Create an automated birthday emailer

Creating an automated birthday emailer involves a few core components:

1. Database or list of users/customers with their birthdays and emails.

2. Scheduler to check daily if anyone’s birthday is today.

3. Email sending service to send the birthday wishes automatically.

Here’s a simplified example using Python, which you can adapt or extend as needed. This example assumes you have a CSV file with user data (name, email, birthday) and will send emails via SMTP (e.g., Gmail SMTP). You can later integrate it into a web app or cloud function for automation.

Step 1: Prepare user data CSV (users.csv)

graphql
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name,email,birthday
Alice,alice@example.com,1990-05-18
Bob,bob@example.com,1985-05-18
Charlie,charlie@example.com,1992-07-10

Step 2: Python Script for Automated Birthday Emailer

python
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import csv
import smtplib
from email.mime.text import MIMEText
from datetime import datetime

# Email server config (example for Gmail)
SMTP_SERVER = 'smtp.gmail.com'
SMTP_PORT = 587
EMAIL_ADDRESS = 'your_email@gmail.com'
EMAIL_PASSWORD = 'your_email_password'  # Consider using environment variables for security

# Load users from CSV
def load_users(filename='users.csv'):
    users = []
    with open(filename, newline='') as csvfile:
        reader = csv.DictReader(csvfile)
        for row in reader:
            users.append({
                'name': row['name'],
                'email': row['email'],
                'birthday': row['birthday']
            })
    return users

# Send birthday email
def send_birthday_email(to_email, to_name):
    subject = "Happy Birthday!"
    body = f"Dear {to_name},nnWishing you a fantastic birthday filled with joy and happiness!nnBest regards,nYour Company"

    msg = MIMEText(body)
    msg['Subject'] = subject
    msg['From'] = EMAIL_ADDRESS
    msg['To'] = to_email

    with smtplib.SMTP(SMTP_SERVER, SMTP_PORT) as server:
        server.starttls()
        server.login(EMAIL_ADDRESS, EMAIL_PASSWORD)
        server.sendmail(EMAIL_ADDRESS, to_email, msg.as_string())
        print(f"Sent birthday email to {to_name} ({to_email})")

# Check birthdays and send emails
def check_and_send():
    today = datetime.today().strftime('%m-%d')  # Only month and day to ignore year
    users = load_users()
    for user in users:
        birthday = datetime.strptime(user['birthday'], '%Y-%m-%d').strftime('%m-%d')
        if birthday == today:
            send_birthday_email(user['email'], user['name'])

if __name__ == '__main__':
    check_and_send()

How to automate daily running?

• Windows: Use Task Scheduler to run this Python script daily.

• Linux/macOS: Use a cron job (e.g., 0 9 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/script.py) to run every day at 9 AM.

• Cloud: Deploy as a scheduled function on AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, or Azure Functions with appropriate email service.

If you want me to build a more advanced version using a database, templating, or third-party email APIs like SendGrid or Mailgun, just ask!