Happy Birthday Stamps

U.S. Post security printing contractor Ashton Potter USA Ltd will offset-printed the new Happy Birthday stamps.

A new United States forever stamp with a happy birthday theme will be issued on Sept. 9 in panes of 20.

It will be the first forever stamp to debut at the new domestic first-class letter mail rate of 58¢, which goes into effect Aug. 29.

On that date, all forever stamps presently available from the U.S. Postal Service will increase in price by 3¢ from the previous 55¢ rate.

Stamp Design

The letters represent a red and green pinata (H), an orange and yellow striped birthday hat (A), a red piece of frosted cake (P), a green birthday candle (P), and an orange balloon sculpture (Y). “BIRTHDAY” is printed in smaller sample letters below.

The Catalone design group previously worked with Kessler to create designs for the four 2001 Love stamps. These stamps use handwritten love letters by John and Abigail Adams as a backdrop to a single rose. And the four 44¢ Supreme Court Justice’s stamps were issued in a pane of four in 2009.

The U.S. Postal Service’s history of Happy Birthday stamps began in 1987 when it issued a booklet of eight different 22¢ stamps. The stamps in this Special Occasions booklet conveyed messages including “Best wishes!,” “Thank you!,” “Get well!” and so on, each with an appropriate illustration.

The Happy Birthday stamp in this set shows a slice of birthday cake with one lit candle.

The booklet contained a single pane of 10 stamps, with the “Congratulations!” and “Happy Birthday!” stamps printed twice on the pane.

The new stamp is the sixth U.S. issue to specifically carry the happy birthday message.

This Happy Birthday stamp conveys exuberant greetings by calling to mind the childhood excitement of a birthday party. Lisa Catalone Castro and Rodolfo Castro designed this stamp, which featured a digital illustration by the latter. Ethel Kessler served as art director.

Forever stamps will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce price.