Birthday countdown: how many days until my birthday?

How many days until my birthday?

Pick your birthday above and the countdown answers it straight away, along with the day of the week it falls on this time. It counts to midnight on your own clock, wherever you are, so the timer reaches zero exactly when your birthday begins where you are, not in some other time zone.

The sentence under the timer counts calendar days, the number of times you'll wake up before the day arrives. On the nights the clocks change, in places that change them, the timer jumps along with your clock. That's deliberate. A countdown that stuck to the exact number of seconds would end an hour early or an hour late.

Born on February 29? In years without a leap day the countdown runs to February 28, the same rule every calculator on this site uses. Plenty of leap-day people celebrate on March 1 instead, and that's just as fair. Pick March 1 in the calculator if that's your day.

How to do a birthday countdown on Instagram

Instagram stories have a countdown sticker made for this. The menus move around between app updates, but the steps have stayed the same:

1. Start a new story and pick a photo, or use a plain background.
2. Open the stickers and choose the countdown sticker.
3. Give it a name, like "Birthday loading", and set it to end on your birthday.
4. Share the story. Anyone who taps the sticker can ask for a reminder when it ends.

A story disappears after a day, so if you want the countdown to stay up all week, add it to a highlight. Then post a new story each day with one of the captions above, so the countdown has something new to say every morning.

Countdown sticker names

The sticker's name is the first thing people read, and it has room for a few words. Some that work:

• Birthday loading
• Level up in
• Cake o'clock
• Main character day
• Another lap around the sun
• Birthday eve eve
• The day it's all about me
• Officially birthday week

How do I make a birthday countdown for someone else?

Pick their birthday, type their name in the name box, and send them the page link. The date and name are saved in the link itself, so they open it and see a countdown to their own birthday, with their name on it, running on their own clock. It works for a partner, a friend overseas or a kid who keeps asking how many sleeps are left.

Is there a birthday countdown app?

You don't need one. Pick your birthday here, then add the page to your phone's home screen: in Safari on an iPhone, tap Share and then Add to Home Screen; in Chrome on Android, open the menu and tap Add to Home screen. The icon opens straight to your countdown, because the birthday is saved in the link. There's nothing to install, no account and no notifications you didn't ask for.

Birthday countdown ideas

A countdown doesn't have to be a timer on a screen. A few that people actually keep up with:

• One photo a day. Post a photo from a different year of your life each day of the final week, oldest first, and land on a current one on the day.
• A small treat per day. For a kid, or a partner, a paper bag or envelope for each day of the last week, with something small inside. It works like an advent calendar.
• A paper chain. One link per day, torn off each morning. Younger kids understand it far better than a number.
• The midnight screen. Put the full-screen countdown on a TV at the party and let the room watch the last minute go. It's a better build-up than someone checking their phone.
• Countdown messages. If it's someone else's birthday, send one short message a day for the last few days. The captions above work as texts too.

The countdown ends at midnight on your clock, wherever you are. That's the moment your birthday starts.

Nothing you pick here is sent anywhere. The countdown runs in your browser, and the birthday you choose only lives in the page's address, after the # sign, which never reaches our server.