21st Birthday Speech for a Friend

In our question and answer series of articles, we return to the topic of birthday speeches. Here our readers asked The Presentation Doctor for advice on writing 21st birthday speeches for a friend.

Question from Sarah: 

I’ve been asked by my best friend to speak at her 21st birthday and don’t know where to start. I want to make it witty and funny, embarrass her ever so slightly but not too much as her  Gran and Grandad will also be there.  How do I grab people’s attention right from the start?

The Presentation Doctor’s response:

It is hard to give advice on birthday speeches without knowing the person involved. The main thing that I have observed over the years is to keep them short – it is you that is standing between the audience and the rest of the party.

One of the best things to bring into a birthday speech are some amusing tales of your time together.

You could start the speech with “I first met my friend…” or “I have known my friend since…”

It would probably be best to exclude the more bawdy moments of your time together, but stories of a few silly moments or some close scrapes can go down well.

If you get really stuck you could do an “On this day in history…” or “people who share this birthday with my friend include…”

Check out our other advice for a 21st birthday speech or have a look at our 21st birthday speech example.