How to make a birthday card with a photo at home

The front of an A6 card is 105 × 148 mm, about the size of a postcard, so the best photo has one clear subject and a face near the middle. Close portraits, a candid laugh or a single object (the cake, the dog, the old bike) read well at that size; wide group shots turn into a row of tiny faces.

Resolution matters less than people think. For a photo filling the front, around 1,000 × 1,400 pixels is plenty for a sharp print at 200–300 dpi, which any phone photo from the last decade exceeds. Foldpic warns you if a photo will print soft and lets you zoom and move it inside the frame so a face is not cut by the crop.

A photo card has two inside pages. Use the left one for a second photo, a throwback such as last year's party or a baby photo works well, and the right one for the greeting and a short message. Keep the message to three or four sentences so it fits at a readable size; the template's title shrinks to fit a longer name automatically.

If you are stuck for words, Foldpic offers optional story prompts when you click into the text, such as “This year I hope you…” or “My favourite thing about you is…”. They insert as the start of a sentence so you only have to finish it in your own voice.

The card prints on one side of a single portrait sheet: A4 for an A6 card or US Letter for a 4.25 × 5.5 in card. Set Actual size or 100% and leave double-sided off. The inside prints upside down along the top of the sheet; that is correct, because the first fold turns it the right way up.

Fold the top half behind the bottom half with the print outside, then fold the left half behind the right so the front photo is on top. Crease with a ruler and leave it under a book for a few minutes. On 160–200 gsm card the result stands up on a table like a shop-bought card.

Personalise the look before printing: change the cover colour, choose a different title font, add a thin border or a few small decorations such as stars or hearts, or put a film-style date stamp in the corner of the photo. If you want a video or a voice message with the card, add a QR code to the inside page that links to it.

To give it properly, print the gift kit as well. It contains an envelope sized to the card with fold and glue lines, gift tags with their name and your cover photo, and a paper sleeve, all in the same colours as the card. Your first project is free and you do not need an account to download it.