What is the difference between Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha?

Eid al-Fitr (festival of breaking the fast) falls on the first day of Shawwal, the month after Ramadan, and the mood is bright, festive, and food-and-family centric. Eid al-Adha (festival of sacrifice) falls about ten weeks later on the tenth of Dhul Hijjah, coincides with the end of Hajj, and runs more reflective: the themes are sacrifice, gratitude, and sharing meat with family and people in need. Both are blessed festivals, but the registers are not identical.

Is it okay to say Eid Mubarak if you are not Muslim?

Yes. Eid Mubarak (blessed Eid) is the standard greeting and is welcome from anyone. So are Eid Sa'id (happy Eid) and Kul 'am wa antum bi-khair (may every year find you well). A short, warm Eid Mubarak with a wish for a beautiful day with the family lands as a thoughtful gesture from a non-Muslim friend or coworker, not as an overstep.

What should you write in an Eid card for a coworker?

Keep it short and free of religious wording you do not actually use. Eid Mubarak with a wish that they get a real break today, or Eid Mubarak from the team, is exactly the right length. Avoid explaining the holiday back to them or improvising verses you half-remember. If the coworker worked through Ramadan, a small acknowledgment of that lands warmer than a generic line.

What do you write to someone celebrating their first Eid away from family?

Name it directly without making it sadder. A line like Eid Mubarak, the first one away from home is the hardest one, and you are doing it, or the family is not all in one place this year, but we are all thinking of you, lets them feel seen rather than glossed over. Skip lines that pretend the distance is not there. A specific small detail, like Ami has made sheer khurma and is taking it personally that you cannot eat it, is what turns a wish into a hug.

Should you send the same Eid wish for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha?

You can. Eid Mubarak works for both, but the strongest wishes match the register of the specific Eid. Eid al-Fitr leans into post-Ramadan joy, food, and family lightness; Eid al-Adha leans into gratitude, reflection, and the meaning of sacrifice. If you want one line that carries both, lean on a generic Eid Mubarak with peace, joy, and blessings to your whole family rather than something that would feel off-register on one of the two.

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Holiday Cards

68 Eid Wishes & Messages to Send (Without Sounding Like a Card Aisle)

Sarah Whitfield

May 23, 2026

The Eid I keep going back to is one from when I was maybe nine, at my Khala Rukhsana's flat in Karachi the year my cousin Bilal was old enough to fast a full day and got teased about it at sehri because he kept asking what time it was. My Nani made the sheer khurma the night before, in a pot bigger than my head, and the smell hit you in the lift before you reached her door. I remember being handed a fifty-rupee note as eidi by an uncle whose name I genuinely cannot recall, and my Mamu giving me a hundred because Mamus always outbid the uncles. That is the Eid I write these wishes against. Not a generic festive holiday, not a tidy paragraph from a card aisle. The 68 lines below try to land that way for whoever you are sending them to.

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Two Eids, one greeting that works

Most people sending an Eid wish from outside the holiday treat both Eids as one big event, and they really are not the same day. Eid al-Fitr is the bright one, the morning after thirty days of Ramadan, with kids in new clothes and sweets in every house you visit and eidi being pressed into small hands. Eid al-Adha falls about ten weeks later, on the tenth of Dhul Hijjah, at the close of Hajj, and it commemorates Prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son. The day is still warm and full of food, but the register runs a little deeper. Sharing meat with neighbours and people in need is the visible tradition.

The greeting that carries both days, and the one almost everyone reaches for, is Eid Mubarak, blessed Eid. You will sometimes see Eid Sa'id (happy Eid) and the longer Kul 'am wa antum bi-khair in cards. I will say something slightly inconvenient here: I have never once heard a relative use Eid Sa'id in actual conversation. It is correct, it is in the textbooks, and yet Eid Mubarak is what people say. Stick with it. There is no need to invent something fancier, and there is no need to explain the holiday back to the person celebrating it. They know what Eid is. A short, warm Eid Mubarak with one specific image lands better than a small Wikipedia entry. If a religious phrase is not familiar to you, default to plain warm English. Sincere short beats ambitious long.

