Birthday Shirt Ideas: 34 Designs for Kids, Adults, and Party Sets

Good birthday shirt ideas start with who is wearing the shirt: the birthday person, the whole party, or a kid who wants their age on their chest. This list has 34 original designs sorted by who they're for, from toddler number shirts to group party sets, with blank and color advice and a simple way to print a small run with DTF.

Ideas in this post

34 original designs

Covers

Kids, teens, adults, family party sets

Milestone ages

See our 21st, 30th, 40th, and 50th posts

Minimum order

None

Pick the job of the shirt first

A birthday shirt usually does one of three jobs. It marks the birthday person so everyone at the party knows who to sing to. It ties a family or friend group together for photos. Or it becomes a keepsake with the age and year on it. Decide which one you want before you start on art, because it changes the design. A keepsake wants a date. A party marker wants a big, readable word. A group set wants a shared design with small personal details.

Planning a big round number? We have separate idea lists for 21st birthday shirts and 50th birthday shirts, along with the 30th and 40th. This post covers every other birthday.

Birthday shirt ideas for kids

Kids' shirts should be bold and simple. A big number reads in photos and on a moving kid. Gildan's 5000B is the youth version of the 5000 Heavy Cotton tee, and our Gildan youth size chart helps you size growing kids.

• Giant number with a name inside. The age as a huge outlined numeral, the child's name written inside the shape.
• "Officially Four and In Charge." Swap the number. Works for any age from 2 to 10.
• "Level 7 Unlocked." Pixel style type with a progress bar. Original art only, no game characters.
• "Birthday Crew Captain." The kid's shirt. Siblings get "Birthday Crew."
• "Half Way to Ten." For a fifth birthday, with a half filled battery icon.
• "Still Little, Getting Big." Soft script, good for a second or third birthday.
• Dinosaur with a party hat. Draw your own or commission one. Add the age on the dinosaur's belly.
• "Ask Me How Old I Am." Front. Back says the answer in huge type.
• "One Year of Trouble." First birthday onesie or toddler tee.
• Hand prints, age stamped. Scan the kid's hand print, add the age and year. Repeat every year for a set.

Birthday shirt ideas for teens and adults

Grown ups usually want something they will wear again. That means a joke that isn't too loud, or a design that just looks like a good shirt with a small birthday detail.

• "Another Lap Around the Sun." Line drawing of a sun with a dotted orbit. The year in small type.
• "Birthday Mode: On." Toggle switch graphic. Simple and wearable.
• "Est." plus birth year, vintage badge. Looks like a brand logo. Wearable for years.
• "I Was Told There Would Be Cake." Crowd favorite at office parties.
• "Aging Like a Good Playlist." Cassette tape graphic with the age as the track number.
• "Sixteen and Driving Everyone Nuts." For the new driver, with a steering wheel icon.
• "Limited Edition Since [year]." Product tag style with a fake serial number.
• "Today I'm the Main Event." Bold block letters, front center.
• "Birthday Week, Not Birthday Day." For the friend who celebrates for seven days.
• "Please Clap." Tiny left chest print, big confetti on the back.
• A coordinate shirt. The latitude and longitude of the place they were born, with the date.
• "Older, Wiser, Still Late." For the friend who is always ten minutes behind.

Party sets for family and friends

Group sets are where DTF saves the most money, because one gang sheet can hold the main design and every guest's name. If the party doubles as a gathering of relatives, our family reunion shirt ideas post has more layout ideas for big groups.

• "Team [Name]." Every guest wears it. The birthday person's shirt says "Captain."
• Role shirts. "Mom of the Birthday Girl," "Dad of the Birthday Boy," "Big Sister," "Grandpa." One design, swap the role line.
• "We Survived Another Year of [Name]." Family humor, best on the parents.
• Theme matching. Space party: "Mission Control" for parents, "Astronaut" for the kid, "Ground Crew" for guests.
• "[Name]'s Birthday Tour." Concert tour layout with the party stops as dates on the back.
• Camp counselor set. "Camp [Name]" with the year. Good for backyard campouts.
• "Birthday Squad, Est. Today." One line, any blank color.
• Sibling twist. The birthday kid gets "It's My Birthday," siblings get "It's Not My Birthday (But There's Cake)."
• Ballpark style. A baseball script name across the chest, the age as a jersey number.
• Photo shirt. A baby photo of the birthday person printed on every guest's shirt. Full color DTF handles photos well.
• "Party Staff." For the adults running the grill, the games, and cleanup.
• Pet guest of honor. The family dog's face with "Here for the Cake Crumbs."

Blank and color picks for birthday shirts

Gildan's heather colors are a 50/50 cotton and polyester blend and Sport Grey is 90/10, per the distributor listing. DTF bonds well to cotton, blends, and polyester, so the blend doesn't change your choice much. Pick the color first. For dark blanks, white or bright art pops. For light blanks, avoid pale yellows and light pinks in the design. Our post on the best shirt colors for DTF goes deeper on contrast.

Printing a birthday run with DTF

Birthday orders tend to be small and last minute. That's the job DTF handles best. There are no screens and no minimum order, and you can mix as many different designs as you can fit on a gang sheet.

• Put every size of the design on one sheet. Kid shirts need a smaller print than adult XL. Make two or three sizes of the main design so nothing looks oversized on a toddler.
• Add names as separate small designs. They go on the back or under the main print.
• Order before 1PM PT and standard transfers ship the same business day. Local to the Valley? Pickup at the Chatsworth shop runs Monday to Friday, 10AM to 5PM.
• Press at 300°F with high pressure for 10 seconds, peel hot, and post press 5 seconds.

FAQ

Print the party set

Build the birthday design, the kid size version, and every name on one gang sheet. Order before 1PM PT and it ships today.

Order by size
How gang sheets work