Introduction
Remembering and sending birthday greetings to friends, family, or clients is a thoughtful gesture, but manually keeping track of dates and sending emails can be time-consuming. With n8n, an open-source workflow automation tool, you can create an automated birthday email system that runs daily, checks for birthdays, and sends a personalized email—all without manual intervention.
In this blog post, we will walk through a step-by-step guide to setting up an n8n workflow that ensures you never miss a birthday again.
Why Automate Birthday Emails?
An automated birthday email system offers several benefits:
✅ Consistency – Never forget a birthday, ensuring timely greetings.
✅ Personalization – Send customized emails with the recipient’s name.
✅ Time-Saving – Automate the process instead of manually tracking dates.
✅ Scalability – Easily add more birthdays without extra effort.
How the Workflow Works
This n8n workflow follows a simple five-step process:
-
Trigger the workflow daily at 5 AM.
-
Retrieve a list of birthdays and email addresses.
-
Process each entry individually.
-
Check if today’s date matches a birthday.
-
Send a personalized birthday email if there is a match.
Step-by-Step Workflow Explanation
1️⃣ Schedule Trigger: Running the Workflow Daily
The Schedule Trigger ensures the workflow runs automatically at 5 AM every day. This allows the system to check for birthdays first thing in the morning.
2️⃣ Edit Fields: Storing the List of Birthdays
A list of birthdays and email addresses is stored in JSON format. Each entry contains:
-
Name (e.g., “David”)
-
Birthdate (formatted as MM-DD)
-
Email Address
This structured approach makes it easy to manage multiple contacts. You will need to replace the sample details in the code below;
{
"data": [
{ "name": "Person1", "birthday": "01-15", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person2", "birthday": "02-20", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person3", "birthday": "03-10", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person4", "birthday": "04-05", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person5", "birthday": "05-30", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person6", "birthday": "06-12", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person7", "birthday": "07-08", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person8", "birthday": "08-22", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person9", "birthday": "09-27", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person10", "birthday": "10-14", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person11", "birthday": "11-19", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person12", "birthday": "12-25", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person13", "birthday": "01-08", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person14", "birthday": "02-17", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person15", "birthday": "03-23", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person16", "birthday": "04-29", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person17", "birthday": "05-11", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person18", "birthday": "06-09", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person19", "birthday": "07-21", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person20", "birthday": "08-05", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person21", "birthday": "09-02", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person22", "birthday": "10-18", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person23", "birthday": "11-06", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person24", "birthday": "12-15", "email": "[email protected]" },
{ "name": "Person25", "birthday": "01-27", "email": "[email protected]" }
]
}
3️⃣ Item Lists: Processing Each Entry
To efficiently handle multiple birthdays, this node extracts each birthday entry individually, ensuring they are processed one at a time.
4️⃣ IF Condition: Checking for Today’s Birthdays
A condition checks if today’s date matches any stored birthday. If there is a match, the workflow proceeds to the next step. If not, the process stops for that entry.
5️⃣ Sending an Email: Delivering the Personalized Message
If a birthday is detected, an email is sent automatically. The email contains:
-
A subject line including the recipient’s name (e.g., “Happy Birthday, David!”)
-
A personalized greeting in the email body
-
A friendly closing message from “Birthday Bot”
This ensures each recipient receives a special and meaningful message.
Youtube Video
Full Workflow JSON Code
For those who want to implement this workflow directly, here’s the complete n8n JSON code:
{
"name": "Birthdays",
"nodes": [
{
"parameters": {
"rule": {
"interval": [
{
"triggerAtHour": 5
}
]
}
},
"id": "aeccd35c-d2ec-4803-8d98-feaa801fd07f",
"name": "Schedule Trigger",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.scheduleTrigger",
"typeVersion": 1.1,
"position": [
620,
240
]
},
{
"parameters": {
"mode": "raw",
"jsonOutput": "{\n \"data\": [\n { \"name\": \"Person1\", \"birthday\": \"01-15\", \"email\": \"[email protected]\" },\n { \"name\": \"Person2\", \"birthday\": \"02-20\", \"email\": \"[email protected]\" },\n { \"name\": \"Person3\", \"birthday\": \"03-10\", \"email\": \"[email protected]\" },\n { \"name\": \"Person4\", \"birthday\": \"04-25\", \"email\": \"[email protected]\" },\n { \"name\": \"Person5\", \"birthday\": \"05-05\", \"email\": \"[email protected]\" },\n { \"name\": \"Person6\", \"birthday\": \"06-18\", \"email\": \"[email protected]\" },\n { \"name\": \"Person7\", \"birthday\": \"07-30\", \"email\": \"[email protected]\" },\n { \"name\": \"Person8\", \"birthday\": \"08-12\", \"email\": \"[email protected]\" },\n { \"name\": \"Person9\", \"birthday\": \"09-27\", \"email\": \"[email protected]\" },\n { \"name\": \"Person10\", \"birthday\": \"10-20\", \"email\": \"[email protected]\" }\n ]\n}",
"options": {}
},
"id": "d74220dd-736a-4e75-b700-a095d989d8ab",
"name": "Edit Fields",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.set",
"typeVersion": 3.2,
"position": [
840,
240
]
},
{
"parameters": {
"fieldToSplitOut": "data",
"options": {}
},
"id": "702f4a64-7de5-44d8-afe8-74a700a4f205",
"name": "Item Lists",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.itemLists",
"typeVersion": 3,
"position": [
1060,
240
]
},
{
"parameters": {
"conditions": {
"string": [
{
"value1": "={{ $json.birthday }}",
"value2": "={{ (new Date()).toISOString().substr(5,5).replace('-','-') }}"
}
]
}
},
"id": "4b9bb752-326e-4a1e-9900-6c3475332dd5",
"name": "IF",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.if",
"typeVersion": 1,
"position": [
1300,
240
]
},
{
"parameters": {
"fromEmail": "\"Birthday Bot\" <[email protected]>",
"toEmail": "={{ $json.email }}",
"subject": "=Happy Birthday {{ $json.name }}",
"html": "=Dear {{ $json.name }}\n\n<p>Wishing you a fantastic birthday filled with joy, love, and laughter!</p> \n\n<p>May this special day bring you happiness and wonderful memories to cherish.</p> \n\n<p>Have an amazing day and an even better year ahead!</p> \n\n<p>Best wishes,</p>\n\nBirthday Bot",
"options": {
"appendAttribution": true
}
},
"id": "a27eba12-38e1-4602-a1f6-cae149aacbfa",
"name": "Send Email",
"type": "n8n-nodes-base.emailSend",
"typeVersion": 2.1,
"position": [
1560,
80
],
"credentials": {
"smtp": {
"id": "Sbbe2JpAxthpd3Uw",
"name": "SMTP account 2"
}
}
}
],
"pinData": {},
"connections": {
"Schedule Trigger": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Edit Fields",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
},
"Edit Fields": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Item Lists",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
},
"Item Lists": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "IF",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
},
"IF": {
"main": [
[
{
"node": "Send Email",
"type": "main",
"index": 0
}
]
]
}
},
"active": false,
"settings": {
"executionOrder": "v1",
"timezone": "Africa/Lagos",
"saveManualExecutions": true,
"callerPolicy": "workflowsFromSameOwner"
},
"versionId": "aa069e39-cf34-412e-aa1b-822f5c252509",
"id": "fMsrJqjfHItnnEDf",
"meta": {
"instanceId": "a93e3270fa2fc1ede44729fb739dd6bcc4fedd7295d52c553ad6d931fd75452b"
},
"tags": []
}
