• Thoughtful birthday wishes and gifts make the day complete.Sri Maiava Rusden/Digital Vision/Getty Images
  
  Birthday celebrations and acknowledgments can be meaningful and creative without being expensive. Focus on the accomplishments of the individual and his unique characteristics. Take this opportunity to learn more about your friend, family member, co-worker or new acquaintance. They will appreciate the thoughtfulness and attention to detail.
  
  

Birthday Headlines

• You can start a Birthday Newsletter which can be distributed to friends and family in the office, via email or through social networks. A creative template can include celebratory words and birthday humor. Then when it is time to celebrate someone's birthday you can personalize it. The single-page document should resemble the front page of an old-fashioned newspaper. You can use today's date or the person's birth date. Title it "The Birthday Times." Place it in your current city or the person's city of origin. The headline will announce that today is the person's birthday, in a humorous, tragic, heroic or spiritual way. Frame a copy as a gift.
  
  

Commemorative Scroll

• You can make a historic scroll, listing events which have happened on this date, including the most important event -- "The miraculous birth of our beloved friend and honored family member." You can design this scroll on old parchment paper, add hand-drawn designs and have others make contributions. The scroll can be based on the person's occupation, hobbies, special interests, charity work, etc. You can start from the person's actual birth date and add an event which has occurred each year since, or you can go back to ancient times. For a very personal friend or family member, you can add a favorite memory or special event from each year.
  
  

Photo Montage

• For a special birthday celebration or big birthday party, you might ask each guest to bring a picture of the birthday girl to create a montage of her life. Imagine 50 guests each contributing a picture to the wall montage. You can ask for a digital copy of the picture in advance and assemble a video montage to show at the party. Or ask a talented guest to take a digital snapshot of each picture before it is placed into the physical montage. Simply hit slide show and share it with the guests on a small monitor or big screen. You can make a CD of the montage and burn a copy for each guest. Hand them out as favors. Alternatively, send them attached to an electronic thank you note. Post the video on Facebook.
  
  

Email Birthday Cards

• Last-minute acknowledgments can be made in a matter of minutes. Send a free electronic card through Hallmark.com or purchase an annual subscription for a low cost. You can schedule the birthdays of all your family, friends and co-workers at once, and have the cards go out automatically. You can also purchase a gift certificate online which automatically will be sent to the recipient's email address. You can send out a mass email to your address book announcing the celebration of your friend's or family member's birth date. Upload a baby picture of your friend or family member on Facebook and write a favorite memory. You might be able to go to your friend's Facebook photo albums and print out a baby, toddler or teen picture to post up at her office. Write a sweet caption, such as, "You must have been a beautiful baby, 'cause, girl, look at you now!"