01
Choose the group and one contact per household
For a parent’s birthday, you might invite siblings and their families. For a grandparent, you might gather the grandchildren. One contact per household makes it easier to explain the recording process.
Young children can record alongside an adult. A familiar nickname and a happy birthday may be more natural than learning a long message.
One Voice Bouquet can hold up to 30 recordings, with up to three minutes per recording. The limit counts recordings, not people. An adult and child can speak together in one recording, or record separately: plan the number of recordings as well as the households you invite.
02
Make the time zone part of the deadline
“Friday evening” can mean different days across the family. Write a date, time, and time zone. If useful, add the contributor’s local time after checking it, including any daylight-saving difference.
- Leave time between the deadline and delivery to check the voices.
- Ask late contributors to contact the organizer before the bouquet is completed.
- Have someone in each location check that the recording link opens in their browser.
03
Give everyone one small question
Try “What is a little thing Dad does that you love?” or “What would you like to do with Grandma next time you visit?” Shared questions can bring out different stories without making the messages sound identical.
An invitation to the family
For [name]’s birthday, I’d love to bring our voices together from wherever we are. Could you record a short message about a favorite moment you shared? Deadline: [date, time, time zone] Record here: [link] We don’t need to be online together. Please keep it a surprise!
04
Help less-confident relatives with one test
Ask one person to try the recording link first. Explain that the browser will ask for microphone permission and that they can listen before sending. A little context makes an unfamiliar screen easier to use.
If someone needs help, a family member nearby can sit with them while they record. Explain who will hear the message and let them choose what they want to say.
05
Give them time to listen, too
Add a note such as “Open this when you have a quiet moment.” If a family call is possible, leave time to talk after they have heard everyone rather than asking them to listen while people are speaking.
The free bouquet is enough to deliver the voices. The optional video, free for now, brings everyone’s voices and photos together with music in one file they can replay. Finish video generation and test playback before an event.
06
Decide how the family will replay and keep the gift
The birthday demo lets you compare a listening page, where each voice can be played separately, with a video that brings voices, photos, and background music together. Try the completed example to decide whether your parent would prefer choosing a familiar voice to replay or watching everyone together in one video.
Creating the bouquet, collecting recordings, and delivering the listening page are free. The downloadable video is optional and free for now. Its download link expires, but the organizer can get a new link from the management page. After downloading, open the saved file to check it plays.
For example, if 25 relatives each send one recording, that uses 25 of the 30 recordings a bouquet can hold. If family members record together or send more than one message, count the recordings rather than the people when planning who to invite.
Under the current terms, completed bouquet data is stored indefinitely. Incomplete bouquet data is deleted approximately 30 days after creation, so review the collected messages and complete the bouquet when it is ready. Check the terms for storage conditions and keep a downloaded video separately if you choose that option.