For Eid al-Fitr specifically (post-Ramadan joy)

The mood after a month of fasting is genuinely festive. Sleep is back, food is back, the family has been together for thirty straight nights, and the day is full of visits, kids in stiff new clothes, and too much sugar. Lines that match this lean light and food-and-family centric.

Eid Mubarak.
Eid Mubarak. Hope your first morning coffee back on a normal schedule tastes incredible.
Eid Sa'id. May the joy of breaking the fast carry into every meal of the year.
Eid Mubarak to you and the whole family, wishing you a day full of sweets, slow visits, and not a single alarm clock.
Eid Mubarak. After thirty days of patience, today is yours, enjoy every single bite.
Wishing you and your family a beautiful Eid al-Fitr. May the discipline of Ramadan stay with you, and the joy of today stay even longer.
Eid Mubarak, hoping the table is loud, the kids are over-sugared, and nobody asks about work even once.
Kul 'am wa antum bi-khair. May every Ramadan find you well, and every Eid find you celebrating with the people you love most around one table.
Eid al-Fitr Mubarak. Hope the sheer khurma is as good as your grandmother's, and the company is even better.

For Eid al-Adha specifically (gratitude and reflection)

The register here is warmer and more thoughtful than at Eid al-Fitr. The day is still celebratory, but it sits alongside the meaning of sacrifice, the closing of Hajj, and the tradition of sharing meat with family, neighbours, and people in need. Aim for warmth with a small acknowledgment of the day's depth, and skip lectures.

Eid al-Adha Mubarak.
Eid Mubarak. May the spirit of sacrifice be matched by the spirit of generosity in your home this Eid.
Eid al-Adha Mubarak. Praying that whatever you have given up this year comes back to you in better shape.
Eid Mubarak. Hope the qurbani is shared widely and the table is full of the people you love.
Wishing you a blessed Eid al-Adha. May your prayers be answered, your sacrifices be accepted, and your family be close.
Eid Mubarak to your whole family. Sending love and a little extra patience for whoever ends up at the grill.
Eid al-Adha Mubarak. May the lessons of Ibrahim's faith carry into the year ahead, and may yours grow with them.
Eid Mubarak. Thinking of you and your family today, and grateful for everything you give to the people around you.
Wishing you a peaceful and meaningful Eid al-Adha. May Allah accept your worship, bless your home, and keep your prayers close to your heart.

For both Eids, and short lines for a card

Most of the time you will not know exactly which Eid the recipient marks more, or you will be writing the same card for both occasions. Eid Mubarak is the universal greeting and the lines below carry across Fitr and Adha without missing the register of either. The short ones at the bottom of this group are for when ten people are signing one card and crowding the corner.

Eid Mubarak from our family to yours. Hope it is full of every good thing.
Eid Mubarak. Wishing you peace, joy, and the company of the people who love you most.
Sending love and Eid Mubarak. May the day be quiet where you want quiet and full where you want full.
Eid Mubarak. Hope your home is loud with laughter and heavy with food today.
Eid Mubarak. Praying you and your family a year of good health, ease, and blessings you can feel.
Eid Sa'id. May this Eid open a year of good news, good people, and a little less stress than last one.
Eid Mubarak to you and yours. May every blessing find your door this year.
Wishing you a blessed Eid. May Allah accept your prayers and grant your family the best of both worlds.
Eid Mubarak. Hope today gives you a long breath, a slow meal, and the kind of joy that does not need a reason to exist or a witness to count.
Eid Mubarak, peace to your house.
Eid Mubarak from our family to yours.
Eid Mubarak. Sending love and good wishes.
Eid Sa'id. May this year be your best.
Eid Mubarak, peace, joy, and good food.
Eid Mubarak. Praying for ease and blessings.
Kul 'am wa antum bi-khair.
Eid Mubarak, thinking of you today.

