Introducing Paper Crown Cards: The Card You Can Wear
Most birthday cards have a short career. They're opened, read, placed on a mantelpiece for a week or two, and then quietly recycled along with the torn wrapping paper and the leftover ribbon.
We thought birthdays deserved better than that.
Today we're introducing Paper Crown Cards — a new range designed to do something no ordinary card can. Part greeting card, part wearable keepsake, each one is a crown you write on, send in an envelope, and unfold straight onto the head of the birthday person.
It's the card that earns its place at the table.
The idea
The brief we set ourselves was simple: design a birthday card that couldn't be mistaken for any other birthday card.
Something that celebrated the person rather than just announcing the occasion. Something that would do what the best Christmas crackers do — bring people together, get worn around the table, make it into the photos. But without the wasteful plastic, without the groan-worthy joke, and with room for a proper handwritten message.
A card you'd actually want to send. A card they'd actually want to keep.
How it works
Each crown arrives flat inside an envelope — to the postman, it looks like a very smart card. To the sender, it's a blank canvas waiting to be written on. The unfolded shape means you've got plenty of room for your message, whether it's a heartfelt note from one person or a full group card's worth of signatures and scribbles.
Seal it up. Post it or hand it over. When the recipient opens the envelope, they don't just read your message — they unfold it, pop it on their head, and suddenly the day has a bit more ceremony to it.
Paper crowns on their way to the breakfast table. Paper crowns at family lunches. Paper crowns being passed around the office. Paper crowns in all the birthday photos.
Four designs to start with
Our first four Paper Crown Cards have just launched. Each is designed in our London studio, printed on heavyweight sustainable paper, and paired with a complementary envelope.
"It's My Birthday!" — a classic blue and cream striped design with deep red lettering. The one that works for everyone, from small birthday people to grown-up ones who'd like a little fanfare. Paired with a cream envelope.
"Birthday Girl!" — soft pink, scattered with hand-painted tulips and forget-me-nots, with berry red lettering. Warm and affectionate. The deep red envelope finishes it off beautifully.
"Birthday Boy!" — a playful scatter of stars, suns, moons and smiley faces on a soft sage background. Cheerful and inclusive — works equally well for small children and dads. Arrives with a sage green envelope.
"Birthday Queen" — painterly brushstrokes in pink, slate blue, rust and olive, with "birthday queen" in elegant white script. The one for best friends, mothers, milestone birthdays and the women who hold everything together. Paired with a green envelope.
The group card, reinvented
One thing we didn't quite expect when we started designing these: they turn out to be the best solution we've ever found to the most universal of office rituals — "can everyone sign this card, please?"
The unfolded shape gives colleagues, friends and family an enormous amount of room to add their messages. No more squashed signatures in the corner. No more pretending you can read what Dave from accounts wrote. Everyone gets space. Everyone gets to write something proper.
And then, when it reaches the birthday person, it doesn't just get looked at and put in a drawer. It goes on their head, which is a much better outcome for a card that forty people have signed.
Team birthdays. Leaving dos. Milestone celebrations. Any moment where lots of people want to say something, rather than one person saying it all.
Made the Katie Leamon way
Like everything we make, our Paper Crown Cards are printed in the UK on sustainably sourced, heavyweight paper. They're completely plastic-free, fully recyclable, and designed to be held onto rather than discarded.
No foil inserts. No microscopic glitter that ends up everywhere for weeks afterwards. Just beautifully designed, thoughtfully made paper that does something a little more interesting than usual.
More crown cards to come
This is just the start. Over the coming months we'll be adding to the range — a Christmas crown card designed for the dinner table, crowns for milestone celebrations, and more. If there's an occasion that deserves a little more fanfare, we're probably working on one.
Want to know when the next design launches? Sign up to our newsletter and we'll be in touch.
Who are they for?
The real kings and queens in your life. The people who don't get quite enough fuss made of them. The birthday person who would always rather wear a paper crown than a novelty badge. The office you want to send a slightly better group card to.
And honestly — anyone who thinks a card should be a bit more than a rectangle and a biro.
Shop the full Paper Crown Cards collection — designed in our London studio, printed on sustainable paper, and made for the kings and queens in your life. Free UK shipping on card orders over £20.