Last updated: 18 October 2026
Say Happy Birthday Worldwide (sayhappybirthdayworldwide.com) is run by Martin Gregory in the United Kingdom. For anything about your privacy, email hellobirthdayworldwide@gmail.com.
In this policy, “we” and “us” mean Martin Gregory, who looks after the website and decides how any information is used (under UK data protection law this is called the “controller”).
When you make a wish, you type their name and, if you like, their age, your name and a short message, and choose a language and whether it is for a child or an adult. We save exactly these details with a random code, and the code makes the wish’s short link (for example sayhappybirthdayworldwide.com/w/Kx7pQ2mB). We do not ask for or keep email addresses, phone numbers or anything else.
How long we keep it: each wish is kept for 12 months, so the birthday person can open it on the day and look back at it later. After 12 months it is deleted automatically. If you would like a wish deleted sooner, email us the link and we will delete it.
Who can see it: anyone who has the link can see the wish, so please only send it to the person it is for. Wishes are never listed, searchable or shown anywhere else, and the codes are random so they cannot be guessed. When you send a link by WhatsApp, text message or email, those services handle the message under their own privacy policies.
Why we keep it: only to show the wish to the people you send it to. This is the service you ask us for when you make a wish.
Stopping misuse: to stop anyone flooding the site with wishes, we count how many wishes are made from the same connection in an hour. For this we use a scrambled one-way code made from your connection, which changes every day, cannot be turned back into your IP address, is kept for one hour only and is never saved with your wish.
Some older wish links carry the wish inside the link itself instead of a code. Those wishes are not stored by us at all. When someone opens one, the web address (with the wish in it) is part of the request to our server, and our hosting company keeps short technical records of requests for security (see “Our website server” below).
Web addresses that look like links are removed from wish messages, so the site cannot be used to send people to other websites.
On the wish page you can blow out the candles by blowing into your phone. Your phone or browser will ask your permission first. If you say yes, the website listens to how loud the sound is, on your device only, to tell when you are blowing. The sound is never recorded, never saved and never sent to us or anyone else. The microphone switches off when the candles are out or you leave the page. If you say no, you can simply tap the candles instead.
We do not use advertising or tracking cookies, so you will not see a cookie banner.
The website saves two small settings on your own device so it remembers your choices:
These stay on your device, are not sent to us, and you can clear them at any time by clearing your browser’s site data.
WordPress, the software the site runs on, sets its own cookies only for people who log in to manage the website. Visitors do not log in, so they do not get these cookies.
The website is hosted by Hostinger. Like almost every website, the server keeps short technical records of visits: your IP address, the page asked for, the time, and the type of browser. These are used to keep the website running and safe from attacks, and are kept only for a limited time by the hosting company. We use them for that purpose only. Our legal reason is our legitimate interest in running a safe, working website.
The site’s fonts, pictures and music are all served from our own website, so opening a page does not send your information to Google or other font or video companies.
If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you write. We only use it to reply to you, and we delete it when it is no longer needed. Our email is provided by Google (Gmail).
Many wishes are made for children’s birthdays. The site is built to be safe for families: we do not ask children for any personal information, there are no adverts, no tracking and no way to contact other users. Wishes for children are usually made and sent by a grown-up.
Our pages about how to say happy birthday in other languages are ordinary web pages. Reading them does not collect any information beyond the server records described above.
Under UK data protection law you can ask us what information we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, and object to how we use it. Because we keep so little, there is usually nothing to find, but we will always check and reply. Email hellobirthdayworldwide@gmail.com.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113. We would be grateful for the chance to put things right first.
If we add new features (for example, a paid keepsake video), we will update this page first and change the date at the top.