For family and friends

Eid is, more than almost anything, a family holiday. The wishes that land hardest are the ones that name a specific person in the room: the grandmother who runs the kitchen, the dad who hands out eidi, the little sibling who has been counting down for two weeks. For friends, the same idea applies but the register loosens, closer to a text than a card, often a callback to a shared Eid you both remember.

Eid Mubarak, Ami.
Eid Mubarak, Abu. Thank you for every eidi you ever pressed into my hand, and for raising us to know what today actually means.
Eid Mubarak, Dadi. The whole family is gathered today because you built it that way. May Allah keep you with us for many more Eids, and many more pots of biryani.
Eid Mubarak to my favourite little brother. You are getting eidi this year, but only because I am older and the rules favour me.
Eid Mubarak, sis. Wishing you a day where nobody asks you to help in the kitchen and you eat first for once.
Eid Mubarak to my kids. May every Eid of your lives be as full of love as the ones we are giving you now.
Eid Mubarak, Nani. The recipes you taught Ami, Ami is teaching me. The chain is unbroken, and you are the start of it.
Eid Mubarak, Bhai. May your kids give you exactly as much trouble as you gave Abu, no more, no less, and not a single rupee less of eidi than I owe you.
Eid Mubarak, Mom and Dad. Whatever you sacrificed to give us the Eids we remember, we see it now.
Eid Mubarak. Still thinking about the iftar at your place last Ramadan. Today's lunch better be even better, I am coming over.
Eid Mubarak.
Eid Mubarak, my friend. Hope your mum saves me a plate of whatever she makes that I have been hearing about for three weeks.
Eid Mubarak. Remember our first Eid at uni when we ate dates straight out of the box because neither of us could cook? Glad you can cook now.
Eid Mubarak, dost.
Eid Mubarak. Praying your eidi from your uncles is generous and your patience with your cousins is even more so.
Eid Mubarak. May the kebabs at lunch be perfect, the chai in the evening be stronger than your phone signal, and the family group chat be quieter than usual.
Eid Mubarak. The friendship has carried through every Eid since we were teenagers, and I am grateful for every one of them, even the one in 2019 when you forgot.

For coworkers, and a first Eid away from home

A workplace Eid greeting from a non-Muslim colleague is one of the small, easy gestures that lands much harder than it costs. The coworker has likely spent a month working through Ramadan with most of their teammates not knowing or noticing. Naming Eid on the right day is enough. Short, warm, free of any half-remembered religious wording. And for someone marking their first Eid away from home, the same instinct (specific, warm, no over-explaining), with a little extra weight on the day being heavier than it looks from the outside.

Eid Mubarak.
Eid Mubarak. Wishing you and your family a beautiful day. The team is glad you are part of it.
Eid Mubarak from the whole team. Take the day, the queue can wait, and so can we.
Eid Mubarak. Saw your out-of-office and immediately thought, good, that one is earned.
Eid Mubarak. Hope today is everything Ramadan was preparing you for.
Eid Mubarak to you and your family. Thinking of you with warmth today, the team is better with you in it.
Eid Mubarak. We covered everything on your plate today. Do not check Slack, that is an order from the team.
Eid Mubarak from all of us at work. May the year ahead bring you and your family every good thing the year owes you, and a few it doesn't.
Eid Mubarak. Wishing you a peaceful day off, a great meal, and a Monday morning where nothing has broken.
Eid Mubarak. Thinking of you specifically today, the first one away from home is the hardest one, and you are doing it. We are proud of you.
Eid Mubarak. The family is not all in one place this year, but we are all thinking of you. Save us a slice of whatever you make.
Eid Mubarak. The video call is at 4. Ami has already made the sheer khurma and is taking it personally that you cannot eat it. Be on the call.
Eid Mubarak. The flat is small, the kitchen is new, but the Eid is yours. Make it loud anyway.
Eid Mubarak. Wherever you are this year, you are not alone today, we are with you in every prayer.
Eid Mubarak. The first Eid in a new country is a tradition in itself now. You are starting it for whoever in the family comes next.
Eid Mubarak, beta. Home is wherever you are tonight, and our love is on the table next to you, even if you cannot see it.

