some context for them.
- From our birthday, until we die,
Is but the winking of an eye.
(William Butler Yeats) - May joys unbounded
Be for thee to-night,
When thou’rt surrounded
By the gay and bright.
May music and song
Commence thy new year,
That thou may’st live long.
Each fond heart to cheer.
(Eloise A. Skimings) - Age is a quality of mind:
If you have left your dreams behind,
If hope is lost,
If you no longer look ahead,
If your ambition’s fires are dead,
Then you are old.
But if from life you take the best
And if in life you keep the jest,
If love you hold,
No matter how the years go by,
No matter how the birthdays fly,
You are not old.
(Edward Tuck) - What age is happiest?
Had you asked me,
I would have made this plea:
the Now is best.
What joy to live with zest each newborn day;
and from the Moment wrest what Life will give away.
The Past is but a guest who came and went,
and left this one behest: to be content.
Think how To-day is blest!
We’ve eyes to see Nature in Beauty drest for you, for me.
What matter that the crest of Youth is past.
Youth lives within the breast with joys that last.
The will to do our best, and hands for giving.
Oh! Now’s the happiest, best time for living!
What age is happiest?
Oh! hear my vow, for I have put the test –
the happiest’s Now.
Sweet sighs and kindly jest for warmth and cheer;
and Love’s most high bequest to crown the year.
(Wilhelmina Stitch) - To age to age! Why does anyone care?
As the wrinkles grow longer,
And grey graces your hair.
Life should be simple,
Because when push comes to shove,
The only one counting is the good Lord above!
(Unknown) - To the "metallic" age
Gold in our teeth,
Silver in our hair,
And lead in our pants.
Another candle on your cake?
Well, that’s no cause to pout.
Be glad that you have strength enough
To blow the candle out!
(Unknown) - Another year older,
Just look at it this way.
You’re only one day older,
Than you were yesterday.
(Unknown) - We wish you joy on your birthday,
And all the whole year through.
For all the best that life can hold,
Is none too good for you.
(Unknown) - Happy birthday to you,
And many to be,
With friends who are true,
As you are to me.
(Unknown) - The many good things,
you have encountered in 50 years,
you shall keep,
and put aside your fears.
(Unknown)
Funny 50th birthday wishes
Here you’ll find some funny ways of saying happy birthday. However, they are not for everyone. For one thing, you should know a person well enough to understand their sense of humor.
For another, you shouldn’t necessarily wish acquaintances, colleagues or your boss happy birthday with a funny phrase.
Business relationships usually don’t lend themselves so easily to such friendly interaction. Choose a funny 50th birthday wish if you know a person well and know that you can put a smile on their face by doing so.
- You’re fifty? Better take that cake outdoors to light the candles! Have a very happy birthday.
(Unknown) - We don’t grow old. When we cease to grow, we become old.
(Ralph Waldo Emerson) - Happy 50th birthday! Don’t forget to iron that birthday suit.
(Unknown) - If we could be twice as young and twice old we could correct all our mistakes.
(Euripedes) - Don’t let ageing get you down. It’s too hard to get up again! Happy 50th birthday!
(Unknown) - Congratulations! You’re 50! Smile… while you still have teeth.
(Unknown) - So, you’re finally 50. Now we can round your age up to 100!
(Unknown) - Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.
(Unknown) - You’re not as young as you used to be. But you’re not as old as you’re going to be.
(Irish saying) - Age may wrinkle the face, but lack of enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.
(Danish Proverb) - You’re not 50. You’re 18, with 32 years of experience!
(Unknown) - It’s better to be one month older than one month late!
(Unknown) - I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.
(Francis Bacon/Lord Verulam) - Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.
(Unknown) - The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.
(Oscar Wilde)