How to Add Birthdays to Google Calendar Automatically

You can add birthdays to Google Calendar like you can any event, but if you already have birthdays set up in Google Contacts or Google+, you can have those birthdays added to Google Calendar automatically.

Google Calendar and Google Contacts (and/or Google Plus) can be synced with each other so that every birthday found in the contacts automatically shows up in Google Calendar. This means you can just add birthdays to your Google contacts without worrying whether or not they'll show up in Google Calendar.

However, importing these contacts' birthdays is only possible if you enable the "Birthdays" calendar in Google Calendar. Once you do that, you can add birthdays to Google Calendar from Google Contacts and/or Google+.

1. Open Google Calendar.
2. Locate and expand the My calendars section on the left of that page to show a list of all your calendars.
3. Put a check in the box next to Birthdays to enable that calendar.

If you want to add birthdays to Google Calendar from your Google+ contacts as well, locate the Birthdays calendar again using the steps above, but then select the small menu to the right and choose Settings. In the Show birthdays from section, choose Google+ circles and contacts instead of Contacts only.

Tip: Adding birthdays to Google Calendar will show birthday cakes next to each birthday event, too!

Unlike other calendars, the "Birthdays" built-in calendar cannot be set up to send you notifications. If you want birthday reminders in Google Calendar, copy the individual birthdays to a personal calendar and then configure notifications there.

You can create a new Google Calendar if you don't already have a custom one.