One last practical note before I drift. If the wish is going to a coworker who has spent Ramadan more or less invisibly, a card signed by the whole team is the part that actually gets saved. A group ecard with multiple signers handles the logistics that paper cards cannot: nobody is mailing anything to the cousin in another country, nobody is passing a clipboard around a distributed team. One person seeds it with a line from the generic section above, drops in a cover image (a lantern, a crescent moon, a family photo from last Eid), shares the link in Slack or the family group chat, and each signer adds their line on their own time. You can create a card online in a couple of minutes and schedule it to land on the morning of Eid in the recipient's time zone. If it is going to a coworker, the workplace instincts in our thank-you messages for a coworker guide travel well alongside an Eid greeting from the team. For a family card the cousins are all signing, the shape of writing in your own voice on a shared card is covered in what to write in a birthday card, and for a friend marking a hard Eid (bereaved, away, going through something), the register in religious vs non-religious condolences is the right one to borrow from.

One last thing, off-topic and maybe just for me. My Khala Rukhsana sold that Karachi flat in maybe 2014 and moved to a smaller place near a market that smells permanently of cardamom and frying onions. I have not been back since I was a teenager. The new flat does not have a lift and the sheer khurma comes out of a smaller pot, but my cousin Bilal tells me on WhatsApp that the recipe has not changed, that he is now the one teasing his own son for asking what time it is at sehri, and that the eidi rates have gone up considerably since my day. I read his messages on the morning of Eid in a time zone where nobody around me is celebrating, and I think about that lift, and the smell. That is also part of why I write these. Anyway. Eid Mubarak.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha?: Eid al-Fitr (festival of breaking the fast) falls on the first day of Shawwal, the month after Ramadan, and the mood is bright, festive, and food-and-family centric. Eid al-Adha (festival of sacrifice) falls about ten weeks later on the tenth of Dhul Hijjah, coincides with the end of Hajj, and runs more reflective: the themes are sacrifice, gratitude, and sharing meat with family and people in need. Both are blessed festivals, but the registers are not identical.
Is it okay to say Eid Mubarak if you are not Muslim?: Yes. Eid Mubarak (blessed Eid) is the standard greeting and is welcome from anyone. So are Eid Sa'id (happy Eid) and Kul 'am wa antum bi-khair (may every year find you well). A short, warm Eid Mubarak with a wish for a beautiful day with the family lands as a thoughtful gesture from a non-Muslim friend or coworker, not as an overstep.
What should you write in an Eid card for a coworker?: Keep it short and free of religious wording you do not actually use. Eid Mubarak with a wish that they get a real break today, or Eid Mubarak from the team, is exactly the right length. Avoid explaining the holiday back to them or improvising verses you half-remember. If the coworker worked through Ramadan, a small acknowledgment of that lands warmer than a generic line.
What do you write to someone celebrating their first Eid away from family?: Name it directly without making it sadder. A line like Eid Mubarak, the first one away from home is the hardest one, and you are doing it, or the family is not all in one place this year, but we are all thinking of you, lets them feel seen rather than glossed over. Skip lines that pretend the distance is not there. A specific small detail, like Ami has made sheer khurma and is taking it personally that you cannot eat it, is what turns a wish into a hug.
Should you send the same Eid wish for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha?: You can. Eid Mubarak works for both, but the strongest wishes match the register of the specific Eid. Eid al-Fitr leans into post-Ramadan joy, food, and family lightness; Eid al-Adha leans into gratitude, reflection, and the meaning of sacrifice. If you want one line that carries both, lean on a generic Eid Mubarak with peace, joy, and blessings to your whole family rather than something that would feel off-register on one of the two.