These Two Cousins Have Been Taking A Birthday Card’s Instructions Literally For 47 Years

Talk about long-standing family traditions. Two cousins, Bill and Steve, have been passing the same birthday card back and forth since 1970. But you can’t blame them: they’ve just been following the instructions on the card. For the past 47 years.

The card was shared on Reddit by user LinconsLostSpeech, who wrote:

So over the past 47 years my fiancee’s uncle and his cousin have been passing the same card back and forth…
Edit: should also mention the card only cost $0.25 when it was purchased in 1970.
Edit: oh man, woke up to the front page. Thanks reddit! going to try to respond to as many as possible today, but yeah, rip inbox

Later, LincolnsLostSpeech elaborated on the details:

So they each wrote their own name (whomever had the card in their possession at the time of the other’s birthday) after crossing the other’s name out and then sent the card. So one name per mail cycle.

A lot of Reddit users expressed skepticism over the authenticity of the card, but LincolnsLostSpeech insists it’s legit. “Internet is a skeptical place, I get it man,” he wrote, after one user called out Bill and Steve’s suspiciously similar handwriting. “But this card is real. Believe as you need to, but for what it’s worth, this time it’s legit.”

Others, though, shared their own stories of longstanding family traditions, and the passing back and forth of everything from a wooden fish figurine to two bottles of British Sterling and a Shake Weight.

Is it real? Is it a scam? We’re inclined to take LincolnsLostSpeech for his word. Because we believe that there’s still goodness and whimsy in the world, even with all the internet trolls screaming otherwise.

×